New York Press
Encyclopedia
New York Press was a free alternative weekly
in New York City, that was published from 1988 to 2011. During its lifetime, it was the main competitor to the Village Voice. It was originally conceived and published by founder Russ Smith as a conservative voice in a traditionally liberal New York; later it became less political.
The Press strove to create a rivalry with the Village Voice, and took credit for forcing the Voice into becoming a free paper in 1996, although almost all other alternative weekly newspapers had long since gone that route. Emulating New York Presss own popular "Best of Manhattan" annual feature, the Village Voice later began publishing its own annual "Best of New York" issue. Press editors wrote about their unfruitful attempt to hire away writer Nat Hentoff
from the Voice. Liz Trotta of The Washington Post
compared the rivalry to a similar sniping between certain publications in the eighteenth-century British press, such as the Analytical Review
and its self-styled nemesis the Anti-Jacobin Review
.
The paper's weekly circulation in 2006 topped 100,000, compared to about 250,000 for the Village Voice, but this total fell to 20,000 by the end of the paper's run. The Press touted a Manhattan-focused, controlled distribution system while a good portion of the Village Voice's circulation is outside of the NYC metro area.
. Smith wrote a column starting with the first issue, which was published under the pseudonym "MUGGER"; it mostly focused on media coverage of politics, as well as restaurant reviews and personal anecdotes. At some point Smith began running the column under his own name, though still titled "Mugger"; it ran in the New York Press until 2009.
During Smith's editorship, the Press ran regular columns by the radical Alexander Cockburn
, the patrician Taki Theodoracopolous, the future Weekly Standard editor Christopher Caldwell
, Soul Coughing
lead singer M. Doughty (both under his own name and under the pseudonym "Dirty Sanchez"), Adam Mazmanian, Todd Seavey, Paul Lukas, occultist Alan Cabal, Mistress Ruby, J.R. Taylor, Zach Parsi, CJ Sullivan, Dave Lindsay, Spike Vrusho, Ned Vizzini
, and Daniel Radosh
. Many New York Press writers and editorial staff from this time have gone on to achieve some renown. Examples include the author and screenwriter William Monahan
, author Dave Eggers
, future Weekly Standard and Humanities magazine editor David Skinner
, author and raconteur Toby Young
, New York magazine contributing editor and author Amy Sohn
, author Jonathan Ames
, author Ben Greenman
, faux-memoirist "JT LeRoy
", American Conservative magazine editor Scott McConnell
, writer Kevin R. Kosar, future New York Times editor Sam Sifton
, and Mother Jones Washington Bureau Chief and novelist David Corn
, among others.
According to writer Jim Knipfel
, the "Golden Age of the Press" occurred in the years 1996 and 1997, and that "between 1995 and 2000, there was nothing like [the Press] anyplace". He describes the NYPress as "a ratty, underground version of those early years at Esquire
".
In the tradition of earlier NY underground papers like East Village Other
, New York Press also regularly published cutting-edge comic art, including early work by founding art director Michael Gentile, Kaz
, Ben Katchor
, Charles Burns
, Mark Beyer
, Mark Newgarden
, Ward Sutton
, M. Wartella
, Gary Panter
, Danny Hellman
, Tony Millionaire
and others.
for around US$3 million. Publishers Chuck Colletti and Doug Meadow became the president and C.O.O., respectively. Immediately after the sale, Strausbaugh was fired. After an interim editor declined to stay on, Jeff Koyen
was hired away from The Prague Pill. From 2003 to 2005, as editor-in-chief, Koyen continued publishing approximately 100 pages each week. From 2007 onward, it ran at less than 40 pages each week.
From April 2003 to July 2004, the Press had a sister publication, New York Sports Express
, that was a free weekly devoted to sports. The publishers discontinued it.
New York Press earned reprobation in March 2005 for a cover story entitled "The 52 Funniest Things About the Upcoming Death of the Pope," written by Matt Taibbi
. The cover prompted outraged comments from a variety of New York politicians, and within a few weeks led to the resignation of its then-editor, Jeff Koyen
. He was replaced by "interim editor" Alexander Zaitchik
.
During Koyen's and Zaitchik's editorship, the paper ran regular columns by Paul Krassner
, Michelangelo Signorile
, and Matt Taibbi
. Many of the writers from this time period, including Zaitchik himself, went on to work at The eXile
.
Harry Siegel
became the paper's editor in August 2005, bringing along with him three editors and writers (Tim Marchman
, Jonathan Leaf
and Azi Paybarah
), and giving the Press a greater focus on local politics. In February 2006 all four resigned from the paper, after the publisher rejected a planned cover story that would have shown the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons
. Siegel was replaced for a short time by Steve Weinstein, former editor of the New York Blade. In 2006, Adario Strange
, former editor of The Source
, became the new editor. A year later, in 2007, Strange left the paper to return to film directing. Upon his promotion to publisher, Nick Thomas named former arts and entertainment editor Jerry Portwood to editor of the publication.
On July 31, 2007, the paper was acquired by Manhattan Media, the owner of Avenue magazine and a small stable of New York community weekly newspapers. One of those weeklies, Our Town Downtown, was initially merged with the New York Press, but was revived as the Press replacement in August 2011.
In September, 2007, David Blum
was named editor-in-chief of the New York Press. A former contributing editor of New York magazine and Esquire, Blum had previously been editor-in-chief of the Village Voice. In June 2008, Blum left the New York Press to assume another the editorship of 02138, a new Manhattan Media acquisition. Blum was replaced by Jerry Portwood.
From 2005 to 2007, the Press ran regular columns by Amy Goodman
and Ed Koch
(former Mayor of New York City
), among others.
was one of the paper's only mainstays for more than thirteen years. "Slackjaw" ran in the Philadelphia Welcomat for five years before it was picked up by the Press in 1993, where it continued through June 2006. Later, Knipfel worked as the Press receptionist before moving into a staff writer position. "Slackjaw" continues to be published at Electron Press. Stephanie Sellars
wrote the Lust Life column in 2006-2007, which featured stories about sex from the perspective of a bisexual polyamorist. Film critic Armond White
was another of the paper's mainstays.
Alternative weekly
An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper, that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting local people and culture. Their news coverage is more...
in New York City, that was published from 1988 to 2011. During its lifetime, it was the main competitor to the Village Voice. It was originally conceived and published by founder Russ Smith as a conservative voice in a traditionally liberal New York; later it became less political.
The Press strove to create a rivalry with the Village Voice, and took credit for forcing the Voice into becoming a free paper in 1996, although almost all other alternative weekly newspapers had long since gone that route. Emulating New York Presss own popular "Best of Manhattan" annual feature, the Village Voice later began publishing its own annual "Best of New York" issue. Press editors wrote about their unfruitful attempt to hire away writer Nat Hentoff
Nat Hentoff
Nathan Irving "Nat" Hentoff is an American historian, novelist, jazz and country music critic, and syndicated columnist for United Media and writes regularly on jazz and country music for The Wall Street Journal....
from the Voice. Liz Trotta of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
compared the rivalry to a similar sniping between certain publications in the eighteenth-century British press, such as the Analytical Review
Analytical Review
The Analytical Review was a periodical established in London in 1788 by the publisher Joseph Johnson and the writer Thomas Christie. Part of the Republic of Letters, it was a gadfly publication, which offered readers summaries and analyses of the many new publications issued at the end of the...
and its self-styled nemesis the Anti-Jacobin Review
Anti-Jacobin Review
The Anti-Jacobin Review and Magazine, or, Monthly Political and Literary Censor , a conservative British political periodical, was founded by John Gifford [pseud. of John Richards Green] after the demise of William Gifford's The Anti-Jacobin, or, Weekly Examiner...
.
The paper's weekly circulation in 2006 topped 100,000, compared to about 250,000 for the Village Voice, but this total fell to 20,000 by the end of the paper's run. The Press touted a Manhattan-focused, controlled distribution system while a good portion of the Village Voice's circulation is outside of the NYC metro area.
An independent weekly (1988–2002)
The paper was founded by Russ Smith, who published it until he sold it in late 2002. Smith was assisted throughout this period by John StrausbaughJohn Strausbaugh
John Strausbaugh is an American author, cultural commentator, and host of the New York Times "Weekend Explorer" video podcast series on New York City....
. Smith wrote a column starting with the first issue, which was published under the pseudonym "MUGGER"; it mostly focused on media coverage of politics, as well as restaurant reviews and personal anecdotes. At some point Smith began running the column under his own name, though still titled "Mugger"; it ran in the New York Press until 2009.
During Smith's editorship, the Press ran regular columns by the radical Alexander Cockburn
Alexander Cockburn
Alexander Claud Cockburn is an American political journalist. Cockburn was brought up in Ireland but has lived and worked in the United States since 1972. Together with Jeffrey St. Clair, he edits the political newsletter CounterPunch...
, the patrician Taki Theodoracopolous, the future Weekly Standard editor Christopher Caldwell
Christopher Caldwell
Christopher Caldwell is an American journalist and senior editor at The Weekly Standard, as well as a regular contributor to the Financial Times and Slate. His writing also frequently appears in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, where he is a contributing editor to the paper's magazine,...
, Soul Coughing
Soul Coughing
Soul Coughing was a popular New York-based alternative rock band. The band found modest mainstream success during the mid-to-late 1990s. Soul Coughing developed a devout fanbase and have garnered largely positive response from critics. Steve Huey describes the band as "one of the most unusual cult...
lead singer M. Doughty (both under his own name and under the pseudonym "Dirty Sanchez"), Adam Mazmanian, Todd Seavey, Paul Lukas, occultist Alan Cabal, Mistress Ruby, J.R. Taylor, Zach Parsi, CJ Sullivan, Dave Lindsay, Spike Vrusho, Ned Vizzini
Ned Vizzini
Edison Price "Ned" Vizzini is an American writer who is the author of books for young adults. He is best known for his novel Be More Chill. He has been a columnist for the New York Press since his teens.-Life and career:...
, and Daniel Radosh
Daniel Radosh
Daniel Radosh is an American journalist and blogger. Radosh is presently a staff writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He was previously a contributing editor at The Week. He writes occasionally for The New Yorker...
. Many New York Press writers and editorial staff from this time have gone on to achieve some renown. Examples include the author and screenwriter William Monahan
William Monahan
William J. Monahan is an American screenwriter and novelist. His second produced screenplay was The Departed, a film which earned him a WGA award and an Academy award for Best Adapted Screenplay.-Writer and editor:...
, author Dave Eggers
Dave Eggers
Dave Eggers is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He is known for the best-selling memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and for his more recent work as a screenwriter. He is also the co-founder of the literacy project 826 Valencia.-Life:Eggers was born in Boston, Massachusetts,...
, future Weekly Standard and Humanities magazine editor David Skinner
David Skinner (journalist)
David Skinner is the editor of , which is published by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Previously, he was an assistant managing editor at The Weekly Standard, for which he frequently wrote....
, author and raconteur Toby Young
Toby Young
Toby Young, MA, FRSA is a British journalist and the author of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, the tale of his stint in New York as a contributing editor at Vanity Fair magazine...
, New York magazine contributing editor and author Amy Sohn
Amy Sohn
Amy Sohn is a Brooklyn-based author, columnist and screenwriter. She wrote the novels Run Catch Kiss and My Old Man , both published by Simon & Schuster, and a companion guide to television’s Sex and the City, Sex and the City: Kiss and Tell .She is a contributing editor at New York magazine,...
, author Jonathan Ames
Jonathan Ames
Jonathan Ames is an American author who has written a number of novels and comic memoirs. He was a columnist for the New York Press for several years, and became known for self-deprecating tales of his sexual misadventures. He also has a long-time envy of boxing, appearing occasionally in the ring...
, author Ben Greenman
Ben Greenman
Ben Greenman is an American writer and magazine editor.-Biography:Greenman was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Miami, Florida. He attended Miami Palmetto High School and then Yale University where he worked on the Yale Herald...
, faux-memoirist "JT LeRoy
JT LeRoy
Jeremiah "Terminator" LeRoy was a pseudonym created by American writer Laura Albert. The name was used from 1996 on for publication in magazines such as Nerve and Shout NY. After his first novel Sarah was published, "LeRoy" started making public appearances...
", American Conservative magazine editor Scott McConnell
Scott McConnell
Scott McConnell is an American journalist best known as a founding editor of The American Conservative.In 1968, as a student at a New Hampshire boarding school, McConnell canvassed for Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy. After receiving a Ph.D in history at Columbia University, McConnell returned...
, writer Kevin R. Kosar, future New York Times editor Sam Sifton
Sam Sifton
Sam Sifton is an American journalist working for the New York Times. Sifton's posts at the Times have included deputy dining editor ; dining editor ; deputy culture editor and culture editor .....
, and Mother Jones Washington Bureau Chief and novelist David Corn
David Corn
David Corn is an American political journalist and author and the chief of the Washington bureau for Mother Jones. He has been Washington editor for The Nation and appeared regularly on FOX News, MSNBC, National Public Radio, and BloggingHeads.tv opposite James Pinkerton or other media...
, among others.
According to writer Jim Knipfel
Jim Knipfel
Jim Knipfel , is an American novelist, autobiographer, and journalist.A native of Wisconsin, Knipfel, who suffers from retinitis pigmentosa, is the author of a series of critically acclaimed memoirs, Slackjaw, Quitting the Nairobi Trio, and Ruining It for Everybody, as well as two novels, The...
, the "Golden Age of the Press" occurred in the years 1996 and 1997, and that "between 1995 and 2000, there was nothing like [the Press] anyplace". He describes the NYPress as "a ratty, underground version of those early years at Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
".
In the tradition of earlier NY underground papers like East Village Other
East Village Other
The East Village Other , was an American underground newspaper in New York City, New York, published biweekly during the 1960s. EVO was among the first countercultural newspapers to emerge, following the Los Angeles Free Press, which had begun publishing a few months earlier...
, New York Press also regularly published cutting-edge comic art, including early work by founding art director Michael Gentile, Kaz
Kaz
Kazimieras G. Prapuolenis, or Kaz, is an American cartoonist and illustrator, and one of the most renown living "underground" cartoonists in the world. In the 1980s, after attending New York City's School of the Visual Arts, he was a frequent contributor to the influential comics anthologies RAW...
, Ben Katchor
Ben Katchor
Ben Katchor is an American cartoonist best known for his comic strip Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer. He has contributed comics and drawings to The New Yorker and The New York Times...
, Charles Burns
Charles Burns (cartoonist)
Charles Burns is an American cartoonist, illustrator and film director.-Life:Burns is renowned for his meticulous, high-contrast and creepy artwork and stories. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife, painter Susan Moore, and their two daughters Ava and Rae-Rae.His father was an oceanographer for...
, Mark Beyer
Mark Beyer
Mark Beyer is a comic artist known for his bleak storylines, often featuring death, disfigurement, depression, and humiliation, which contrast with his childlike, geometric drawing style. Most of his stories are about the adventures of a codependent yet resentful couple named Amy and Jordan.His...
, Mark Newgarden
Mark Newgarden
Mark Newgarden is an American underground cartoonist. His work has appeared widely, and his influential shape-shifting weekly feature Newgarden, which appeared in alternative weekly newspapers like New York Press, created a cult following for the artist.Newgarden's work has appeared in a diverse...
, Ward Sutton
Ward Sutton
Ward Sutton is an American illustrator, cartoonist and writer born in Minneapolis and based in New York City. His comic strip, "Sutton Impact" , was published in The Village Voice from 1995 to 2007....
, M. Wartella
M. Wartella
Michael M. Wartella is an American underground cartoonist and animator based in New York City who generally publishes under the name "M. Wartella".- Career :...
, Gary Panter
Gary Panter
Gary Panter is an illustrator, painter, designer and part-time musician. Panter's work is representative of the post-underground, new wave comics movement that began with the end of Arcade: The Comics Revue and the initiation of RAW, one of the second generation in American underground comix...
, Danny Hellman
Danny Hellman
Danny Hellman is an American freelance illustrator and cartoonist nicknamed Dirty Danny. Since 1989, his illustrations have appeared in publications including Time, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, The Wall Street Journal and others, and his comic book work has appeared in DC Comics...
, Tony Millionaire
Tony Millionaire
Tony Millionaire is an American cartoonist, illustrator and author known for his syndicated comic strip Maakies and the Sock Monkey series of comics and picture books.-Early life:...
and others.
Post-acquisition (2003–2011)
Smith sold the paper in late 2002 to investment group Avalon Equity PartnersAvalon Equity Partners
Avalon Equity Partners is a New York, New York-based investment group that invested in media, communications and information services industries...
for around US$3 million. Publishers Chuck Colletti and Doug Meadow became the president and C.O.O., respectively. Immediately after the sale, Strausbaugh was fired. After an interim editor declined to stay on, Jeff Koyen
Jeff Koyen
Jeff Koyen, born in 1969 in suburban New Jersey, is an American journalist living in Venice Beach, CA. He is a graduate of Rutgers University. He has worked as a freelance travel and culture writer, filing with Travel and Leisure, The New York Times, New York magazine, Radar, New York Post, New...
was hired away from The Prague Pill. From 2003 to 2005, as editor-in-chief, Koyen continued publishing approximately 100 pages each week. From 2007 onward, it ran at less than 40 pages each week.
From April 2003 to July 2004, the Press had a sister publication, New York Sports Express
New York Sports Express
The New York Sports Express, sometimes abbreviated NYSX, was a free publication distributed from April 2003 to July 2004 as a sister paper to the New York Press. The New York City, USA publication was designed to take an entertaining look at topical sports stories, in contrast to most sports...
, that was a free weekly devoted to sports. The publishers discontinued it.
New York Press earned reprobation in March 2005 for a cover story entitled "The 52 Funniest Things About the Upcoming Death of the Pope," written by Matt Taibbi
Matt Taibbi
Matthew C. "Matt" Taibbi is an American author and journalist reporting on politics, media, finance, and sports for Rolling Stone and Men's Journal, often in a polemical style. He has also edited and written for The eXile, the New York Press, and The Beast.- Early years :Taibbi grew up in the...
. The cover prompted outraged comments from a variety of New York politicians, and within a few weeks led to the resignation of its then-editor, Jeff Koyen
Jeff Koyen
Jeff Koyen, born in 1969 in suburban New Jersey, is an American journalist living in Venice Beach, CA. He is a graduate of Rutgers University. He has worked as a freelance travel and culture writer, filing with Travel and Leisure, The New York Times, New York magazine, Radar, New York Post, New...
. He was replaced by "interim editor" Alexander Zaitchik
Alexander Zaitchik
Alexander Zaitchik is an American freelance journalist who has written for: The Nation, Salon, The New Republic, The New York Observer, AlterNet, Mother Jones, Reason, The International Herald Tribune, Wired, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Believer, and Rolling Stone...
.
During Koyen's and Zaitchik's editorship, the paper ran regular columns by Paul Krassner
Paul Krassner
Paul Krassner is an author, journalist, stand-up comedian, and the founder, editor and a frequent contributor to the freethought magazine The Realist, first published in 1958...
, Michelangelo Signorile
Michelangelo Signorile
Michelangelo Signorile is a gay American writer, a national talk radio host whose program is aired each weekday across the United States and Canada. He is a political liberal, and covers a wide variety of political and cultural issues...
, and Matt Taibbi
Matt Taibbi
Matthew C. "Matt" Taibbi is an American author and journalist reporting on politics, media, finance, and sports for Rolling Stone and Men's Journal, often in a polemical style. He has also edited and written for The eXile, the New York Press, and The Beast.- Early years :Taibbi grew up in the...
. Many of the writers from this time period, including Zaitchik himself, went on to work at The eXile
The eXile
The eXile was a Moscow-based English-language biweekly free tabloid newspaper, aimed at the city's expatriate community, which combined outrageous, sometimes satirical, content with investigative reporting...
.
Harry Siegel
Harry Siegel
Harry Siegel is the City Hall columnist for the Village Voice. He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.-Biography:Siegel is a lifelong resident of the Brooklyn area of New York City. He graduated from Brandeis University, Siegel worked at The New York Sun as an editorial writer and the paper's...
became the paper's editor in August 2005, bringing along with him three editors and writers (Tim Marchman
Tim Marchman
Tim Marchman is a baseball columnist who most recently wrote for the now-defunct New York Sun newspaper. His columns focus on the New York Yankees and New York Mets, as well as other Major League Baseball teams.-External links:* Author archive....
, Jonathan Leaf
Jonathan Leaf
Jonathan Leaf is a playwright and journalist based out of New York City. He is the writer of the off-Broadway play The Caterers, which was nominated for Best Full-Length Original Script of 2005-2006 in the Innovative Theater Awards....
and Azi Paybarah
Azi Paybarah
Azi Paybarah is a New York-based journalist who focuses on local politics. He worked as a reporter for the New York Press, the Queens Tribune and the New York Sun. In February 2011, Paybarah returned to the New York Observer he had left only months earlier, where he wrote for the daily blog, The...
), and giving the Press a greater focus on local politics. In February 2006 all four resigned from the paper, after the publisher rejected a planned cover story that would have shown the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons
Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after 12 editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005...
. Siegel was replaced for a short time by Steve Weinstein, former editor of the New York Blade. In 2006, Adario Strange
Adario Strange
Adario Strange is a New York based film director, writer and artist. He is best known for his documentary film detailing a year of strange deaths at the famed university. In recent years he was Editor in Chief of the weekly newspaper New York Press and a business technology writer for...
, former editor of The Source
The Source (magazine)
The Source is a United States-based, monthly full-color magazine covering hip-hop music, politics, and culture, founded in 1988. It is the world's second longest running rap periodical, behind United Kingdom-based publication Hip Hop Connection. The Source was founded as a newsletter in 1988...
, became the new editor. A year later, in 2007, Strange left the paper to return to film directing. Upon his promotion to publisher, Nick Thomas named former arts and entertainment editor Jerry Portwood to editor of the publication.
On July 31, 2007, the paper was acquired by Manhattan Media, the owner of Avenue magazine and a small stable of New York community weekly newspapers. One of those weeklies, Our Town Downtown, was initially merged with the New York Press, but was revived as the Press replacement in August 2011.
In September, 2007, David Blum
David Blum
David Blum is a New York City writer and editor.Blum was born in Queens, New York, and graduated with a degree in English literature from the University of Chicago in 1977.He began his career as a reporter in 1979 for The Wall Street Journal...
was named editor-in-chief of the New York Press. A former contributing editor of New York magazine and Esquire, Blum had previously been editor-in-chief of the Village Voice. In June 2008, Blum left the New York Press to assume another the editorship of 02138, a new Manhattan Media acquisition. Blum was replaced by Jerry Portwood.
From 2005 to 2007, the Press ran regular columns by Amy Goodman
Amy Goodman
Amy Goodman is an American progressive broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter and author. Goodman is the host of Democracy Now!, an independent global news program broadcast daily on radio, television and the internet.-Early life:Goodman was born in Bay Shore, New York...
and Ed Koch
Ed Koch
Edward Irving "Ed" Koch is an American lawyer, politician, and political commentator. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and three terms as mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989...
(former Mayor of New York City
Mayor of New York City
The Mayor of the City of New York is head of the executive branch of New York City's government. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within New York City.The budget overseen by the...
), among others.
Other noted contributors
Noted memoirist and longtime staff writer, occasional arts and entertainment critic, and author of the nearly two decade old "Slackjaw" column, Jim KnipfelJim Knipfel
Jim Knipfel , is an American novelist, autobiographer, and journalist.A native of Wisconsin, Knipfel, who suffers from retinitis pigmentosa, is the author of a series of critically acclaimed memoirs, Slackjaw, Quitting the Nairobi Trio, and Ruining It for Everybody, as well as two novels, The...
was one of the paper's only mainstays for more than thirteen years. "Slackjaw" ran in the Philadelphia Welcomat for five years before it was picked up by the Press in 1993, where it continued through June 2006. Later, Knipfel worked as the Press receptionist before moving into a staff writer position. "Slackjaw" continues to be published at Electron Press. Stephanie Sellars
Stephanie Sellars
Stephanie Sellars is an American columnist, screenwriter, actress, singer, director, and producer. She wrote the Lust Life column for the New York Press from February 2006 to October 2007.-Early life:...
wrote the Lust Life column in 2006-2007, which featured stories about sex from the perspective of a bisexual polyamorist. Film critic Armond White
Armond White
Armond White is a New York-based film and music critic known for his provocative and idiosyncratic film criticism, which some have characterized as contrarian. He is currently the editor of City Arts, for which he also writes articles and reviews...
was another of the paper's mainstays.