For this piece a year ago, I wrote that “the calendar turning to 2021 isn’t going to make things magically better. But it does feel like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Turns out that light may have been a long, Covid-shaped train. I may have jinxed things. And for that, I apologize. So to avoid any further shenanigans, I’m going to make no such statements on how long we’re going to be doing this nonsense.
But despite working in sub-optimal conditions, we’ve still found a way to break news, do well-researched, long-form journalism, and connect and engage the community through the various platforms of Jewfolk, Inc.:
- We’ve added three new staff members: Izzy Wellman joined full-time as our social media and marketing strategist, Lev Gringauz, long-time freelancer and podcaster for TC Jewfolk is our editorial fellow, and Lisa Liszt is our calendar manager.
- TC Jewfolk was one of five media outlets selected by the Maimonides Fund to be part of the inaugural Jewish Journalism Fellowship.
- We won three Simon Rockower Awards for Excellence in Jewish Journalism from the American Jewish Press Association this year: First place for Award for Excellence in Writing About Education Reporting for the series on Holocaust mentions in the Minnesota social studies standards (Part 1 | Part 2) – which also won third place for best continuing coverage from the Minnesota SPJ; Second place in the category Award for Excellence in Writing About Politics/Government for coverage of the 5th Congressional District DFL primary; and Lev won second place for Excellence in News Obituaries for his piece on the passing of Bella Porter Smith.
- We’ve added several new clients to our FolkMedia Consulting service.
- Launched two new podcasts: “Spill The Soup,” our teen-hosted and led podcast hosted by Marley Comito (and coming back for season 2 in early 2022), and “Kuumba Hineni,” a podcast on intersectionality hosted by local organizer and Jew of Color Enzi Tanner.
Clearly, this year was a busy one. And we’ve got big plans for 2022 — which also happens to be our B’ Mitzvah year. Hopefully more of those plans will include seeing people in person and less on Zoom screens. But as we’ve discussed, I’m not making any predictions.
Here are our most-read articles each month on TC Jewfolk:
January: Draft MN Social Studies Standards Eliminates Holocaust Mentions
February: Olitzky Announces Resignation From Beth El
March: Rabbi Kravitz Announces His Upcoming Retirement
April: Returning To Webster
May: Remembering My First-Born; He’s Buried at Adath Chesed Shel Emes Cemetery
June: Editorial: Was An Antisemitic Dogwhistle Blown In A Key Minneapolis Race?
July: Four Programs, Nine Cabins Had Positive COVID Tests At Herzl
August: ‘Hiding In Plain Sight’: How A Family Lived At Shir Tikvah For 3 Years
September: Beth El Synagogue Closed This Weekend Over ‘Specific Threat Of Violence’
October: Why The U Wouldn’t Change Its Rosh Hashanah Start Date
November: TC Female Clergy Respond To Damning HUC-JIR Report
December: Shir Tikvah’s Rabbi Latz Taking 3-Month Leave
Most Listened-To Podcast Episodes:
Who The Folk?!: Lucy Marshall
Spill The Soup: 1. Social Media Positives and Pitfalls
The Jews Are Tired: 58. Explaining This Week In Israel
Kuumba Hineni: 1. Meet The Host, & Why We’re Doing This
Thank you so much for your support. Whether it was reading, listening, donating, commenting or sharing, we really appreciate you being a part of our community. The donations are vital to our ongoing success, and are appropriately used with seven years of balanced budgets to back that up.
We are grateful for all the people we have talked to for our articles, engaged with on our pages, and met on our podcasts. Those who are working on the front lines to make a difference, those who are leading institutions and businesses to figure out how to operate in a new world, and all of us who are often just trying to make it through to the end of each day with our health and relationships (and sanity) intact. Thank you for your contributions and conversations and just generally being part of our world as we made it through this year. And here’s to what we all hope will be an easier journey in the year to come.
