Dear Burqueños,Few people know as many folks in this arts community as Summer Olsson. If you are one of those acquaintances, colleagues or Tap Room stool mates, you may have heard that she’s moved on after a great stint as arts editor at the Alibi . As for the rumors about her going off to join a cult downstate—they’re completely unfounded. The cult is actually in Northern California, and it’s really more of a commune. Truth is, Summer’s been accepted to Dell’Arte, where she’ll be taking her talents to the redwoods. We hope she successfully tackles the world-renowned ensemble and physical theater program and returns home in prodigal fashion.Summer brought a great balance of coverage to this paper. That standard of representing our diverse and energetic arts community is something I intend to uphold as I step into her weathered Chuck Taylors, taking on the title of arts ed.So who am I? First off, I’m in no way related to, named after or a humanoid manifestation of the East Coast lager. I get jokes about that every day. I’ll give you an Alibi key chain if you can come up with one I haven’t heard.As to my background, I’ve been writing for this paper for about a year, working as copy editor and web editor, and freelancing with reckless abandon. I grew up in Chicago and was barely out of my Huggies when I started working in art galleries (true story; my parents ran one). I was a hormonal slam poet in high school and went on to get a photo degree from an art college in the Windy City, then spent a year freelancing at the Reader , Chicago’s largest alt.weekly. I also ran numbers for a guy named Sonny who didn’t talk much, but that’s another story for another day.Ever since migrating Southwest, I’ve been genuinely enthused about the abundance of creativity in the Duke City. And I’m certainly prepared to rep it to the fullest of my abilities. So if you see trends here that you love, or maybe ones that make you want to put a laminated picture of me in a glass jar of urine, please let me know. As van Gogh once said, "My ear is yours."And speaking of the great self-deprecating minds of the last few centuries, I’d also like to thank Mr. John Bear, another former Alibi arts editor who gave me my legs in this section. His scathing book reviews will continue to pop up regularly. Additional thanks to Christie Chisholm, former Alibi editor-in-chief, and an integral part of this paper for years. You can see her performance arts coverage gracing this issue, and hopefully many more to come.Please send your queries, comments and grievances to sam@alibi.com.
Culture Shock: Farewell Summer
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