Next week marks my one-year anniversary as deputy and commentary editor at The Virginia Mercury. I eagerly joined a slate of talented columnists — Roger Chesley, Wyatt Gordon, Bob Lewis and Ivy Main  in addressing the issues most central and relevant to our fellow Virginians. 

All of 2023, what readers cared about, we wrote about. The Commentary Crew, as I dubbed us, supported and expanded our news colleagues’ relentless coverage of many policy and legislative issues that impact citizens’ daily lives, including but not limited to: how we the people fund schools and what we expect from our public education system; where we live and how to ease the housing crisis; how we get from here to there; and how we access the care we need, including abortion and mental health services, to remain healthy and happy. 

Mercury columnists asked hard questions like, “Why is our governor the sole arbiter of who gets their right to vote back after a criminal offense?” “Who has a voice in discussions about how land is used — and whose voices are missing?” “Are we really prepared for the proliferation of data centers happening here?” and “How can the American dream of homeownership become more accessible to all the commonwealth’s citizens?”

We examined how the ever-unfolding gun violence epidemic continues infecting Virginia, and we probed energy legislation and developments that enhance or detract from our natural landscape and resources. We connected the dots between past and present, and helped shed light on why things are the way they are here politically. We outlined why the past is always pretext — and very often present — in modern Virginia. 

The point was, and is, never to tell readers what or how to think. Rather, we’ve tried our best to offer perspectives informed by facts and then invite the public to think through all of it with us. Our goal is to inform, to seek accountability from our elected leaders and to provoke productive dialogue statewide.

We also listened to and learned from a diverse range of Virginians by intentionally increasing the number of guest commentary pieces we considered and published each week. It remains critical to me and to our mission that we publish the voices of those who may not be heard or read otherwise, or whose life experiences are often underreported or misrepresented in legacy media. 

Students, prison inmates, immigrant communities, formerly incarcerated people, people with disabilities, faith leaders, veterans, transgender youth, educators, physicians, historians and many others have all expressed their views in our section this year. They represent the tapestry of us, Virginians of varying thoughts and ideals that each day we weave into the cultural cloth of the commonwealth. How different and alike we are! How much we have to learn from each other! 

In 2024, we’ll keep curating a thoughtful space that Virginia readers seek out for timely local perspectives. We’ll keep exploring our shared history — the good, the bad, the ugly and the undertold. We’ll keep asking hard questions and offering informed opinions. And we’ll keep listening and learning from Virginians, who make our work worthwhile. I invite your column ideas, pitches, praise or protest: [email protected]