Great beginnings for Baltimore Post-Examiner

What an opening week for Baltimore Post-Examiner.

We tried to do  a soft launch to work out some technical kinks because you never know what might happen when you flick the switch. Well, that didn’t work out too well.

Within about an hour of launching,  USA TODAY started tweeting about who is behind this start-up? We don’t really think who is behind the start-up is the story. The story is what is on this website and all those wonderful contributors. We are just happy we delivered on our promise to provide readers –a little bit of everything.

Readers have sent us emails, Facebook messages, called us, and met us in person to thank us for doing something different. We appreciate all those responses. Some readers said this is now an official ‘bookmarked’ page while others wonder what are we going to do next? And that last question is brilliant.  Can we do more?

Yes, we can.

We will be introducing some new bloggers, plenty more musicians, new serial novels, more short stories,  more poetry, more local and national news, a photography showcase, and one-act plays. Some of items will take you 30 seconds to read, while others will be perfect to curl up with your iPAD and start reading one of our longer submissions.

But we are more than just content: We will continue with our charity work by providing computers to schools, and helping the unemployed network into jobs. (See our Giving Back section.)

We are able to provide all this content because of our advertisers and because of your donations. If you would like to support our website and all our contributers, please select the donate button:

If you would like to advertise, please send us an email at [email protected]. All the financial support is needed to continue to bring you a little bit of everything. And if you donate, you will receive a gift from us.

In case you missed last week; go revisit some solid work, such as the insider series on covering and working for convicted felon Jack B. Johnson, a peek at the Orioles season, and the sporting bets you might want to avoid. (Speaking of which, go ahead and give that O’s writer a hard time. The birds are turning heads.)

Scan our blogs:  We give travelers some of the best and exclusive places to visit, as well as tell you how to cook some of tastiest meals and the perfect beer to brew . We have technical computer expertise, the latest in business, and a variety of educational blogs, including a student living in Israel describing his life in medical school; a Maryland teacher giving their perspective on education; and an older student returning to school. And of course we have a family column where the baby teaches mom something new every day.  Maybe those little ones are the best teachers.

We give you Baltimore’s  best music venues,  theater reviews, and we even have an actor telling us how life in really like on stage.  We’re checking out the movies, rating cable TV, video games and the latest tunes. And we provide a little off-the-wall humor from our correspondent in Scotland musing on his own strange and clever life, and a longtime satirist who has quite a bit to say, to our unpredictable dry-wit Washington State blogger, who sees things a little different than most.

Serial novels, short stories, poetry and music lyrics have been well-received and we are expanding our selection of authors. Look for some new amazing young and seasoned writers to provide some great reads in the next few days and weeks.

In news, we handled some national headlines covering tragedy with grace and sensibility while providing some distinct local flavor including covering Baltimore’s fascination with Edgar Allan Poe, or the Beatles, or even why Baltimore is simply warmer than Washington. We are providing some insight into our cherished sports teams – Orioles and Ravens and offering extensive coverage of the entertainment scene from Washington to Baltimore. We treat our Baltimore readers with the great columnist Michael Olesker’s top Baltimoreans.  He picks them. We tell you about them. We fight him. He wins. Something like that.

We have a very strong readership in the Baltimore-Washington area – thanks to the great work from all our writers, artists, photographers, and to our partner Maryland Reporter whose coverage of the state has been ahead of the pack. Maryland Reporter simply is a must-read if you want to know what’s going on in Maryland.

But surprisingly we are also growing readership in faraway lands including, Great Britain, Israel, Costa Rica, Kazakhstan, Japan, France, Italy, Canada, Australia and Bangladesh. Go figure that. As we said we are a little bit of everything for a lot of different people. We like it that way.

And we are so happy you have joined us for the ride. Keep reading and feel free to comment on the stories. Our writers can take it – good, bad or indifferent. So let us know what you think.  You can even come join us at our coffee meet up this Saturday at Mad City Coffee in Columbia at 10;30 a.m. Can’t make it? Join us on Facebook.

You are invited because we are truly an open book and a fun one to read.

Thanks for the support,

Baltimore Post-Examiner Staff

 

(Feature photo by Chris Ammann)