Appreciating Paul Varnell

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Paul Varnell's column in the Chicago Free Press, like so much quality journalism these days, has fallen victim to the budget ax.

Paul was the founding editor of IGF, back in the 1990s, and his columns have been a mainstay of our site. His sane yet passionate pieces in the Free Press and, before that, the Windy City Times modeled a calmer, more rational kind of writing and thinking at a time when so many gay voices were shrill and doctrinaire. And it seemed there was nothing that Paul couldn't write elegantly about.

The Chicago Sun-Times has a lovely appreciation of Paul's work by Neil Steinberg.

Paul tells Steinberg: "It was my identity, and I felt I was doing something worthwhile by trying to be calm and reasonable." We hope Paul finds a new outlet. He's still needed.

5 Comments for “Appreciating Paul Varnell”

  1. posted by TS on

    Ugh. When are people going to learn that when everything’s on the internet and nobody’s paying a dime for it, the economy will collapse? Internet advertising is marginally effective, and when companies finally figure this out, we’re all going to live marginal lives, devoid of art, music, literature, and intelligent commentary.

  2. posted by Richard J. Rosendall on

    I second Jon’s comments. In addition to the quality of his own writing, Paul has given encouragement and help to other writers, including me, which is particularly generous given the dearth of editorial space in the gay press. Here’s hoping he soon rejoins the ranks of us ink-stained wretches.

  3. posted by David Link on

    Richard, we’re atom-stained wretches these days.

  4. posted by Richard J. Rosendall on

    David, atoms are fine, but my column is still tied to print editions. So I cling to my newsprint. Besides, “atom stained” just doesn’t have the right ring to it.

  5. posted by Jon Rowe on

    I’m hoping Paul moves on to bigger and better things.

    However, in the spirit of dynamic capitalist thought in which Paul operates, if the Internet replaces print columns and newspapers collapse and some/many folks lose their jobs along the way, that’s the way a dynamic capitalist market works.

    It’s not as though technology is going to lead to a dearth of the product — intellectual thought that we want to consume. Technological advances, rather, give more options at a better, faster, cheaper, more efficient rate.

    Lamenting the loss of print is not unlike lamenting the loss of VHS, or pretty soon, the DVD in favor of downloads.

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