We Are Back

It is difficult to put into words my elation in getting to write this piece about our new, revamped publication. What started as a vague idea over sushi in Washington, DC in 2010 has somehow evolved into what you see today. I was a person of many hats in the beginning, and my poor assistant, Kimi Recor, was run so ragged by my many requests that she started reading murder mysteries for inspiration on how to disappear me.

We made it through and started experimenting with new editorial ideas this year. Our groundbreaking piece about Haiti in which we teamed up with Tomnod to show you Ben Horton’s travels through the country overlaid on Google earth became our beacon. We brought on some new writers and started brainstorming ideas which has resulted in a fabulous editorial calendar for this year.

However, in the midst of the excitement was the elephant of the site. “A bit plain,” was a comment from a well intended friend. “I’d love to leave a comment,” was another cry. So we tore up the old weblog and reached out to The Theme Foundry for the new one. They have been remarkable in getting us up and running. And the response to the two column format has been overwhelming.

The National Geographic Assignment Blog is in every sense a team effort and my heartfelt thanks goes out to our amazing writers, photographers and editors. But most of all I’d like to thank you, our readers. We are nothing without our fans.