A NEW VIEW Silverstein introduces
The New York Times’ first reality film
at NeueHouse in Manhattan.
COURTESY OF NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
You arrived without New York
media “baggage.” Did you,
or do you still feel like
an outsider?
Well, I came with a small carry-on
of New York media baggage. I
worked briefly 15 years ago at
Harper’s Magazine in New York.
It’s true that that’s insignificant
compared to the baggage I amassed
in Texas, or even growing up in
Oakland, Calif. To my mind, there is
an advantage to not having worked
my way through a bunch of different
magazines around town; it’s useful to
feel a little bit like an outsider sometimes. I think it helps us produce a
magazine that feels a little less like
just a magazine produced by a bunch
of people who live in New York City.
Also, living in Montclair helps that
way. I hop on a bus and get away
from the scene, as it were.
When you launched the
redesigned magazine a year
ago, you spoke of it being
animated by “a spirit of inquiry
that is both subversive and
sincere.” Please elaborate!
It’s subversive in the sense that
great magazine journalism generally
has to involve a bit more playfulness,
a bit more idiosyncrasy, than newspaper journalism. Also, we bring aboard
writers who sometimes by their very
style can be gently subverting the normal way to tell a story, stuff that will
at least be challenging in its originality
and its freshness. As far as sincerity
goes, I mean sincere about trying to
ask important questions. It’s important that the magazine be a vehicle
for something useful in the world,
as well as something beautiful.
Mission accomplished so far?
We’ve done stuff I never even
imagined, covers and stories of which
I’m really proud. We publish great
writers. Last summer we included an
article by Susan Dominus on four
brothers from Colombia who were
twins mixed up at birth; Daniel
Engber’s piece on a mentally disabled
man sexually assaulted by a professor
at Rutgers; Karl Ove Knausgaard’s
writing about his journey across
America; Claudia Rankine’s essay on
the importance of Serena Williams;
Wesley Morris on popular culture,
and so many more.
What do you envision up ahead?
Continuous innovation, and growing the magazine. Digital innovations,
more design and photography. The
magazine is a lab where we can try
stuff out and experiment, where
innovation can take root. ■
SPRING 2016
MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE
45