Goodbye to All This

Today marks my last day at The Hedgehog Review, after a happy and productive six and a half years. I'm leaving to embark on the slightly perilous business of freelancing. I wanted to take a little time to reflect on this magazine as an institution and some of the work I've been able to do here.

The comment that magazines like THR “punch above their weight,” is a cliche, but it’s true. Moreover, even in this class, I think THR is special. We seek out and nourish new authors who keep on writing for us with a remarkable loyalty, even when they can command higher fees and bigger audiences elsewhere. We don’t spend a lot of time chasing headlines. We don’t even spend a lot of time bemoaning how other places chase headlines! Instead we have made a practice of publishing good work and letting it speak for itself.

Even speaking on a personal level, I’m not sure there’s any other place where I could have written an essay like this one on viruses and early Christian debates over the resurrection. THR gave me space and time to develop as a writer and an editor, and I’m enduringly grateful to Jay Tolson and Leann Davis Alspaugh for their wisdom, time, help, and encouragement.

If you value this kind of work, and want future editors to have this kind of opportunity, please subscribe to the magazine. There is no substitute for subscribing when it comes to keeping this place running.

With gratitude,
B.D. McClay