By Michael Durand

It was a lucky day for the Richmond Review and Sunset Beacon newspapers when Megan Robertson came to our desk at an event last year and asked if we needed any writers.

“We’re always looking for great writers,” I tell everyone who asks that question.

Luckily, Megan is a terrific writer, and more. She was the editor of the student newspaper at the University of San Francisco, The San Francisco Foghorn.

We had lunch not too long ago to discuss if she wanted to take on responsibilities beyond being a contributing writer. Lucky for us all, she said “yes.”

Starting with this issue, Megan is our new features editor. Congratulations, Megan! In addition to being smart and talented, she is really friendly, which goes a very long way in this often cruel world.

I am so delighted to have Megan take on a leadership role and look forward to continue to grow and improve our neighborhood papers with her and our great team.

New Writers

In addition to Megan, I have said “yes!” to a growing number of writers who are looking for a place to share their talent.

It is so energizing to know that young people are interested in journalism. We often tend to think in cliche terms; young people only read their phones. Not true!

Two of our interns, not far beyond their college years, have confessed they don’t use social media.

I’m close to 70 and I have five Facebook pages and two Instagram accounts. I avoid NextDoor and only read X to see what nonsense conspiracies are spreading. When a site is filled with videos of people punching each other, it’s time to run the other way.

Back to our writers, I am impressed by the level of talent of the people who have stepped forward and offered to work on stories for the paper. One writer gradated from the University of Oregon with a journalism degree.

Another new writer graduated with a degree in computer science but decided she didn’t want to sit in front of a computer screen full time for the rest of her life. She saw a stack of Richmond Reviews at a coffee shop where she works and thought journalism might be a fun endeavor. It gets you out into the world, meeting people and learning about new things. I met with her and she is terrific. By the way, she graduated from Harvard!

I am still in awe of the writer who has published four or five stories already – before he has gone to high school! He is 13 years old and an excellent journalist. I am thrilled to have him work with us. I am also thrilled to have a writer in her 80s!

I could go on and on – the list of writers is approaching 30 people.

It gives me immense pleasure to be able to offer writing opportunities to these terrific people.

Online Comments

I have been trying to find the right balance between giving people an opportunity to share their views and keeping the negative, nasty personal attacks from slipping by. I don’t like the idea of censorship, but I also don’t like it when people devolve into negative smears and name calling against other commenters.

I have been very liberal with allowing letter writers and commenters to exceed word limits, especially online, but that has resulted in some less-than-desirable comments.

To discourage abuse, I will be enforcing the word limit for letters to the editor to 350 for the newspaper (as listed in the Announcements section on page 12) and letters to the editor on our website to 500 words.

RichmondSunsetNews.com averages 20,000 views per month. I am the person who needs to approve comments, and I’m going to keep a closer eye on the personal jabs. Thank you for sticking to the facts and not going after individuals.

Patreon Accounts

Thanks once again to our donors and Patreon supporters. Your contributions really help us keep this newspaper alive and we are very grateful for your generosity.

I came up with the idea of having Patreon plans for businesses. Many small businesses have thin to no budgets for advertising, so I created affordable ways for them to get the word out to our readers. A chart on our website shows options starting as low as $10 per month. There are a few businesses and organizations taking advantage of those low rates, but we would like to expand the list. We are very proud and grateful to have the support of the San Francisco Symphony!

Here’s an idea: If you have a favorite local business that could use some help, maybe you, or you and some friends, can set up a Patreon account for them. For as little as $25 per month, the business can get a couple of printed ads in the newspaper and a couple online every year.

Birthdays and Pet Pix

I am very happy with the response to our call for photos of your beloved pets. We started out posting photos of one pet per month, but the volume of submissions has allowed us to publish several in this issue. It is heartwarming to know how loved these pets are.

Same with the birthdays list. A lot of people get a great feeling when they see their names in the paper. I still have a clipping from my hometown paper, Merrick Life, when they wrote a one-paragraph story about a little league game when I was the starting pitcher. I was probably 12 years old.

If you know someone who might like seeing their name in print, we list birthdays for free in our Announcements section.

Good Luck Bruno

The owner of Rolling-Out Cafe at 1722 Taraval St. is pulling up stakes and moving his operation to downtown San Diego. Bruno Tse, a chemist-turned-baker, worked very hard for 13 years to keep his business going. He can testify that running a business in San Francisco is no easy feat. We’ll miss his warm smile, his kindness and tasty treats. We wish him the best of luck in mostly fog-free Southern California.

Good Eats on Taraval

While we’re in the Parkside neighborhood, I’m happy to recommend two great eateries on Taraval near 25th Avenue: Lou’s Cafe and Golden Boy Pizza.

I highly recommend trying Lou’s sandwiches if you haven’t already. So good! I go about once a week and love it. My favorite: roast beef on Dutch crunch with Swiss cheese and everything, plus Lou’s sauce and light on the jalapeno spread.

Not long ago, Golden Boy Pizza opened a to-go location diagonally across from Lou’s. I have been going to the North Beach location for more than four decades. I’m have gone a few times a year since the early 1980s and so far have only had the clam and garlic slice. I’m addicted.

Thank you

As often as I can, I have a table at local events. Every time people come up to our desk and thank us for the work we do, it truly inspires us to know we are appreciated. I thank you back for your loyal readership.

Michael Durand is the editor and publisher of the Richmond Review and Sunset Beacon newspapers and the RichmondSunsetNews.com website. He can be reached at Editor@RichmondSunsetNews.com.