The past week has brought heartbreaking and bittersweet changes to The Weekly magazine. Heartbreaking in the lost of our friend and colleague Joy Michiel, and bittersweet as the staff learned of her death as the new owner of The Weekly assumed the reigns – myself.
Negotiations on the sale of The Weekly to me were finalized early last week and within hours we learned of Joy’s death. Words cannot describe the loss that current and former staff members at The Weekly have felt at her passing. Joy was an amazing person who always had a smile on her face and a laugh in her heart, she cherished her friends and never met anyone who wasn’t a friend, she loved and laughed with gusto, and lived her life with zeal. And, she was a consummate entertainer from her professional acting career that spanned the stage and screen to her support of the local arts to her donning one of her “Big Joy” personas to host The Weekly’s 30th anniversary party or to entertain at a chamber function or our booth at Truckee Thursdays. She truly was the heart of The Weekly.
We are preparing a tribute to Joy for our Dec. 5 edition with some of our favorite memories of her, including the covers that she appeared on. We thank everyone for the phone calls, e-mails and heartfelt notes on our Facebook page. All of the loving and funny memories have helped us get through the past week. And, her final stories appear in this issue in our entertainment and dining sections.
Her presence is still felt in our office and little things remind us every day of her spirit as we go about our day-to-day activities. I only wish that Joy could have been here to celebrate the newest chapter of The Weekly’s history as I realized my own dream to take over the ownership of the magazine. A dream that I know she would have embraced. But, as Joy would have said, “The show must go on.”
Changes at The Weekly
With the change in ownership of The Weekly and the loss of one of our family members, we’ll have some internal changes in the coming weeks. Long-time Publisher Charlie Good will be staying on for the time being to help with the transition, but he is eager to fulfill his own personal dreams in the financial world, and we wish him all the best in his new endeavor. In the meantime, The Weekly is looking for a full-time Sales Manager to join our family. I will take over as Publisher immediately and will be overseeing the editorial coverage of the magazine as Editor In Chief.
What will not change at The Weekly is our commitment to serving our readers and advertisers by producing a publication that captures the spirit of Tahoe and Truckee. We will continue our commitment to offering the best coverage in arts and entertainment, recreation, the outdoors and dining, and to serving our advertisers.
Katherine may be reached at publisher@tahoethisweek.com.
