By Allison McDonald

Welcome! I am thrilled to be leading the revival of the Amherst Current and am so glad you’re here. As Nick and Sarah wrote in their announcement, I approached them earlier this Fall about this idea. Here’s why I was interested in bringing the Current back.

In the wake of my resignation, along with two others, from school committee, many in our community have been talking about the nature of public discourse here, much of which is described as anything but civil. In the months since I first wrote and spoke about the misinformation, personal smears, and maligning of character and reputation that too often takes over the public discourse, I’ve learned that I am far from alone in wanting a different sort of discourse in our community.

There is a movement afoot to work to change this. Recently, I joined a diverse group of 18 Amherst residents in a facilitated community conversation around civic dialogue. Among the many things I learned during the 2+ hours we were together is that many of us — not just public and elected officials — experience the sting of personalized discourse in many different contexts. More importantly, we all expressed a desire to find ways to help shift toward more civil dialogue in our community.

The current state of discourse in Amherst has a harmful impact not just on the individuals serving our community in public and elected roles, but also on decision-making and broader public participation. There’s a need for a platform to model, invite, and support the kind of issues dialogue many of us want for our community.

The Amherst Current in just a short time became a trusted source for information and perspective about big topics in town. I believe it has the potential to serve as such a platform.

I spent the last month exploring the idea of bringing it back, talking and listening to many people around town. I heard about their concerns and hopes for public discourse, and their ideas for a newly formed Current. I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and give this a go, though I won’t be alone. I’ll be working with a core group of editorial advisors to curate and present information that matters for our town and community. 

The Amherst Current is grounded in a few core principles:

1. Educate and inform — we will seek to explain and build understanding, not to persuade.
2. Evidence-based — our content will be based in facts, not supposition or assumption.

We’ll also continue the Current’s comment policy that’s long been in place, and invite comments that are respectful, truthful, and do not include speculation or personal attacks. We welcome expressions of disagreement, whether mild or vigorous, that align with our comment policy. Let’s model and support the kind of robust civic dialogue that will help our town and community thrive.

Our aim is to post weekly beginning with an election night recap on Tuesday, November 7. Do you have a story suggestion? Is there a topic you want to know more about? Do you want to submit a post? Email me! allison@theamherstcurrent.org

I’m excited to embark on this journey with all of you.