De-commissioned: Not a good day for quality magazines published in the south as The Commission, a magazine published by Southern Baptists regarding international missions, is closing after 65 years. I am familiar with this magazine (or, at least, used to be many years ago) and know of its incredible legacy of photo journalism - near National Geographic quality. Hate to see it close.

Gawkin’: A steady stream of gossip, much of it about the New York magazine scene, flows on the blog, Gawker. Why does it not surprise me there’s an Alabama connection? Elizabeth Spiers, the 26-year-old “woman behind Gawker” is from Wetumpka, according to a profile of her on mediabistro.com. Had I known this, I would have given her the secret handshake (see #3) at the Boston bloginar we both recently attended. For those not familiar with her blog, here’s a post from earlier this week that captures her wit.

We won’t: Marc Smirnoff is quoted in today’s NY Times as saying,
“Never bet against this magazine.”