What's next for Ken: Launching Sixty Miles East

You may have noticed I haven't been in your inbox as much the last couple of months. I'd be lying if I said this wasn't a huge disappointment. My permanent employment at the Raincross Gazette has ended. I would have retired from the Gazette if that was possible.

Justin and I explicitly knew the risks and uncertainties involved in my hiring. The newspaper business is tough. Much of what Justin is doing is groundbreaking, and with that comes uncertainty.

I found a lot of love at the Gazette, both from Justin and Amy and from the readers. I'm proud to have been part of the growth that happened during my tenure. My relationship with Justin remains strong. I have a great deal of love and respect for him and don't fault him for doing what's best for his business.

I'm happy to continue contributing to the Gazette, even in a diminished role. I believe in what the Raincross Gazette is doing and that small media is the future.

The end of my permanent employment at the Gazette coincided with the opening of the Sixty Miles East exhibit at Riverside Art Museum. The show is a collection of photos, flyers, and ephemera from the punk, ska, and hardcore scenes in Riverside during the 1990s.

This is something I'd been working on with Riversider Magazine publisher and longtime friend Zach Cordner. We'd been working on the exhibition since before I started at Raincross Gazette. We spent hundreds of hours collecting photos and flyers, connecting with principal actors in the '90s music scene in Riverside, and curating mountains of material into something that made sense in a gallery space.

The show, up until April at RAM, has been successful beyond expectation. It was clear we'd found an itch that needed scratching. The community support and excitement had us looking for ways to capture the energy generated at the exhibit and create something more permanent to fill the void that had been revealed.

Sixty Miles East is about Riverside's relationship to Los Angeles. It's about the chip on our shoulder that comes from living in the shadow of a cultural juggernaut. We feel that Riverside has made and continues to make significant contributions to the art, music, and culture world. It's clear that LA media isn't going to tell our story. Why should they?

Sixty Miles East is launching as a Riverside identity art and culture brand that will work to tell our city's arts story from an insider perspective.

We believe something special is happening as Riverside has committed to becoming a city of the arts, and we have the platform to get that story to the people of the city.

We aren't sure exactly what Sixty Miles East will look like in the future, but you can follow us on Instagram while we figure that out We've begun sponsoring events at RAM and The Cheech and at the Farmhouse Collective. This allows me to dive deeply into what I feel most passionately about.

I'm grateful for the year and a half Justin gave me at the Gazette and look forward to continuing to contribute in the future. Beyond the work itself, I've appreciated all of the community love and support for me and my family as we endured the catastrophic fire that destroyed our house. It's the first question most of you ask when you see me, and knowing I have the readers behind me has been sustaining. We're happy to announce we're back home for the holidays. I appreciate all of you who have supported me.