Lysa Hansen and Deverick Martin
January 2005 | From the Editor
Harmony in the Change
by Bob Condor
The first time Deverick Martin and I met we lunched at a steakhouse. Neither of us ordered beef.
I considered it the first chord in what turned out to be a harmonious relationship during our year-plus together as the leaders of Evergreen Monthly.
That harmony will continue even as Deverick steps down as publisher this month to “take some time off” for himself. He will continue as a partner and investor in Dragonfly Media, our parent company, and surely be involved with selected Evergreen Monthly projects. For one thing, we anticipate his gracious presence at a gathering this month of the Evergreen Citizens from 2004.
Deverick has many admirers among our readers and advertisers. They will wonder about what he truly plans to do — trust me, it will be life-giving, whatever he chooses — once the time off concept wears off (if it ever does).
“When people press me,” says Deverick, who has one of the world’s great laughs, “I just tell them I am following the natural progression from transportation engineer [in his native Alaska] to metaphysical publisher [of The New Times], and eager to find out the next step.”
One of Deverick’s biggest admirers, Lysa Hansen, is moving into the publisher’s seat here at Evergreen Monthly. She is grateful for the opportunity and even more thankful for her predecessor.
“Deverick has shown me a kinder, gentler — and smarter — way to run a publication,” says Lysa, who joined us as advertising director in mid-2004 after eight successful years as senior manager/national sales at Seattle Weekly.
It’s only fitting that Deverick’s final issue as publisher broke all ad sales records and features our exclusive profile of Wayne Dyer. Deverick has consistently but unassumingly talked of intention since that first day in the steakhouse.
Funny thing, Deverick says one of the reasons he feels he can step down is that Lysa herself has exhibited such a strong yet reassuring presence with our staff — I’ll second that — and in the community. We are all happy to have Lysa as a leader.
It doesn’t surprise anyone around our offices that Lysa studies with Rodney Smith at the Seattle chapter of the Insight Meditation Society or that she is pursuing a master’s degree in psychology at Antioch University Seattle. She’s got a lot of that kinder, gentler, smarter groove going herself.
The first time Lysa and I met we lunched on tacos. No beef, of course. The most recent time we shared some food was during a last-minute get-together with some EM advertisers and friends to meet Ron Williams, our CEO and executive editor at Dragonfly Media, and Rebecca Ephraim, editor of our Whole Health section. Lysa and I were noshing at night’s end and quietly savoring the gathering of folks from all parts of our community.
“It’s been a great night,” said Lysa. “People were genuinely interested in talking to each other and discovering all of the amazing things people here are doing to make the community a better place. People were turned on that others had the same interests.”
In that moment, Lysa was describing our mission at Evergreen Monthly. We intend to put together people who share the same interest in making Seattle and the Puget Sound area a better and healthier place. It is our job to inspire readers and advertisers alike. We have plenty of loyalty and compassion for the planet at large, too, and we won’t shy from any discussion of spirituality in these pages. We enjoy lovingly prepared, delicious and wholesome food — and 2005 will show it with expanded food coverage (see Nora West’s “Kitchen Notebook,”). What’s more, we believe in social good and positive news.
In this case, the social good is in whatever Deverick Martin chooses to do next, while the positive news is Lysa Hansen becomes an even bigger part of the harmony at Evergreen Monthly. Good vibes, all the way around.
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