Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

There’s a quiet poeticness to cover subject Diana Solís’ work. The Mexico-born photographer prefers for her stills to do the talking, and doesn’t fuss about whatever recognition her pieces might garner. Being fixated on her work leaves little room for, as she puts it, adding too much crema to her tacos.

Learning more about the Pilsen resident’s approach, I see distinct parallels between her and our exiting publisher Tracy Baim. There are a lot of good things to say about Baim and her leadership, which effectively saved this publication from shuttering. Certainly more than could ever fit in this space. The thing is, Tracy wouldn’t want for that to be my focus.

She wasn’t out for laurels in the fall of 2018 when she joined the Reader when it was at the precipice of a shutdown; a year later when she fought to reshape the operation into a nonprofit; or during a global health crisis that, along with irreplaceable human loss, saw our industry decimated. Through it all, Baim admirably kept the ship afloat, and launched as many diversified products as she could muster: Camping mugs! Cookbooks! A coloring book! And just about anything else you could think of. It was our “dancing for dollars” phase, as she calls it.

Our little jig era gave us another industry-wide distinction, as no staffers were laid off during the pandemic.

Last summer, when I first started flirting with this job, Baim announced her plans to step down. Being aware of her reputation, and having worked under some publishers who can be described as questionable at best, I had but one question for her during our initial chat: “Is there anything I can do to keep you onboard longer?” She turned me down with a polite chuckle. She felt her job was done, and it was time for new blood to take charge. That’s another thing you don’t see very often among media types—knowing when to step aside in order to give space to someone else. That’s another common thread shared with Solís, who also works as an educator to inspire youth and immigrant families to create art from their distinct point of view.

Enter Solomon Lieberman, whose dynamic point of view will aid in ushering in a new Reader era. “It connects my entire life at this chapter,” Lieberman said of his new role during a recent WBEZ interview.

Welcome to the team, Solomon. You have big shoes to fill. Sensible Skechers to be exact.

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