Just a few short years ago, General Motors was in big trouble. Their dogged refusal to adequately address the needs of the American consumer had made them non-competitive with foreign car manufacturers. Then the great recession hit and the government bailout rescued GM.

Just slightly more than a year ago, Birmingham was faced with a 77 million dollar deficit. The city was reeling from the many misdeeds of former Mayor Larry Langford, and the city government was in shambles. On top of that, we were in the midst of the great recession, which hit all of us hard and created a bleak landscape where progress for the city and hope for a better future seemed distant at best.

The road to chef was also earth-spanning. He got a job in the faculty club at UC Berkeley to help support his way through college and ended up as the manager. After attending college in the ’70s, he followed a girl to Paris and while there he bummed around and got work cooking in some restaurants.

All Jesse Chambers wants to do is write and write and write. This is a man who, at the age of 50, decided the written word was his true calling, and he is not to be distracted—except for when he became editor of Birmingham Weekly three and a half months ago… reluctantly. Jesse knew that he was the only one who could step in and provide the necessary skills the paper needed in a very difficult time. His natural talent and a refusal to accept less than the best he can give, qualities that make Jesse an excellent writer, are the same things that made him a top-notch editor. He has worked tireless hours and, as regular readers of the paper know, it shows.

As a native Californian, I was excited when I moved to Birmingham in November 1999. From all appearances, the Magic City had nothing but an upside. How could a place with three fouryear colleges, including a major medical school; thriving nightlife; a burgeoning food scene; and a great music tradition be anything but exciting and ready to burst at the seams?