Summer Guide 2013: The Backstory

It's been out for a couple of weeks, but we're hearing some pretty heated opinions about our June 12 issue, Summer Guide 2013. Here's what's up.

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When we settled on the theme for this year's Summer Guide—93 days of summer, 93 ways to enjoy them—we wanted to come up with a cover design that was engaging and captured the essence of summer. We wanted something that reflected not just the diversity of activities we would recommend readers pursue this summer, but also the diversity of our city.

As a staff, we developed a concept we thought would offer a different take on the city's cultural and extracurricular landscape. Each image on the cover relates to an activity profiled in the story.

The intent of our Summer Guide cover design was not to insult or denigrate any religion or ethnicity, but rather to incorporate an important part of Santa Fe's culture into an image that also unites other diverse cultures that flourish in our city. We do, however, appreciate our readers' perspectives on the issue, and we never intended to offend anyone.

Rather than creating rifts, we hope to foster an honest discussion about different interpretations of culture and the imagery that accompanies it. Ultimately, we hope this can contribute to greater mutual understanding and openness in our community.

Letters to the Editor

Mail letters to PO Box 4910 Santa Fe, NM 87502 or email them to editor[at]sfreporter.com. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to specific articles in the Reporter. Letters will be edited for space and clarity.

We also welcome you to follow SFR on social media (on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) and comment there. You can also email specific staff members from our contact page.