Whatever it is that the NAJP becomes will inevitably not be what the NAJP was. That includes the name. With the input of former fellows, staff, advisers, etc. the new Board will need to delineate the functions of the organization. These may include fellowships, mentorships, advocacy, contract negotiation, professional development, access to group health insurance, and other activities: more or more likely, less. Fundraising will be key; just as it's rare to find that (edible) free lunch, we're not likely to accomplish anything for nothing, or without staff. Organizing as a not-for-profit or other structure elegible to receive and process funds will be a first order of literal business; establishing a membeship system is also a priority, and will help define the "NAJP," whatever it's called and wherever it's based.

As a founding mother of the Association of Independents in Radio I've been through the founding and finding of a membership organization of fiesty souls. It took years, and the organization continues to morph, as any living organism must.

This coming academic year, I will hold the Lehman Brady Chair in Documentary and American Studies at Duke University and UNC. I've spent many years as a generalist arts journalist (primarily for National Public Radio), and am a passionate advocate for something other than mediocre slime passing for real coverage of the arts, and of the need for more cultural features and criticism on the air, in print, and in the ethers.