What’s that saying? “Once bitten, twice shy”? Whatever the opposite of that is–that’s me.

Naive? Guileless? Maybe even a bit stubborn?

I’m learning–as events surrounding the development of 24SevenCities have transpired–that I don’t really learn.

Case in point: When I started this thing, I started it with my best friend, Allison. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, we left our jobs as editors at PFW with a resolve to make the best, edgiest, most brilliant alternative magazine that this place has ever seen.

It sort of worked. We produced some beautiful print mags and a dope-looking website, which you are currently viewing.

But then shit got hard. And to be honest, I’m saying that euphemistically. What I mean to say is shit got really, really hard. Click here to read a woe-is-me blog I posted in the midst of our trials and tribulations.

At the end of it all, Allison left the project. All of the reasons attributing to her decision are not totally clear to me, and I really can’t speak for her, but I will say this: To do what we set out to do, 1 you have to be ready to take on a boatload of responsibility, and 2 you have to be committed to this area.

What I’m clearly not saying is that part of the rift had anything to do with an age-old point of advice that would be very appropriate in our situation–to never go into business with your friends.

Which is why I say that the proverb “Once bitten, twice shy” is seriously not me. After re-committing myself to the responsibilities of this project and to the Seven Cities, I took on as my partner… my boyfriend, Jesse.

OK, give me a chance here to explain; I promise there’s sense in it.

First, Jesse’s resume is pretty impressive. It embarrasses him when I say this, but it’s actually a major reason we got together a year ago. I was just kicking things off with the magazine, and we met by happenstance just as writers. After discussing the possibility of him contributing, I looked at his resume and thought, ‘Is this guy for real?’ He was (and is) working on his third graduate degree, an MFA in Creative Writing from ODU. His second is a Masters in Journalism from NYU. He’s published in The New York Times, edited papers in Montauk and San Diego, produced a documentary series that was featured on BET. He hitch-hiked across Ireland, working on organic farms. He crewed some hundred-year-old Dutch ship. He volunteered in South Africa.

I’m not proud to say that rather than hiring him, I started dating him.

Which brings me to my second point of why working with him now makes sense: Jesse calls me out on my shit. We’ll see how this factor pans out–it may very well end in some kind of murder-suicide, but I remain hopeful that this dynamic is a good thing. I’m pride-full. And, as I said, stubborn. I tend not to think I’m wrong. So having a partner who, as a boyfriend, can tell me when I’m being an idiot, or when I can be better, is very much a blessing.

As an article from American Journalism Review, “Married with Bylines,” reports: “Evidence of journalistic matrimony abounds. Some couples are well known, like former Washington Post Executive Editor Benjamin Bradlee and Sally Quinn, an erstwhile Style staffer at that paper. Or Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wu Dunn of the New York Times, who shared a 1989 Pulitzer Prize for their reporting on China. Or Ann Devroy of the Washington Post and Mark Matthews of Baltimore’s Sun, married competitors. Merrill McLoughlin and Michael Ruby, who are married, are co-editors of U.S. News & World Report.”

Personally I see us as a little like Connie Chung and Maury Povich, but I don’t think Jesse agrees.

Anyhow, here’s hoping that my purported naivety and Jesse’s experience and influence will be the best things that ever happened to 24SevenCities (and to me). If we don’t kill each other, we may very well be the partnership that was able to produce the best, edgiest, most brilliant alternative magazine to appear in the area. Fingers are crossed, and breath is bated…

Wish us luck.

Click here to read Jesse’s take on partnering with me.