Emdashes. Modern Times Between the Lines.
Best of Emdashes: Hit Parade
A Web Comic: The Wavy Rule
Before it moved to The New Yorker:
Ask the Librarians archive
About Emdashes | Email us
Features & Columns:
Headline Shooter
On the Spot
Looked Into
Sempé Fi: Cover Art
Report from the Toronto Globe and Mail:
As a counterpoise to the success of Cosmo's unrelenting diet of "passion polls" and "hot sex workout tips," the purchase of more serious U.S. periodicals appears to be on the rise here, although not astronomically so. Harper's, for example, had paid circulation of 26,406 in 2005, up more than 10,000, or 60 per cent, from 2000. Similarly, The New Yorker weekly gained more than 4,000 subscribers and single-copy buyers in that same period, to report a 2005 circulation of almost 20,000. The influential newsweekly The Economist, its North American edition also published out of New York, has experienced even more impressive and steadier growth, seeing its Canadian circulation of 43,123 in 2000 climb to 55,538 in 2005.
Now if only those subscribers could submit to the caption contest! Speaking of Canada, in case you missed it, you know about the gay Mounties who got married last month, right? There's a reason I'm proud to be half-Canadian: It's a great country, despite its flaws. As the Arrogant Worms sing, "We won't say that we're better, it's just that we're less worse."
About us
Hello! We're a small band of media enthusiasts, culture addicts, and journalists based in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Emdashes, formerly a New Yorker fan site, is our collection of conversations—mostly civilized—about magazines, movies, politics, design, punctuation, and other things that stir us.
You'd like to know more about the writers and artists and what our column titles mean? We live to serve!
We welcome tips, questions, comments, and corrections, and are always on the lookout for ardent, obsessive new contributors. Click here to email us.
We host occasional book giveaways. Publishers, please email us for our postal address.
Tell me more
Dashes, some say, “are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex.” Emdashes—like an em dash itself—provides a thoughtful pause amid the hubbub.
Emdashes, founded in 2004, is written and drawn by Emily Gordon, Martin Schneider, Pollux, Jonathan Taylor, and Benjamin Chambers, as well as occasional guest contributors. All posts before October 2008 are by Emily Gordon.
The site was designed by House of Pretty with illustrations by Jesse R. Ewing.
Additional drawings are by Carolita Johnson and Pollux (author of our web comic, "The Wavy Rule"). The Emdashes pencil logo is by Jennifer Hadley, based on a 1943 Dorothy Gray ad.
Other writing by Emily Gordon
- Writing on theater: reviews (for Time Out Chicago; imperfect but workable search results)
- Profile: Valerie Casey, Designers Accord founder, is spearheading the design of sustainability (for SXSW World)
- Feature: Rea Irvin: visionary art director, bon vivant, New Yorker founding father (for Print)
- Slide show: the Coney Island Mermaid Parade (for NYCgo.com)
- Feature: Muslim immigration iconography in the Netherlands, and an interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali (for Print)
- Review: King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman (for Newsday)
- Homage: Celebrating lindy-hop legend Frankie Manning (for NYCgo.com)
- Inquiry: Does a New Republic redesign mean a change of tune? (for Print)
- Interview: James Surowiecki on what's next for the wisdom of crowds (for Assignment Zero)
- Interviews: four up-and-coming designers under 30 (for Print)
- Profile: novelist and dance critic Laura Jacobs (for Newsday)
Blogroll highlights
- Box Office Boffo
- World of Pollux
- Jonathan Taylor
- Carolita Johnson
- Songs for blogroll lovers (more links)
- Follow us on Twitter
- Befriend us on Facebook
- Get a t-shirt at the Emdashes store
No fear
Everything you tell or send us is off the record unless we ask for your permission to use it.
Comments
Hi Emily! I saw the news on “Daily Media News Feed.” Pretty cool. “In a rare move for a magazine as well-gate-kept as the New Yorker, Emily Gordon’s blog emdashes has launched “Ask The Librarians,” a monthly column by Jon Michaud and Erin Overbey, head librarians at the New Yorker. And they get to the question everyone wants the answer to: Are New Yorker cartoons fact-checked?”
Hey Caroline! Send in some questions—bet you’ll have excellent ones.