Readers received instructions on how to craft the newspaper into items like Halloween masks or piñatas, then would send in photographs of their finished projects. In some cases, the team would get dozens of pictures.
“There were a lot of great elements in the section that might lead to the possibility of a new section, or could be put to use elsewhere in the paper,” said Tom Jolly, associate masthead editor, who oversees the print newspaper.
At Home “rose to the moment, because it was a moment,” Mr. Jolly added, referring to the pandemic’s impact on everyone. “That’s one of the things that made the section unique: It was a touchstone for that experience.”
The feedback from readers — both positive and negative — continually helped the team refine its offerings. “The mental health tips are great — the list of superlatives is endless,” one reader wrote. Another was “appalled” by the plates of untouched food in a dirty sink featured on one cover.
“I love to see that circle develop where readers are seeing themselves in our coverage,” Mr. Sifton said. “And we’re seeing them and assigning coverage that allows that to continue.”
The twice-weekly digital At Home newsletter, written by Melissa Kirsch, an assistant editor for Culture and Lifestyle, will continue — it will change to At Home and Away this week and will touch on travel — as will her monitoring of the At Home inbox. Reader emails provided “a sense of the global community of people that were mostly at home during this time,” Ms. Kirsch said.
The newsletter beckons people to write in and often incorporates their musings or responses to prompts. A friendly instruction toward the bottom says, simply, “Tell us.”
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/30/insider/at-home-section-ends.html
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