“He was ferocious about giving people opportunity — especially creatively — in the city," he said, and “fought for a lot of people’s ability to write and publish or edit and do whatever on a larger stage.”

Jeff Lawrence: My grandmother died, and she left my father some money. I got $40 grand. So I went swimming at the Somerville YMCA—I love to swim—and then afterwards, I was sitting in a hot tub. I was still really trying to find my place in this world in my mid-20s, and was like, “I need to do something.” Shovel had become successful insofar as people were calling me up and buying ads, but I had no clue in terms of publishing. I had a background in journalism and working for a college newspaper, but I didn’t know the inner-workings. I don’t have a degree in business. But all of a sudden it just hits me; “The fucking Phoenix has no competition! I need to start a weekly!”

The Dig, which folded in 2023, once boasted an all-star lineup of up-and-coming writers over the years, including authors Luke O’Neil, Baratunde Thurston, Michael Brodeur (a former Globe staffer who’s now a classical music critic at The Washington Post), and Chris Faraone, now the editorial director of the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism.  source