Hello, Baton Rouge. We’re Dig Magazine, and it’s great to meet you.

When someone is tooting their own horn a little too loudly, Germans refer to it as becoming “schmutzig,” or “dusty.” This week, on these two pages, we are making bold claims of ambition and ability. Only time will allow you to decide whether those claims held water, but today, with our first issue, we at Dig are all feeling pretty “dusty.” We’ve worked hard on this issue, busting hump to hit deadlines with new writers, and a new focus. In the future, I expect to fill these two pages up with insightful commentary from experts and e-mail letters from you, the readers. But, for this week, we’re using them to tell you what we are up to.

What is Dig, exactly? The tagline says it all, really: Baton Rouge, uncovered. That’s our goal, every week: to sort through everything there is to do, and everything that’s going on in the capital city, and tell you about the best of it. From music and nightlife to sports, to covering the campus that got us our start, to keeping a sharp and watchful eye on the city and state governments…we’re going to do all that.

‘Blah, blah,’ you say. ‘There’s not that much going on in Baton Rouge, and if I don’t know about it, then it must not be that important.’

I’ve already heard that song and dance, and I call shenanigans. There’s lots to do – there just isn’t a great place to find it. Baton Rouge has needed a substantial, quality-minded weekly for a long time, and we are ready to give it to you.

Although I have lived in other parts of Louisiana, I have only been in Baton Rouge a little while, and I have already found a staggering number of people who are putting their hearts and souls into amazing endeavors all over town. Our generation is ready to take the reigns and say, ‘This – this is our city…this is what we want it to be.’

There are very many beautiful events, shows, and people here, from ballet to bump-and-grind, from baristas to fashionistas. I think you should get to know them all. I want you to open our pages and find a restaurant you’ve never heard of (there’s one in this very issue, I bet!)

We aren’t stopping, there, though. This is an incredibly complex town, and many of the movers and players who live here are trying to make their mark on the city. Often, those plans are at odds with the ambitions and desires of others. There’s plenty going on at the surface; Dig will uncover the subterranean conflicts and interactions, too. You know: the unspoken, “understood” relationships, the networks of corruption that cause an area to stagnate – yeah, we’re going to report on those, too.

Essentially, we want to be your mirror: to admire your handsome lines, your clear, bright eyes…and to criticize your blemishes.

My writers are excited by Baton Rouge, and eager to present you with both the familiar and the foreign, week in and week out, 52 times a year. We are the evolution of Tiger Weekly, which paved the road for an alternative magazine in the city; think of it as Tiger putting on its “big boy pants.” Many of your favorite features from that magazine are going to remain in our pages, bolstered by a renewed commitment to bring you the best of the city.

There will also be much that is new, and I think you will find many surprises throughout our pages: a dramatic spike in the quality of our writing, more diverse coverage, a new passion for investigative journalism, and a profound respect for the city and all of the people who want to make it a more attractive place: a place to live and work and play, a place to stay. You’ll see it in our features: a profile of a great LSU athlete playing in the shadow of his legendary brother, or our story of two very different tigers. You notice it in our cover story, the most in-depth look at the efficacy of the film industry incentives the city has seen. We are here because we want to be here, because we think the city holds magnificent promise for the future…and we can’t wait to get to work for you.

If you have any more questions about Dig Magazine, are interested in getting involved, or want to write in a letter to the editor, please e-mail me: Editor@DigMagazine.com. Editorials should be written in-line in the body of the e-mail, and less than 200 words. I can’t wait to hear from you.