Our Daily Journal columnists

Luckily for me, I can take inspiration from some of our columnists over the years who have shared their thoughts, opinions, observations and tidbits.

We started in 2000, but did not have columnists at first. The owners back then didn’t believe a newspaper should have opinions aside from letters to the editor. Sometimes I think maybe they were right. But not really.

Our first columnist was Michelle Durand, who wrote her column “Off the Beat” for about 12 years until 2014, when she left to work for the county. She was our most prolific columnist as she had two a week, and her way with words is still without peer. At some point, I’m going to convince her to come back.

Another early columnist was Bill Silverfarb, who wrote a column when he was a copy editor here for about two years. My favorite of his was when he wrote that the South San Francisco Industrial City sign should be removed. I wrote a column disagreeing, and I was a hero. But Bill was always bold.

Our longest columnist is Sue Lempert, who first wrote about the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in 2005. I recall thinking the Daily Journal finally made it when someone like Sue wanted to write for us, especially since those first few years were a bit shaky. No one is more loyal than Sue, and I am loyal to her. I still have her phone number memorized from when I was a reporter.

John Horgan, once of San Mateo Times and San Mateo County Times fame, has been writing for us since 2013 at times, but his first column for us was in late 2020. John would be remiss if he didn’t point out that his first column overall — typed on an old Underwood — was in the fall of 1963 for the Burlingame Advance Star. Since then, he has written more than 7 million words, including two books on local sports.

Craig Wiesner wrote his first piece for us in August 2014, but then transitioned to a regular, every-other-Monday columnist recently. His insight and story-telling are wonderful and always interesting.

Greg Wilson started in August 2018 after I started reading his blog post about Redwood City. I love the way he focuses on the nitty-gritty and I appreciate when he decides to even take a stand. His attention to detail is without peer.

Mark Simon started in September 2019, after a long career at the San Francisco Chronicle and then SamTrans. Most people like Mark, and those who don’t just haven’t talked to him enough. He’s smart, reasonable and understanding. His BS detector is almost as good as mine, and he likes to put that in writing, which sometimes rubs people the wrong way. But it’s amazing how he can pull information from people with just a simple, “So how are you doing?” as a launch point.

And Annie Tsai has provided her unique mix of business savvy, world awareness and community immersion since 2023. We are lucky to have her.

We have also been blessed with the late Dorothy Dimitre, the late Keith Kreitman and the late Darold Fredricks. Dorothy had a keen interest in health, and I’d be interested to know what she thought of RFK Jr. Keith started out conservative and ended up liberal and I’d be interested to know what he thought of our last two presidents. And Darold, he was a master of history, along with Jim Clifford, Paul Buchanan and Joan Levy, who all wrote about our past and how it informs our present. It’s been a while since we’ve had a history columnist, and I’d be interested in bringing it back if anyone wants to do it.

On the right, we have had Jonathan Madison, John McDowell and Matt Grocott, who boldly took stances that weren't always popular with all of our readers, but that resonated with many.

We have also had Jill Hipps, who wrote our “Guilty Pleasures” column about reality TV; Cheri Lucas, who wrote excellent book reviews; David Bratman, who writes our concert reviews; and Judy Richter, who writes our theater reviews. And don’t forget our Student News columnists over the years that began with Grace Kallis back in 2001. Her column “Graceland” launched the Student News column and the Daily Journal high school internship program for that matter.

I would absolutely be remiss if I didn’t mention Susan Cohn, and all her columns and contributions over the years. She is a true friend of the Daily Journal and believes in its essential role in our community. Susan has done so much for the Daily Journal over the years, it’s really hard to quantify. Working with photographer extraordinaire Tom Jung, she has filled our pages with important community news over the years.

Columnists are part of our Daily Journal family, and such an important part of our community. We are better for them. We are looking for one or two more so if anyone is interested in joining, just shoot me a note and let me know.

Jon Mays is the editor in chief of the Daily Journal. He can be reached at jon@smdailyjournal.com. Follow Jon on X @jonmays or Instagram @j.onmays.