Gawker: jewcy

Blog Startup Surrenders Profit Dreams, Becomes Literal Charity Case

Ryan Tate — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:34:37 EDT

It's not just America's sad newspapers that are considering converting to nonprofits: The blog Jewcy.com has transformed from potential profit gusher into the beneficiary of tax-deductible contributions. At least people are getting paid.

Jewcy's backers pulled out in February and the site has been run since then by volunteers, under the stewardship of editor Lilit Marcus. Now Jewcy has been "adopted" as the "flagship program" of the Jewish charitable non-profit JDub; the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles has already committed to funding the site, allowing the editor and at least some writers to get paid once again.

If the site had trouble converting traffic into money, perhaps that's because it was short on raw material: Traffic stands at around 200 people per day, by Quantcast's admittedly imperfect reckoning. UPDATE: A Jewcy spokesman says the site has close to 120,000 unique visitors per month, vs. the 8,000 monthly visitors reported by Quantcast.

When's the Rightest to Fire Someone?

Sheila — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:40:43 EDT

In today's multicultural, politically correct workplace, large swaths of the year are de facto off-limits for firing people. It's cruel to let them go right before holidays—so Christmas is out, as is New Year's. Then there's Ramadan, Hanukkah... oh, and you probably shouldn't fire a black person on, say, Martin Luther King day. Also, check the calender to make sure it isn't the laid-off employee's birthday. Really, there's no good time to fire someone. In the middle of their shift? At the end of the day? When their mom has cancer? But whatever you do, you really shouldn't fire someone from a Jewish website today, on the eve of Yom Kippur:

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I am very sad to report that after 14 months of hard work — often
solitary, always effective — for Jewcy.com, I've been let go. I
spent the majority of my time with Jewcy very passionate and
optimistic about the possibilities for the site, and I know that many
of you felt the same way. Thanks to everyone who contributed and
participated during my tenure with Jewcy. It has been a pleasure
working with you all, and I am a better person for it.

...Despite being let go on Erev Yom Kippur — with no notice and no
severance — I wish the Jewcy family a happy, healthy, and healing new
year.

Ugh. Mazel tov.

Team Party Crash: Jewcy Launch Party @ Ars Nova

abalk2 — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 15:30:31 EST

Last evening, as the days grew ever closer to Christmas, we decided to investigate whether Judith Regan's allegations of a Jewish media cabal were true, and so we headed to the launch-slash-holiday party for Jewcy.com. More than one person has informed us that Jewcy is the "Jewish Slate" (a moniker which we find almost redundant, but never mind), and the scene at the Ars Nova penthouse (more on that later) was appropriately intellectual Jew-y, with some low-cut-dress-wearing shiksas thrown in for good measure. We sent along Gawker Associate Editor Doree Shafrir, herself a member of the Jewish media cabal, and resident Gawker photographer Nikola Tamindzic , himself a celebrator of Orthodox Christmas, which isn't even in December, to see what was what.

I arrive at the Ars Nova building, a theater on West 54th Street in the far west bowels of Hell's Kitchen, and am greeted by a skinny man with a clipboard wearing what appears to be the tightest shirt I've ever seen. He's guarding the list as if to save his life, and once we pass muster we're allowed upstairs into what appears to be someone's quite fancy apartment. We're talking Miele hoods here, people! Lots of Jews are milling about, getting drinks from two gay bartenders, one of whom is wearing a Shalom, Motherfucker T-shirt. Apparently being a member of the cool Jew movement requires wearing ironically sloganed T-shirts, and I felt woefully underdressed. I couldn't quite decide what the vibe was—on the one hand, it felt like a fancy cocktail party, and the top-shelf liquor was a nice touch (though my Jewish parents certainly never had Dewar's, much less Maker', on hand). On the other hand, the Asian DJ was playing some of the worst club music I'd ever heard. Also, the lights were too bright, thereby accentuating some of the not-so-young men's chest hair. Not a good look!

We were looking for signs of a media and/or publishing cabal, and while we did spot many dorky writers, they could hardly be said to be cabalistic. (Sorry, bad joke!) But we did notice that the brownies on the table had been baked with the blood of Christian children, so perhaps that Regan was onto something. Merry Hanukkah, everyone!

Jewcy Launch Party [Photos]