In Philadephia, a dirty alt-weekly entering its 10th year of publication was finding its place. While in its past, the Philadelphia City Paper was something of a forum for people and things on the fringes, in 1991—its page count pushing into the 50s—one gets the feeling that Schimmel, Warner, Curci et al. were beginning to appreciate the sway they held and began wielding it with a sense of obligation. Unsigned editorials became a regular feature of the paper.

In the Jan. 18 edition, for instance, we wrote of the military's efforts to restrict media access: "This could be the first Made-for-TV War, with network and local news departments acting more like sports reporters than journalists."

We ran editorials each week leading up to the war's kickoff, and a cover package that posed the question, "Did Nostradamus really predict the current crisis?"

But while we were concentrating on the Middle East, there was a city to cover, too. Could Sam Katz edge out Frank Rizzo? (As it turned out, no.) Should we boycott PAFA's Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit because it was sponsored by anti-abortion Domino's Pizza? (Yes, we decided.) We ran cover stories on virtual reality and soup. We compiled our list of the Dirty Dozen, the top 12 sources of industrial air pollution in the city (the Chevron and Sun refineries at numbers 1 and 2 combined to make Southwest Philly a lovely neighborhood indeed). We endorsed Sam Katz (aw) and Ed Rendell in the mayoral primaries. We hired our first copy editor (God bless you, Joseph Stinson, wherever you are). Our political operative Larry Richette bid farewell to the deceased Frank "The Bambino" Rizzo. A.D. profiled Mikey Wild and went drag. We welcomed Chuck Eddy, Sarah Dunn, Isadora Alman, Mark Cofta (briefly), Toby Zinman, Mpozi Tolbert and David Warner's "DW" column (wherein he introduced readers to CP's short-lived mandatory siesta and sold off his life-sized Gloria Vanderbilt cardboard cutout).

After the war, we started banging the drum against Clarence Thomas, predicting his "return to private life." In November, we ran a cover story called "The Battered Bill of Rights" all about how the Rehnquist court was gonna like, sap our freedoms in the next 30 years or whatever.

We're counting down (or up) to our 25th anniversary. Next week: 1992! Tom Tomorrow! Jimmie's Used Auto Parts! Anxiety! Howard Altman!