A huge double high-five to former Mercury Music Editor Julianne Shepherd, who scored a piece in New York Times earlier this week (on a Sunday no less). Along the way she’s contributed to the pages of the Village Voice, Spin, Vibe and even lent a hand to those cocksucking nerds at Pitchfork.

I think I speak for everyone here when I tell you how happy, jealous and hopeful this makes me.

Julianne was the one who first gave me a chance to write here at the Mercury. We met a barbershop on MLK where she was interviewing Libretto. I was a photo intern and I told her I wanted to write. She gave me a chance, god bless her.

So thanks, Julianne, and continued success in the world of giants. (Now where do you go from here? And what’ve you got, Pennington?)