Dear OZY Tribe,

This photo was taken at OZY’s winter retreat last week (that’s me, standing middle right in blue and white). Our team flew in from Delhi and Kiev, Paris and Mexico City, Nashville and Miami. A good-looking bunch, I’m sure you’ll agree, and as diverse in age, color, background and musical tastes as the world we strive to represent through our storytelling.

Above all: We’re smiling. Because we’re humbly proud to have brought you some incredible stories this year. And because we’re not afraid to admit that we’re far from perfect — and made some miscalculations and cock-ups along the way.

In a break from media companies so often blowing their own trumpets, I wanted to bring you the best — and the worst — of OZY as we round out an extraordinary year.

And we’d love to hear from you: Do you enjoy us but see ways we could be better? Please take a few moments to fill out our annual survey and let us know. There’s a chance to win tickets to OZY Fest 2019 in NYC — or even to California to be pictured alongside us at the next staff retreat.

• Ahead of the curve 700+ times: If it wasn’t for OZY, you’d have been in the dark about emerging change-makers this year, from youngest-ever congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Brett Kavanaugh as favorite to become the next Supreme Court judge, and from comedian Trevor Noah to singer Dua Lipa.

• Uplifting stories against the odds: Those smiles above are also because we find tales of resilience despite conflict or adversity, like Syria’s burgeoning restaurant scene, or universities thriving in South Sudan. Discover how one of the world’s most murderous countries has halved its killings in five years and why, in Scandinavia, farmers are making the most of devastating climate change to produce wine.

• Surprising connections: OZY is focused on the future, but we know the value of looking back. Our hit podcast, The Thread, is a historical “six degrees of separation,” linking John Lennon’s assassination with Vladimir Lenin, or exploring the figures behind #MeToo and nonviolent resistance. And only in our Flashback section could you discover the “Miss Subways” that came before “Miss Universe,” or the Louisiana slaveowner who even appalled other slaveowners.

• Outside your bubble: With public discourse increasingly polarized, we want to give you viewpoints from different angles. That’s why we had Hillary Clinton and Karl Rove on the same stage at OZY Fest this summer, and why our columnists include former CIA director John McLaughlin, Republican strategist Susan Del Percio and globalization guru Parag Khanna. I’d also love you to read Trump’s Triumphs: The Case for 45 — a series diving dispassionately into the president’s overlooked achievements.

• Not just for reading: As well as newsletters and features, OZY is TV shows, video series, podcasts and quizzes. This year, I’m particularly proud of two innovations: our primetime PBS show, Take On America with OZY — where Black men, White women, Latino families and Asian-American millennials debate hot-button topics — and Look Closer (pictured), which showcases an image that’s not as it seems, and urges you to take a moment to zoom in and explore.

  

And now, painful as it is for Fay the perfectionist, here are our misses of the year:

• The predictions game: OZY scours the world for proof points to forecast future trends — but we don’t always get it right. The final two items in our January 1, 2018, predictions column were wildly off: 30 members of Congress did not go down with #MeToo this year — the total was nine. And Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump did not leave D.C. In fact, their influence has remained strong, whether on White House personnel or criminal justice reform. On sports? We called out the Denver Broncos as a sleeper team that could break out this year but they’ve slept all the way to a 6-8 record and aren’t going to the playoffs.

• Oops: While many stories went viral, there were the odd few which crashed and burned, among them: Are 'Rogue' Gene Editors Scientific Pioneers or a Threat to Humanity? (perhaps because you already know the answer … ) and a piece on the Marmite of liqueurs because, let’s be honest, it just sounds gross.

• Falling foul of Facebook: The headline “Angola’s Accidental Star Takes ‘Hard-Ass’ Dance Global” proved too much for the social network, which barred us from promoting it. So did a piece on the Zulu army giving the British a beating — as the illustration below displayed  “excessive amounts of skin.” And we won’t even mention all the stories about sex ...

  

• Brexiting the building: As for the prime minister of my embattled homeland, in June last year we said Theresa May's position “may now be immediately untenable.” And yet, still she clings on.

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Again, I’d love to hear from you: do fill out our survey or email me at managingeditor@ozy.com if you get a moment.

Have a terrific holiday, and keep enjoying OZY — whether for our faults, or in spite of them.

Fay Schlesinger
Managing Editor