From the Editor: Come, sit around the campfire.

Photo: wili hybrid

If you scrolled through the gmail chats between senior editor David Miller and myself over the past year or so, you’d find at least half a dozen references to campfires.

It’s funny: he’s currently biding time with his wife and daughter at his parents’ gated community in Florida before heading down to El Bolson in Patagonia to set up a home. Me? I’m in New York City.

Neither place is conducive to building a campfire, and maybe that’s why the image is so present in our conversation. We’ve both spent lots of time around campfires and though we both make our living online, our favorite places are offline–way offline–sitting around a fire with people we love, having conversations that matter.

The Matador editors and interns–the Matador tribe, as we refer to ourselves–are spread across the globe. Tim Patterson’s in Luang Prabang. Kate Sedgwick, Hal Amen, and Adam Roy are all in Buenos Aires, soon to be joined by Tom Gates.

Sarah Menkedick’s in Oaxaca. Lola Akinmade, lately of Stockholm, is making her way to NYC for a visit. Ian MacKenzie’s in Vancouver. Twitter Ninja Andy Hayes is in Edinburgh. Intern Eileen Smith is in Santiago.

And that’s not even all of us.

Our campfire is virtual, and every day we invite you to come sit around it with us to talk about the places you’ve been, the people you’ve met, the experiences you’ve had, and the communities you’ve been a part of.

Then, we hope you’ll take what you’ve learned here and share it with others… preferably around a campfire.