Staff picks and your picks: Looking back on 2011

• Creemos y seremos and any other article that is accessible in both Spanish and English is powerful to me. This article specifically is fantastic because our community has options. We can find ways to help younger generations get through school, even if there are language barriers.
• Discrimination is an onion is a firm reminder that sometimes Grand Rapids is just one of many cities/towns in "West Michigan." It's like our extended family. That, and the content of this piece was obviously so important to people and numbers speak for themselves.
• Samantha Dine hunting down eight of the Top Ten ArtPrize people for interviews: AWESOME. 

Andy Dragt, our business development whiz, had two that he just had to mention:

• I liked the In Plain Sight Picturesque gallery both for the timing and for some really interesting submissions.
• After the Mayor's response to the Newsweek article, I thought Ruth Terry's In Anticipation of Tina Brown's GR Vacay was a good (and gutsy) article that sparked some excellent conversational engagement.

Our new media planner, George Wietor, said he likes it all. When pressed to name favorites, he highlighted otherwise unheard voices:

• The cub reporters at GAAH provided insight into the perspective of a population of Grand Rapidians I rarely come into contact with: very young kids. Their (mostly) glowing reviews of Grease included recommended minimum age restrictions that varied with the author's age.
• Newcomer Emma Higgins implored us not to forget longstanding art events that seemed in danger of being lost in the hubbub of a certain large art competition (*cough*). It was a nice reminder that real, (perhaps even more) important art activities happen all year long.
• Every month, director Sarah Scott sits down with Heartside Gallery artists, many homeless or struggling with disability, and asks them to tell their stories. These stories give me a chance to relate with people that I would otherwise only interact with in passing.
• Denise Cheng live-covered nearly every single Sunday Soup this year. This experiment with process allowed an opportunity for people to follow the community micro-grantmaking initiative from home, and served as an impressively exhaustive document of what happened.
• I like to check out Mara Naselli and Tori Pelz for some of the best arts writing around. 

Last, but not (well maybe) least: me, the managing editor. There were so many memorable moments, but here's a small selection from my entirely too long top list:

• I always like the Voices essays, like Dine's Growing into Grand Rapids or Erica Curry Van Ee's Gifts from the ArtPrize community. These stories tell us how our community is being affected: How are we changed because of the news and events around us? 
• I wish we had more "pros and cons" companion articles. George Bayard's article Uncivil Disobedience: Thoughts on recent vandalism from a former Wealthy Street business owner created a response to much of the conversation about development in the Wealthy Corridor.
• With over 20,000 visitors to our site during ArtPrize, you know there had to be some really great articles that brought interest. Art and dying cities by Sara Bakker and Screwed Rapids at the UICA by Winkelman are a couple that haven't been mentioned yet, and should be.

There you go-a secret look into what we've especially enjoyed reading ourselves. What did you enjoy? Numbers don't tell the whole story, but we have tallied up for you the ten most popular (by page-views) stories in 2011. Take a look to the right to find out where your own favorites ranked (and if the numbers didn't include your favorite, we'd love to hear what should have made the cut right here in our comments).