I seriously doubt anybody gives a rip—except, for some mysterious reason, city councilman Nick Licata—but in the spirit of full disclosure:

Mayor McGinn has asked me, along with nine other people, to sit on a search committee that will help find the new director of the Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs. (The outgoing director is Michael Killoren.)

What that means: We few—we happy few, we band of brothers—get to sit around a table and pick through resumes, find our favorites, and forward them on to the mayor for consideration. (Some of the others include Jerry Everard of One Reel and founder of the Crocodile Café, Rahwa Habte of Hidmo, Beth Takekawa of the Wing Luke Asian Art Museum, etc.)

To answer a few questions that a few people have been asking:

* No, I won't be covering the process (1) partly because it would be impossible to sit around and speak frankly about the candidates if we all had to watch our words and worry about being quoted in the future and (2) partly because I seriously doubt many of you would care to hear about it.

* Yes, I was an author on this piece forwarding candidates for the OACA job, along with other Stranger staffers.

* Do I worry that this project will somehow "compromise" my "ethics"? Nope. I'm an arts critic, a professional haver-of-opinions. Every time I sit down to type an argument, I sincerely hope people will do what I tell them to do. To turn down this opportunity—an opportunity to put my arguments directly into the process—would not only be pointless, but contrary to the spirit of my job.

* Will participating in this process limit my ability to objectively report on OACA in the future? Don't be ridiculous: I've never objectively reported on anything in my life. I certainly don't plan to start now.

Furthermore, The Stranger (and I) have shown a repeated aptitude for endorsing candidates and then sharply criticizing them (sometimes in the same breath). No reason to think that's going to change.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled election-night freakout.