So here we are, with 52 “Bitter Tuesdays” come and gone.

The most important element of this milestone, to us, is the fact that we didn’t name them “Bitter Tuesdays.” Y’all did. Since we began The Bitter Southerner a year ago, it’s been clear to us that all of you would be part of — and would hugely influence — whatever this thing became.

This week marks the first anniversary of our first story, “We Are Bitter.” From day one, you good folks were extraordinarily vocal in your willingness to be part of our little tribe — and in your expressions of appreciation for our work.

“I have yet to find a publication that so capably and gracefully captures the nuance, soul, tragedy, and beauty of the region like yours does. I just wanted to thank you for that.”

When you receive messages like that, as we often do, you feel a responsibility to keep doing what you’re doing. And that is our intention, because this thing we created, The Bitter Southerner, now seems to matter to a lot of people.

On our very first Tuesday, we said, “The Bitter Southerner is here for Southern people who do cool things, smart things, things that change the whole world, or just a few minds at a time.”

We have presented more stories about cool, smart, groundbreaking people — and the work they do in the South — than we ever had a right to expect we’d be able to tell. And you responded overwhelmingly. Sometimes, reading the responses to our stories, we found ourselves feeling like we were at a big Saturday afternoon barbecue. It felt, to us at least, as if The Bitter Southerner had become a place of sorts, a place where certain Southerners — those of us who have come to feel like strangers in our own homeland — could come to meet others like them.

Y’all got it. You understood immediately and instinctively why this matters.