I was going to ask that very question, actually. It is very well written and researched, and I did enjoy reading it. I imagine if you replaced the negative social justice jargon with a more positive message about WH being a good place for people of different socioeconomic backgrounds to mix, it could easily be a feature story for Southern Living or similar.

As I say, there are lots of people in America who simply aren’t interested in having the Culture War waged in their hobby reading. They probably read food magazines to get away from that. Need to be sensitive to your audience.

My first impression opening the article up and seeing the byline was “good grief, does everything have to be about the culture war?” I kept on because of the great work you did about WH itself.

Your experiences in Waffle Houses of Mississippi and mine in Atlanta (or any east coast state) don’t jive. And maybe that simply goes back to sampling bias. Seems likely to me that WHs in Mississippi and Atlanta might be different.

I am no expert on New York. Have only been there a couple of times. But my times on mass transit in NY were generally positive, and enjoyable, as were my trips to bars and clubs. That contrasts with certain elements of NY policy that would be considered tremendously racist if they were tried down in Atlanta, such as Stop and Frisk, and making entrants to “affordable” housing units go in the back entrance, etceteras. So I’ll admit I don’t have a great read on NY.

Good luck with your writing. I think I may agree with your editor. But it was a great read.