The death of Michael Jackson has had a particularly profound affect on black America. The fact that this country's most popular "crossover" success story burned so brightly as a young man only made it more heartbreaking when he flamed out in an orgy of celebrity excess, alleged sexual perversion and physical self-mutilation. As longtime Village Voice contributing writer Greg Tate notes, Jackson's passing carries with it a profound sense of relief along with the sadness: "The unfortunate blessing of his departure," writes Tate, "is that we can all go back to loving him as we first found him." This week we recommend, "The Man in Our Mirror."

Village Voice Media writers, editors, designers and illustrators dominated the AltWeekly Awards announced last weekend at the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies' annual convention in Tucson. VVM took first place in 15 of the 21 categories, including top honors in investigative reporting (John Dickerson of Phoenix New Times), long-form news story (Ashley Harrell of SF Weekly), feature story (Joel Warner of Westword), short-form news story (Beth Walton of City Pages), and music criticism (Rob Harvilla of the Village Voice). VVM also swept the column writing categories for papers with a circulation of over 50,000 and finished atop three of the four illustration and design categories. A full list of this year's winners is available here.