So, we read Emily Gould's NYT's Magazine cover story, along with (we imagine) every one else in the blogosphere, and while the story is well-written and no doubt interesting to many, the major question it left us (and a majority of the commenters at the Times site it would seem)with was: how does this story merit cover status at the New York Times Magazine? So we asked Gerry Marzorati, editor of the Magazine. for his thoughts. Here's his response:

Putting Emily's story on the cover was not a tough call. One of the things we are most interested in at the magazine are those lifestyle issues -- what we call Way We Live Now issues -- that blend personal narratives with larger political or ethical or philosophical concerns. These are the kinds of things readers are engaged by on Sunday morning (or anytime, in cyberspace). How the Internet is re-describing how we understand privacy, intimacy and personal history is, I think, such an issue, and the fact that the story -- an 8,000-word story -- has already, in 6 ours or so, attracted more than 600 comments (most of them having nothing to do with why we published the piece as a cover story) leads me to believe a lot of folks agree.