Today Miami bids farewell to Eveyln McDonnell, one of our community’s most cherished voices on the arts. When Ev moved to the Magic City in the early aughts, she brought with her an impressive resume that included senior editor at the Village Voice and a list of books that have shaped how we think about pop music, and especially how we think about women and pop music (favorites include the anthology Rock She Wrote and the memoir Mamarama).

As pop culture writer at the Miami Herald, Evelyn always had a keen eye and a passionate ear. Her series on “hip hop cops,” written with Nicole White, exposed questionable police practices toward hip hop artists and fans on South Beach over Memorial Day. Long a fan of her work, I first heard from Evelyn when she sent an encouraging note about a piece I’d written at a supposedly rival paper. Years later, she invited me to work with her when she served as editorial director of a now defunct online magazine. As a writer, editor, and friend, Evelyn has always proved as generous as she is wise.

Last Saturday night there were many tearful goodbyes as Ev threw one last party at her house on Miami Beach. She, husband Bud, and son Cole have packed up the family truck and are headed to Los Angeles today, where Evelyn has been awarded a prestigious Annenberg fellowship at the University of Southern California. She will earn a master’s in arts journalism, but as all of us in Miami know, she has long been master — or should I say, mistress — of her field.