Ms. Abramson said that the idea of hiring Ms. Dominus originally came from deputy metro editor Jodi Rudoren, who recommended Ms. Dominus while Ms. Abramson and Ms. Rudoren were riding a Metro-North train from New Haven to New York.

And when Ms. Abramson was asked whether the hiring of Ms. Dominus--a career magazine writer--suggested a desire by Metro to hire magazine writers more generally, she had this to say: "That wasn't at all a part of the equation. It was just Jodi saying it and me having an immediate, great association with her work and her writing voice, and thinking, Wow, that could be totally interesting. It was just one of those cool ideas that came up in a conversation."