EDITORIAL: Tying up loose ends (12/21/03)

EDITORIAL

Tying up loose ends

It's just about the end of the year, and around here that means tying up loose ends before the advent of the new year. Unfortunately, that's exactly what everyone else is doing. Why "unfortunately," you ask? Allow us to explain.

While we are trying our best to keep up with the news, that is the new news, and publish features long in the planning/preparation stages - and simultaneously starting work on our "Year in Review" mega-issue (to be issued January 11, just in time for the New Year in accordance with the Julian calendar) - everyone else out there, it seems, is also trying to tie up loose ends. Yep, all our community activists are sending in stories about events that took place in the past several months because they've suddenly realized that "Oh, my goodness, it's the end of the year and I haven't yet sent in that story about (fill in the blank)." One group in Detroit must have experienced sheer panic as they sent a story about an event that took place in June - and paid overnight courier fees to get it to us quicker! The good news is that we actually ran a report on that event way back in August. (It was late even then...)

Why do we bring this to your attention? Because it always happens: we get swamped with materials at the end of the year, with everyone competing for what is not unlimited space in our newspaper. The way to prevent this from happening is for everyone to stick to the recommendations listed in our notice "To The Weekly Contributors" in which we ask, among other things, that news stories be sent in no later than 10 days after an event has taken place. That way, the news we print is more or less current, even if we have to push back the publication of any given item due to the normal weekly ebb and flow of news, whereby stories get bumped by others deemed more significant.

And, speaking of loose ends, we kindly ask all the organizations out there that regularly send us information, and those who don't, to take some time out from their busy schedules and fulfill our request made in our editorial titled "A community database" (September 28). If you're active in any kind of Ukrainian community group we want to know about you. Send us your letterhead, a list of your officers, your contact person (preferably someone available during the daytime), your mailing address, phone and fax numbers, e-mail address. Also, please send a brief description of what your group does and who its members are - a paragraph or two will do. In short: send us any useful information that we can utilize for reference and share with others who are looking for information, assistance, a beneficiary for their donations, or a chance to get involved.

Thus, what we're really asking is that you help us help you and others. Send your group's information in to: The Ukrainian Weekly (Community Database), 2200 Route 10, P.O. Box 280, Parsippany, NJ 07054; fax, 973-644-9510; e-mail, [email protected]. (PS: And don't forget to update us when your officers or contact info change.)

You've got our "coordinates," why not share yours? That way we can start off the new year by keeping in better contact with each other.

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