Come on, Alan. Where's the beef?

This is true. We need updates in the middle, main column a little more often. You could, for example, put my fine report about neighborhood councils, which I posted yesterday, in the center. Something about the upcoming election would be nice. Something about FTAA would be good. But SOME kind of update is needed.

I recognize this is a volunteer effort, and that everyone is up to their ears in commitments. We're all out here trying to row this little boat. But if we keep providing content, and it's worth reading, then please take a moment to update the middle column with some highlights!

By the way, I mentioned my article about neighborhood councils not because it is good, but because I wrote it and I am exceedingly vain. Please feature it prominently. Thank you!

The middle column has been a victim of neglect and dissipated energies. Since I'm the one who's done a lot of the web work, it's basically my fault that things have become unraveled. There are a number of reasons - work, time, health - culminating in burnout. (Doing my day-job as a hobby is not too smart, is it?)

What this site needs, more than anything else, are people to help out who can learn the computer part quickly, and can dedicate a few hours a month to the project.

I've recently started getting back to the computer work, and will be able to do back end programming. That, in itself, is a fairly large job, and leaves little time for doing the work of reading and selecting the news, editing the page, and publishing.

So getting a team together to read news, discuss issues, and coding up the page is key. This team also needs a rotating "project manager" role so there's some peer-pressure/mutual-encouragement to roll things forward. (That person is *not* me, because I'm a negative and bitter person.)

So, if you're interested in seeing the page updated, you need to show up to the meetings and get in touch with your net-activists. The next one is 4:00, April 7, at the Quaker Meeting House on Normandie in LA.

If people volunteer, I am willing to drive to pretty much anywhere in LA county and parts of Orange to do one-on-one trainings. (I hate doing classes.)

If you can't get to the meeting, drop me an email, and I'll forward it to the web group.

These posts couldn't have come at a better time. At yesterday's IMC meeting, John Kawakami & I finally got a group of people to seriously commit to becoming part of the web working group. John

scheduled training sessions with the first batch of them, and, as he said in response to your posts, he's willing to do the same with you--and you!--and YOU!

As for letting it slide so long, don't believe the explanation John posted. It was actually a fiendishly clever little conspiracy he & I cooked up to rouse the masses. Seems to have worked much better than the alien mind probes we tried back in October.

sorry, y'all. my bad. I've been busy on a documentary project. No excuses, but I'm in need of some training; so I'll be in touch with Paul and John tomorrow. I'm hoping we can place the FTAA border/Quebec events in the central column in the near future.