Slingshot info – issue 91

Slingshot is an independent, radical, quarterly newspaper published in Berkeley since 1988.

We’re excited about this issue, especially since it was almost canceled at last week’s deadline meeting when only three people and four solid articles showed up. We’re glad we took a leap of faith and decided to go forward. In the end, new people and existing members of the collective came out of the woodwork from all directions to pull the issue together on a hot, sweaty weekend. It’s hotter than the Arctic here in the Slingshot loft and we managed to overheat the printer doing layout because we have so many hands working on the paper. New energy keeps us inspired. We’re grateful for the friends of friends and travelers who come by, and we always welcome new faces.

The writing and editing before and after the deadline were a different matter with very few folks around. It is getting increasingly difficult for us to find writers and good articles. We suspect this is because so many great writers have turned to blogging and other internet publishing. We believe that the random people who pick up Slingshot at the laundromat are important & that by existing in print, we can inspire some of the folks who’ll never google “anarchy”. It’s true that you can reach a lot of people blogging but we think that good old print is still an important tool.

Even harder than getting writers is getting bookstores to pay us for the Slingshot organizers we sent them last October. As you may know, the organizer funds this project. We’ve been getting a lot of stories and a few checks. One place in Brooklyn that owed us $1,500 went out of business — we heard they even owed money to the Zapatistas!

On a totally random note, when we say you can send us checks or “concealed cash” for items, please don’t make the money impossible to find. Some lovely people who owed us $225 for organizers stuffed it into a teddy bear, put a red face mask on the bear and mailed it to us — no return address, no note saying there was money in the bear, just the bear in a box. We thought it was a weird toy and kind of silly. It sat around in the packing room for months and when we had a table at the SF Anarchist Book Fair, we tried to drop it off at the kid’s section. But we were too disorganized, so luckily it came back home. Then we tried to sell the bear at a yard sale, and when it didn’t sell, we put it in a free box. Then when we were calling folks to collect money, that store said “oh, we concealed it in a teddy bear.” We were pretty sure we had given or thrown the bear away, but unbelievably, we found it in a dark corner in the basement — the money still inside.

We’re enjoying the perfect California summer, riding our bikes and meeting everyone who comes to town. When will you be by?

Slingshot is always looking for new writers, artists, editors, photographers, translators, distributors and independent thinkers to help us make this paper. If you send something written, please be open to editorial changes.

Editorial decisions are made by the Slingshot collective, but not all the articles reflect the opinions of all collective members. We welcome debate, constructive criticism and discussion.

Thanks to all who worked on this: Adam, Artnoose, B, Dale, Eggplant, Hefty Lefty, Kerry, Maneli, Molly, Moxy, Natalia, PB, Rachel.

Slingshot New Volunteer Meeting

Volunteers interested in getting involved with Slingshot can come to the new volunteer meeting on August 20 at 4 p.m. at the Long Haul in Berkeley (see below).

Article Deadline and Next Issue Date

Submit your articles for issue 92 by September 16, 2006 at 3 p.m.

Volume 1, Number 91, Circulation 15,000

Printed June 8, 2006

Slingshot Newspaper