mason@pneuma.DEC (12/12/84)
The following note is rather long, but the information is important for women and concerned men throughout the country, so please read on. *Sojourner* is a newspaper which is printed in Boston, and aimed at keeping women connected to the women's community. It publishes articles on art, books, movies, events, and other issues which concern us in our daily lives. It draws not only on the women's community here in Massachusetts, but publishes stories, poems and information from all over the country. Presently, *Sojourner* is in financial trouble. A few months ago, the paper stopped operation. This stoppage is designed to be a short one of a few months so that the paid staff (which is very small) can regroup and do some planning for the future. Their main goal is to raise ~$40,000 so that they can continue to publish in the coming year. The plan is to return to the newsstands in Feb, as a stronger and viable enterprise. It was a shock to many of us here in Boston when we read that the paper was going to close...even briefly. We had recently lost another paper, called Equal Times, and the thought of our community being without a women's paper was depressing. The following is a summation of a meeting which I recently attended with a friend from DIGITAL at the newspaper's offices: **Subscriptions: Sojourner has made "drops" of free papers for years. They never realized that women depended on these free papers, rather than subscribing. Most of us who attended last night sheepishly admitted to picking up the paper for free, rather than subscribing. The February issue will probably be dropped free, to let people know that Sojourner is back, but it will also make it clear that there will be very few free papers made available after Feb, and these will mostly be at colleges and women's shelters. Subscription rates are going up to $15/year (it was $11 for years). **Calendar: Many women keep connected to the women's community through the calendar listings...many of these are ones you don't find in the Boston Globe. The problem in the past has been that the paper often arrives late in the mail, and the calendar is "old" by then. They are going to make an effort to get the paper out earlier...perhaps within the year start mailing it 2nd class, and also making the deadline for calendar listings earlier. Again, it's going to be a matter of educating women to plan ahead and mail in their listings on time. There was some talk about charging a small amount for the listings, but this was discarded as being cumbersome in terms of bookkeeping, as well as putting a barrier up between the community and the newspaper. So listings will still be free. **National/Local focus: ***It surprised all of us to learn that 50% of the subscriptions were from people out of the New England area.*** It goes to show that the paper is highly valued, and when it can't be gotten for free, people will pay for it. It is Sojourner's goal to keep this kind of focus...that is both national and local, and continue to serve both constituencies. For those of you who don't live in the Boston area, this 50% out-of-N.E. subscription rate should make you realize that the paper is really important, even if the calendar is "useless" for planning your social activities. Personally, I have found that the calendar in other women's papers have helped me when I am traveling in other towns. But, even if you never use the calendar, there's a lot to be said for keeping connected intellectually as well as culturally, and Sojourner can do that for you. **Money: Sojourner still needs about $20,000 to get going again. The goal is to have enough money (about $40,000) to run for a whole year. The increase of new subscriptions, gift subscriptions and outright donations has helped greatly. Here's what else is happening: **phon-a-thon: Right now they are planning to call all subscribers and ask them to donate money. Ideally, they would like to have this phon-a -thon within the next two weeks. There is a need to have a place with a bank of 4-5 lines to do this calling. If you live in the Boston area and know of a place, please contact the Sojourner office, immediately. **pledges: One of the main thrusts of the phon-a-thon will be to get women to pledge money on a monthly basis, as people do for public radio and TV. We can all certainly afford $5/month, and it would help Sojourner be able to plan their budget, knowing that they have a steady income. **fund raisers: There is a series of benefits planned, or in the planning stages which could use a lot more people to help with the effort. These include: concerts, an auction, and whatever people want to take responsibilty for. A group which my friend is involved with is planning to have a flea market, and donate the proceeds to Sojourner. Lots of groups have been doing this kind of thing. If you belong to any groups, please ask them to consider doing something like this. Alternately, just plan on attending some of the fund raisers...everyone likes a good concert, right? :-} **calling on friends: We all have a long list of friends...why not do something like I'm doing right now? If Sojourner is important to you, your friends probably feel the same way, call a few of them, or write a letter and remind them that the paper is in need of funds. **mailing lists: If you're in the N.E. area, would your organization be willing to loan it's mailing list to Sojourner, or put a notice in it's newsletter about the urgency of this matter? **volunteers: The paper not only needs money, but it needs woman power to make it work. If you can stuff an envelop, make phone calls, know of a group which Sojourner should be in contact with...in effect, if you can help in any way...please get in touch with the paper: 661-3567, or write to them at 143 Albany Street, Cambridge, MA 02139. THE BOTTOM LINE: WHETHER YOU LIVE IN BOSTON, OR NOT, WE ***CANNOT*** AFFORD TO LOSE THE IMPORTANT RESOURCES WHICH SOJOURNER PROVIDES. PLEASE CONSIDER A SUBSCRIPTION (OR A GIFT SUBSCRIPTION FOR THE HOLIDAYS), AND PLEASE CONSIDER GIVING EITHER A ONE-TIME GIFT, OR A PLEDGE OF MONEY EVERY MONTH. Please forgive the length of this note, but we are really concerned about this issue and we feel that it is important for you to hear what we have learned. We hope that you are open to hearing more and that you will become involved in some way. ***andrea r. mason*** UUCP: decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-pneuma!mason ARPA: mason%pneuma.DEC@decwrl.ARPA ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The opinions expressed above, are mine...I hope they help form yours. ------------------------------------------------------------------------