[IMC-US] Meeting tonight, feature process point, general update + your extra special racist quotes for the day

[muna rva imc]

I've been pretty quiet when it comes to email lately, in part because I'm
completely overloaded with it. I apologize for my listserve absence.

I'm not certain I'll be able to make tonight's meeting. 11pm to 1am last time
was a bit gruelling, and it's somewhat difficult for me to get computer access
that late at night. I do hope it happens. I would love to see a May Day
feature. I will try to be there if possible.

One thing I'd like to chime in on concerning features:

Personally, I think just about every proposed and actual feature I see on
indymedia.us is terrific. Thus in some ways our processes of self-selection, or
promotion-without-proposal work great, because we've got excellent admins
pulling from excellent local features. I love the idea of collaborative
features and hope to get out from under the pile of work I'm presently buried
in to help out with that.

There is, however, one big glaring problem I see when it comes to our features.
Sometimes we go for days with nothing new. Sometimes we slam the front and
center column with four or five new features in a row. Both of these things are
big problems when it comes to maintaining and building readership, and giving
stories the attention they need and deserve.

I would like to see a process where we provide consistent features in an
appropriately staggered way. I think we probably could have one feature a day.
I think this could happen with some simple process points and scheduling
committments. For example, we've got about 20 folks with admin abilities to
promote features. If people just had days when they're among 3 or 4 folks
designated to perform the simple task of promoting features, then we could end
the confusion of good stories sitting on the wire while we run no feature for
days.

With that said, I'm always very hesitant to make suggestions while I myself am
behind on following up on commitments. I've got several things I need to do for
this group, things I committed to a while ago. Forgive me while I try to catch
up. Hopefully, though, a suggestion like you see above would help alleviate
work/confusion.

I'm carrying a heavy load right now. I missed the last IRC meeting because of a
statewide Virginia Anti-War Network meeting. I'm the only Arab-American on the
steering committee, so in some ways I've got some real important stuff to hold
down. Richmond Indymedia's also has just wrapped up a semester of tons of
university presentations, and now we've (fortunately) got the task of
successfully incorporating several new editors and volunteers.

Anyone seen the latest Left Turn? It's got an at once both terrific and
terrifying article called "The Making of the Arab Menace." In it Rayan El-Amine
lists some quotes from corporate media assholes. It's some stuff that's got me,
your humble Palestinian in the South, petrified and depressed and all the more
invested in indymedia. Enjoy:

"O’Reilly on killing Afghanis: “Life expectancy in Afghanistan is a little over
40; killing someone there is not like killing people here.”

Rush Limbaugh on the guards at Abu Ghraib: “I’m talking about people having a
good time
you ever heard of emotional release? You ever heard of the need to
blow some steam off.”

Don Imus from MSNBC on the death of Yasser Arafat: he is “stinky
. a rat
.All
Palestinians look like him” and people attending his funeral are a “bunch of
animals.”

Jack Cafferty on CNN’s American Morning on Iraqi women prisoners: “Given the way
these mutants treat women in their societies, the women are probably better off
in US custody.”

Radio show host Mark Williams on Palestinians: “Yasser Arafat was a
blood-soaked, sub-human, vile, reprehensible, murderous animal
If there is a
crueler pile of camel manure than Palestine, and then it has got to be the
total fiction of a Palestinian people.”"

x,
m.