×
You have 2 more free articles available this month. Subscribe today.
Editorial
Editorial Comments
By Paul Wright
Welcome to another issue of the PLN . In this edition you will find an ad for the " PLN Benefit Tape." The tape has songs contributed by several bands to help us do some fund-raising to continue publishing the newsletter. While it may not be as fancy as the benefit tapes for Amnesty International, with big name stars, it is a fine sounding tape of avant- industrial and punk music. It is a bargain for only $5.00, which includes an 18-page copy of the "Best Of PLN ." All profits will go to help us continue publishing. So buy one if you can, and be sure to encourage others to buy the tape as well.
Next month will mark our second year (24 continuous issues) of publishing the PLN . We printed our first issue in May of 1990, and since then we have steadily grown and improved, both in terms of the paper's form and content. This is largely due to the hard work of our outstanding team of outside supporters. We are proud of the fact that, despite various ups and downs, we have managed to maintain a regular publishing schedule.
Long-time readers of this column know that our constant problem is one of raising the money needed to keep on publishing. Well, we still need any donations of funds or stamps that you can send, so keep supporting our work with your contributions and encourage others to subscribe to the PLN as well. We plan to continue publishing the newsletter for as long as it is self-supporting, which is one reason why projects like the Benefit Tape are so important. We don't carry advertising and don't have any type of corporate support; we depend on our readers to survive. Unfortunately, many of our readers are indigent prisoners who are on death row or locked down in control units, and are thus unable to contribute to the paper. A little extra financial help is required to support these people.
We are giving some thought to a PLN T-shirt to sell as a fund-raiser, but have not come up with any good graphics to put on a T-shirt. If you are artistically inclined and have any ideas on a graphic design, please send it to us so we can check it out.
While I am on the subject of donations, when many of our readers receive a "final issue" notice for not having donated before, they will send us just 2 or 3 stamps. They are in effect spending 29¢ to donate 58¢. Even with our lowered postage rate, it is still costing us about 50¢ to copy and mail each issue of the PLN . These small 2 and 3 stamp donations are taking a lot of time for our volunteers to process and keep track of. It is easiest if stamp donations are in even numbers, like 10 or 20, etc., and please don't wait until you get a final issue notice to send us a donation. It is a lot easier (and you don't miss any issues) if you donate when you are able to, rather than when you must.
Some readers have said they like PLN 's content a lot but they wish our articles were longer and in greater depth and detail. Well, we wish they were too! Given our limited funds at this point, ten pages a month is about all we can afford in terms of copying costs. If we had more money we could have longer articles, more news, etc. Until we can do that we have to continue in our present format. We try to bring news to our readers and whenever possible we list addresses and sources for more information, details, etc. Our reviews of publications are also important in this regard. We can't offer all the political and economic news and analysis we would like to, which is why we refer our readers to other sources.
Please write to us with your feedback, comments and suggestions. We need to know what you, our readers, want. We will do our best to support our readers' needs for as long as we feel we are doing a good job at it. Share this copy of the paper with others and encourage them to subscribe. Enjoy this issue of PLN .
By Paul Wright
Welcome to another issue of the PLN . In this edition you will find an ad for the " PLN Benefit Tape." The tape has songs contributed by several bands to help us do some fund-raising to continue publishing the newsletter. While it may not be as fancy as the benefit tapes for Amnesty International, with big name stars, it is a fine sounding tape of avant- industrial and punk music. It is a bargain for only $5.00, which includes an 18-page copy of the "Best Of PLN ." All profits will go to help us continue publishing. So buy one if you can, and be sure to encourage others to buy the tape as well.
Next month will mark our second year (24 continuous issues) of publishing the PLN . We printed our first issue in May of 1990, and since then we have steadily grown and improved, both in terms of the paper's form and content. This is largely due to the hard work of our outstanding team of outside supporters. We are proud of the fact that, despite various ups and downs, we have managed to maintain a regular publishing schedule.
Long-time readers of this column know that our constant problem is one of raising the money needed to keep on publishing. Well, we still need any donations of funds or stamps that you can send, so keep supporting our work with your contributions and encourage others to subscribe to the PLN as well. We plan to continue publishing the newsletter for as long as it is self-supporting, which is one reason why projects like the Benefit Tape are so important. We don't carry advertising and don't have any type of corporate support; we depend on our readers to survive. Unfortunately, many of our readers are indigent prisoners who are on death row or locked down in control units, and are thus unable to contribute to the paper. A little extra financial help is required to support these people.
We are giving some thought to a PLN T-shirt to sell as a fund-raiser, but have not come up with any good graphics to put on a T-shirt. If you are artistically inclined and have any ideas on a graphic design, please send it to us so we can check it out.
While I am on the subject of donations, when many of our readers receive a "final issue" notice for not having donated before, they will send us just 2 or 3 stamps. They are in effect spending 29¢ to donate 58¢. Even with our lowered postage rate, it is still costing us about 50¢ to copy and mail each issue of the PLN . These small 2 and 3 stamp donations are taking a lot of time for our volunteers to process and keep track of. It is easiest if stamp donations are in even numbers, like 10 or 20, etc., and please don't wait until you get a final issue notice to send us a donation. It is a lot easier (and you don't miss any issues) if you donate when you are able to, rather than when you must.
Some readers have said they like PLN 's content a lot but they wish our articles were longer and in greater depth and detail. Well, we wish they were too! Given our limited funds at this point, ten pages a month is about all we can afford in terms of copying costs. If we had more money we could have longer articles, more news, etc. Until we can do that we have to continue in our present format. We try to bring news to our readers and whenever possible we list addresses and sources for more information, details, etc. Our reviews of publications are also important in this regard. We can't offer all the political and economic news and analysis we would like to, which is why we refer our readers to other sources.
Please write to us with your feedback, comments and suggestions. We need to know what you, our readers, want. We will do our best to support our readers' needs for as long as we feel we are doing a good job at it. Share this copy of the paper with others and encourage them to subscribe. Enjoy this issue of PLN .
As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.
Already a subscriber? Login