from the editor

 Contents: UU World Back Issue

Now hear this!

As you are reading this column, think: Who are the people in your congregation who cannot see well enough to read it? Making sure they know that the magazine is available for them on audiotape could be a great gift. There are people of all ages with vision impairments.

UU World editors and other UUA staff volunteers read the contents of each issue into a tape recorder. Copies of our master tape are made and mailed, free of charge, to UUs with impairments that prevent them from reading UU World on paper. The service was announced in the magazine when it was launched two years ago, and in November a flyer was mailed to all UU congregations—but still fewer than 100 people are signed up to get the tapes.

“Looking at our denomination's demographics,” says Devorah Greenstein, accessibilities program associate in the UUA's Identity-Based Ministries staff group, “we likely have 1,000 to 1,500 or more members who are vision impaired. We want to reach all of them! We are concerned that people are equating vision impairment with blindness. Not true. We want to reach all the people with macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, cataracts—everybody who can't see well enough to read the UU World's small print.”

Contact Jean McKenney at jmckenney@uua.org or ( 617 ) 948-4642 to get UU World on tape. (This information is always listed in the masthead.)

Please get a conversation going in your congregation and make sure all who need this service get it.


Speaking of the masthead, there is news of the people who make the magazine possible and who are listed there: Kathy Todd, the advertising coordinator, has been promoted to Advertising and Production Manager. Teresa Schwartz, our half-time editorial assistant while attending Harvard Divinity School, has shifted to the new position of Advertising and Production Assistant. Sonja Cohen, a summer intern editorial assistant, has stepped into the editorial assistant job permanently. Robert Delboy, a designer and illustrator whose work has appeared in many major publications, is our new art director. He designs the cover and the major feature stories and works with the artists and photographers whose work appears there. Delboy created the redesign made necessary by our new paper and more sparing use of color.


Several readers (and the editors!) noticed that some of the photographs in the November/December issue looked muddy. Many variables determine the appearance of printed images: the kind of paper as well as the processes that lead to creation of the printing plates, the amount of ink applied, and the speed of the presses. November/December was our first issue with new processes, new paper, and a new printing company. We learned a lot from this, and we expect the images to look much better in this and future issues.

Tom Stites
Editor


 Contents: UU World Back Issue
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