What can we say? We are dreamers. We published oldunterrified.org for
five years. We thought our 'zine would be be instrumental not only in giving praise where praise was due, but
in exposing injustices and in calling politicians in our little town to account for their misdeeds
and their negligence. Truth be told, the past municipal administrations at Old Unterrified were less than user friendly.
Our previous mayors seemed to have great difficulty figuring out the meanining of service and accountabilty.
Miraculously, there were, amid the puffed up, imperial Town Council and Planning Commission egotists,
some people who did good work at Town Hall--the overburdened clerks, for example.
For all the attempts on the part of the municipal administrators to curb public
participation at Council meetings and to stifle dissent, we got some good copy. We covered the
Great Blasting Ordinance Brouhaha and what it takes to get good laws into the books. We showed our readers
how beautiful our town is. We covered local arts and crafts events, published book and movie reviews, we wrote
about food, and we raised our readers' awareness of socieconomic and ecological problems in our area. That
was not enough. We had envisioned a 'zine that would be a collaborative effort, but the number of letters
and stories by townspeople was smaller than we had hoped. After five years, the time came to pause, assess and regroup.
We are well into the regrouping phase, as we speak. We have decided to widen the scope of the
'zine to include the entire state. We have changed the name of the 'zine and its layout.
Our main topic will be West Virginia and its people--a rich and fertile field.
We intend to be here for a long time, during which we will welcome your ideas, suggestions,
comments and contributions. Please keep in mind while we cherish facts we make no claim to blind
impartiality. We believe in advocacy journalism. We accept no financial contributions, we sell no adds and we do not
care if we do not ever get invited to A-list parties or get kissy-kissy with le tout Shepherdstown. This is
a green, liberal 'zine with strong populist leanings. We make no apologies for our political views. Clara Castelar,
Editor
