What are the goals for content in each Alley Newspaper?
The Alley Newspaper is not classic journalism that strives for absolute objectivity. The Alley is subjective because it is written by people who live and work in the community and their experiences in doing so.
Ever wonder how The Alley arrived at its name? It acquired the name 35 years ago to represent the honest, person-to-person conversations that happen over the backyard fences of the community whether they are figurative or actual fences. The Alley name represents the common, everyday things that occur in backyards and alleys. The front yards do not necessarily portray the day-to-day activities of the folks who live there.
The printed pages of an issue are finite and especially when we are limited to publishing only 8 to 12 pages. So we have to make choices on what goes into each issue. We have a list of topics from which we strive to have something about every month.
Like a family”'s income and expenses, The Alley”'s ability to include more of these priorities each month is dependent on income. Though The Alley is a nonprofit organization, very little of our income comes from gifts or grants. Instead, we are dependent on having a steady stream of advertisers.… Read the rest “What are the goals for content in each Alley Newspaper?”
The Alley Newspaper is Bound for The Future!
Bound for the Future had two meanings for The Alley Newspaper in 2010 and now into 2011.
First, it means that the first 30 years of The Alley Newspaper”'s issues are now reprinted on good quality book paper instead of lower quality newsprint paper, and the over 4,000 pages are bound into two sets of 13, hardcover volumes. One set is available to the public at the Downtown Central Library on Hennepin Avenue and the other is available at the Franklin Library on Franklin Avenue. This making of The Alley”'s into hardcover volumes was initiated and paid for by the Hennepin County Library after an Alley volunteer spent hundreds of hours assembling a complete set of those many issues.
The next tasks are:
1. Minnesota Historical Society to the complete 35 years of issues onto microfilm.
2. Digitizing of the 35 years of issue.
3. Produce an index for use with all of the reproductions.
Secondly, “Bound for the Future” means that The Alley has survived for 35 years and is setting a course to continue publishing in 2011 this community-owned and governed newspaper. We hope it is also “bound for the future” while many small and large newspaper are ceasing production.… Read the rest “The Alley Newspaper is Bound for The Future!”
