Public Notice
"Public Notice" talks about friends and the end of this column.
By Kate X Messer, Fri., Aug. 24, 2001
Super Friends
If doing this column has taught us anything, it is the power and depth of friendship. Real, true, love of one's "brotherman." Friendship. Community. This town is humbling in its ability to pull together a show, a function, a fundraiser to address this cause and that. The dogged pursuit of good and good intentions in this town is staggering.
Say what you will about how the dough and energy that goes into fundraising might be better spent on the actual problem (we probably wouldn't disagree with you), but you've got to admit, there's a lot of community spirit that gets sparked by these things. And community spirit is a renewable energy source that is itself its own cause. So, all that addresses your big causes: This AIDS auction, cancer car wash, homeless art show, that black-tie affair -- the list goes on. But what really gets us is when individuals act to assist another individual. This week there are three. You don't need to know the person to go. Just go, and watch the luv:
Death Notice
So, last week we reported of the impending demise of this column. And this week, we report a little more. Yup, kids, after 181é2 years (we think) "Public Notice" goes the way of the dinosaur. Come Chronicle Redesign Time (the upcoming issue of Sept. 14), the duties of "PN" will be absorbed by the Community Listings section of this paper, thereby making your search for local public service events and volunteer opportunities each week more of a "One-Stop Shopping" experience, as it were.
We hope that the move to consolidate information makes it easier for our curious readers as well as for folks wanting to submit press releases to our paper. While "Public Notice" certainly garnered its own loyalists (and we luv ya, babies; know we do), it often seemed, here on the editorial side of things, that important informational items were spread all over the issue -- as some items would get overlapping coverage, while other bits of info would fall through the cracks.
Before these changes take place, might we ask a favor of our Public Service Community? Could you PR mailing list-types please change your mailing lists so that notices are no longer sent to the attention of "Public Notice" nor to the byline holder herein (that's we, Kate X Messer), and instead, send your juicy tidbits and info to the fine folk listed on our Community Listings page? Thanks!
Oh, and we'd like to bulk-answer the e-mails and phone calls that have come in. No, "we" are not leaving. We have plenty of other hats that we wear here at The Austin Chronicle to be kept busy for a very, very long time, thank you.
