| Vol. 5 No. 23 November 18, 2010 |
The Capital City Hues (608) 241-2000 gramling@capitalcityhues.com Subscription Information: The Capital City Hues PO Box 259712 Madison, WI 53725 ($45 a year) Contact Number: (608) 241-2000 Advertising: Claire G. Mendoza sales@capitalcityhues.com |
EDITORIAL STAFF Jonathan Gramling Publisher & Editor Clarita G. Mendoza Sales Manager Contributing Writers Rita Adair, Ike Anyanike, Paul Barrows, Alfonso Zepeda Capistran, Theola Carter, Fabu, Andrew Gramling, Lang Kenneth Haynes, Eileen Cecille Hocker, Heidi Pascual, Jessica Pharm, Laura Salinger, Jessica Strong, & Martinez White Webmaster: Heidi @ heidipascual@sbcglobal.net |
| Looking back a year ago, things were looking pretty bleak for The Capital City Hues. We had lost money our first three years and just when it seemed that we might get profitable, the Great Recession hit sending our financial boulder back down the hill toward financial insolvency. All during 2009, we lost money almost every month. I began to see the edge of financial ruin each month and I felt that boulder was tied to the end of a rope that was tied around my waist, pulling me over the edge. It was a very depressing time for I had placed all of my eggs in this one basket and didn’t really have a solid Plan B other than a vague idea of going to work for the post office or a PDQ. But The Hues and I were fortunate to have friends in our most desperate hour. First it was the people who gave us money as our “virtual subscribers,” especially Paul Kusuda who gave in spite of being a regular subscriber. I will always be grateful for Paul’s intercession. And then there were the 2011 Obama calendars. We ended up selling over 850 of the calendars, which kept us on just this side of financial solvency. I often joke that the calendars were our own personal stimulus plan. I will always be grateful to the president and to our many readers who bought them for holiday gifts and for posterity. In 2011, our prospects began to get brighter. In addition to our long-time standbys of MGE, Becker Law Offices and Housing Ministries of Wisconsin, Group Health Cooperative began to advertise with us on a regular basis. Thank you so much GHC, which coincidentally is The Hues’ health care provider. But I thank all of the folks who advertised with us this year. Whether it was one ad or many ads, your advertising is what pays the bills around here and we are mighty grateful! We are also grateful for the over 60 paying subscribers to the paper. While we make little money from our subscriptions after paying for the postage and processing them on a bi-weekly basis, they are a means of support for us. People have invested their $45 because they believe in us and feel The Hues is important enough to them to have the paper delivered to their doorsteps. It is a wonderful, psychic support. Our prospects made it into the black — accounting lingo for having a positive cash flow — during 2011. One reason for that is increased revenue, due in large part, to increased advertising. We founded the paper going on five years ago with a vision of helping the Madison area become a more cosmopolitan community where everyone was free to pursue life, liberty and happiness through positive expressions of culture and race. It appears that our vision is taking hold as measured by the support we are receiving from the community. We also climbed into the black because we cut some of our expenses as well. Heidi Pascual, our managing editor and sales person decided to move back to The Philippines last April because her economic situation was declining here and she missed her family, particularly her grandchildren back home. And in part she left because she felt she was costing The Hues too much — we were paying 100 percent of her health insurance because we all need health insurance. When Heidi left, we no longer paid her health insurance and had some salary savings because I picked up the slack in the workload. Heidi bit a bullet for us and I will be forever grateful. Of course, she is still working for us over the Internet as The Hues’ webmaster and formats some of our ads and editorial. We still do miss her. I also have to give thanks to our writers Lang Kenneth Haynes and Andrew Gramling — yes that is my son who has reported all the way from Nanning and Hefei, China — and on occasion, Fabu, Madison’s poet laureate. It is wonderful to have these voices in the paper with different perspectives and ideas. My son recently moved back to the States and is living in Davis, California where he plans to get his undergraduate degree in engineering. He is interested in building things. However, his column will continue for the next two years because he has been writing with a two-year delay. Gosh, I love his memory. Finally, I thank our readership. Our circulation has been climbing slowly, but surely over the past year and our website has an ever increasing number of hits from people who prefer to read us on-line or to check out our classified ads that are sometimes only posted on-line. During our bleakest moments last year, it was the kind words of support that I received from many of you as I traveled the community that kept me going. In my darkest moment, you were my dawn. I am so grateful to all of you. |
| Reflections/Jonathan Gramling Thanksgiving to All |
