Well is not an idea for an article but here it is.
I know the Distro and Magazine are published in USA but the community is world wide, I've noticed that the cover is always devoted to a USA festivity, why not have the festivities from other parts of the world too? it could be coupled with a little article explaining the tradition and we all will learn about it.
As an example, in Mexico we celebrate Christmas and give a big emphasis to the baby Jesus Christ but more than that the tradition of gifts are in January 6, the Three Wise Men Day. Another example is Dia de Muertos which is a big tradition here.
Those in charge of the Magazine could choose the festivity for the cover and if there are more than one include a brief note inside about the rest.
Crow,
Personally, I'm very much in favor of your idea. Now the matter is just finding individuals willing to write up an article for the celebrations in their part of the world. I know I wouldn't mind learning about how things are celebrated in other parts of the world. Thanks to my relatively meager means, I can't afford to travel across the world to experience these celebrations first hand. For me, the second best thing would be to read about it from someone who does know about them. Who better than a member of our own PCLinuxOS family?
As Meemaw has stated, we have had a problem lately with
the community submitting articles for the
community magazine. There is a limit to how much the handful of us who contribute every month can come up with. Even when others come forward with EXCELLENT article series ideas, much of the time they
drop the ball and it never survives. Those of us who already do so much to get the magazine out every month literally have no extra time to pick up all the "dropped balls" and run with them. As a result, they die a premature death (the Forum Friends & Family article series, as well as the Game Zone column, are both PRIME examples).
It appears that some are opposed to any kind of "festival" being written up for the magazine or appearing on the magazine's cover. When deciding on a magazine cover, we try hard to reach a balance. For example, for the forthcoming December issue, we avoid saying "Christmas," opting instead for "Holidays" or "Winter Holidays." We certainly don't want to alienate anyone, if we can help avoid it. Similarly, since PCLinuxOS is rooted in the United States, we do tend to highlight U.S. holidays. Admittedly, our "choices" are inherently limited by our limited knowledge (you tend to gravitate towards that with which you are most familiar), but our choices are also limited by the limited feedback and contributions from the community. Cover art for the magazine doesn't just "appear from thin air." Perhaps if someone would like to discuss possible cover images, I'm willing to lend an ear. You also have to add into those "limitations" the fact that we have to find/use cover images that are free from copyright encumbrances and entanglements.
I know that there is absolutely no way to please 100% of the magazine's readers. Knowing that, we strive to please as large of a percentage of them as possible. Some months you may feel that we may miss the mark, and other months you may feel that we may hit a bulls eye. Que sera, sera. We do the best that we can. If we miss one month, wait until next month. Maybe we'll hit another bulls eye. But, no matter how you "feel" about a topic, we are trying the best we can each and every month to put out the best community oriented Linux magazine -- ever, and one that (we think) has the broadest appeal across all demographics.
Paul Arnote [parnote]
PCLinuxOS Magazine Chief Editor
