Time to close the year at Swans. We'll be back on January 1, 2003 with our traditional infamous and irreverent Predictions, and our bi-weekly schedule on January 6. For this last 2002 edition, our regular columnists and contributors share their opinions on how the year went, what 2002 meant to them. So here you have it: Eleven columns filled with personal views from a diverse collective of writers. They are published in the order received. In addition Sandy Lulay offers her last poem, and we publish a new Canadian poet, Sabina Becker. Finally, the Letters to the Editor could easily have been published as a series of articles and, in light of the Trent Lott ruckus, are worth reading, particularly a letter we received from Saint Xavier University Professor Kirstein.
2002 has been a challenging year for Swans and its collective of writers, like for many other sites and people. We all went through the valleys of despair and the various commotions provoked by this increasingly reactionary and violent whirlwind engulfing the world, and the growing authoritarianism in the U.S. Emotions have run high at times but while we added a zest of activism to our work we've kept sight of what we are about, bringing food for thought and providing a quality literary and political site on the Web. We lost one columnist but gained three and more, a very talented flock indeed. Visitorship has grown accordingly. We began the year with about 1,100 daily requests. We are approaching 5,000 requests and on average 50MB of data transferred per day (with peaks close to 100MB). Our low-key publication, with little backing but the convictions and the integrity of its contributors -- a site that follows no party line, has very few graphics and does not advertise -- has grown 20-fold in 24 months! Not bad for a bi-weekly publication... (We ain't CNN, but to keep things in perspective it took us 4 years to grow from five or ten visits a day in 1996 to 200 in 2000!) Swans' articles have been republished in print as far away as Jordan and England and our visitors originate from more than 100 countries.
So we are growing, but with growth come the associated pains. Next year we will begin to ask for financial support and we will do so in a way that shows what we need and how the money is spent. Our fundraising will be as low-key and transparent as the site is. We hope you will all generously answer our call.
In the meantime, thank you all very, very much for reading Swans. Please, enjoy these perpectives on 2002, remember to form your OWN opinion and to let your friends (and foes) know about us. It is indeed your voice that makes ours grow.
Best wishes for a peaceful New Year from all of us at Swans.
#####
Gregory Elich: More Of The Same
For me, the year 2002 was much like any other. Capital continued its aggressive push for profits both at home and abroad, trampling over the needs of people. More...
Philip Greenspan: A Fading Vision Of The USA
The blustering of the government in its continual war on terrorism as echoed by its subservient media has overshadowed what I consider the major story of the year-the growing opposition by people all over the world to the policies of the US. More...
Edward S. Herman: 2002 Has Been A Grim Year
The year 2002 has been a grim one, in large measure because the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Ashcroft administration has been able to strengthen its grip and advance its regressive agenda, which runs counter to the public interest on every important issue. More...
Milo Clark: And So Goes 2002. . . .
Keep in mind always that the nature of actuality remains paradox. I started out the 2002 Swans' year prattling about "coup and containment." Now that the Bush coup has been given imprimatur by those few who vote, I will note that the coup has succeeded. More...
Eli Beckerman: Sinking In, Sinking, Then Ascension
The pain of 2001 was not felt until 2002. That September morning's horrors numbed us, and over the course of 2002, the anesthetic wore off bit by bit, exposing us to the raw pain. I've always wondered what adrenaline can do to make intense pain bearable. More...
Aleksandra Priestfield: A Case For The Defense
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, you will note that I do not address the judges. There are no judges in this case. You are the judges; you always have been. More...
Michael W. Stowell: Whadda Mess
Each year always brings a few surprises and at the end of a year, I sometimes wonder why I was surprised by developments that occurred throughout the year. More...
Jan Baughman: 2002: Still Hope For The Future
I was a bad citizen in 2002. First, I did not go shopping with my $300 Bush personal economic stimulus package. Blame me for the state of the economy, but it still sits unopened on the kitchen table. More...
Alma A. Hromic: Reclaim The Dream
December 13, 2002. The thirtieth anniversary of the last time the human race stood on the Moon. When we first landed on the Moon, back in 1969, I was woefully too young to know it. More...
Deck Deckert: If You're Happy And You Know It, Bomb Iraq
A song parody that has already raced around the Internet scores of times [...] contains more real news than a hundred hours of happy talk chatter by TV anchors, and more wisdom than can be found in a thousand hours of babbling by network talking heads. More...
Gilles d'Aymery: A Pivotal Year?
Do you recall the bridge to the 21st century, the New Economy, the expansion without end, the opening era of peace and democracy, the DOW reaching the 30,000 mark? It seems like eons ago, right? Where have these grandiose pronouncements gone? In just two short years, everlasting confidence has been replaced by bleakness and pessimism, economic insecurity, a sense of vulnerability, drastic erosion of civil liberties, war without end... More...
Sandy Lulay: Café Espresso
Ribbons of coffee house smoke
Dancing with espresso steam caught me
Trying to find the spaces between your words.
More...
Sabina C. Becker: Empty-Handed Women
All over the world
women are praying
empty-handed:
More...
Professor Kirstein writes to Swans; Gilles d'Aymery responds; more on the Kirstein Affair with an excellent letter from a Canadian reader; and a friendly note with suggestions to improve Swans (with a response from Gilles d'Aymery). More...
– If you wish to receive an e-mail regarding each new rendition (twice a month) with the Note from the Editor and the URL to each article, please send an e-mail with "Subscribe Swans" in the subject line. Please also include your first/last name in the body of the message.