Dear Readers,
The long-anticipated arrival of the new millennium is upon us. I hope that your December holidays were cause for celebration. As I write this, two days before Thanksgiving, I have no way of predicting how problematic your Y2K New Year’s events turned out to be, but I hope that the recalibration of all the computers that keep our lives on track will have been uneventful for all of us.
Your “Braille Forum,” which has been tracking those events and eventualities which are important to members of the American Council of the Blind for nearly four decades now, is entering the next millennium with a few changes in mind — and that’s why I’m writing this column.
Of course, the “Forum” will continue to perform those essential functions which have always been the hallmark of ACB’s monthly publication: We will continue to bring you up-to-date information on legislation and advocacy-related issues; we will continue to make space available for all of our members to express opinions, share information, agree and disagree with one another. We will continue to come to you in the formats of your choice (print, braille, computer disk, audio cassette, and e-mail), and, when new technologies and formats arrive on the scene — as they inevitably will — “The Braille Forum” will keep up with the changing times and evolving technologies.
At the same time, we want to make our magazine appear to be a product of the 21st century! Can you help us update our image? We are looking for a new ACB slogan — something to capture the essential nature of ACB, a short, catchy, communicative phrase which will make readers want to learn more about us, while reassuring long-time members that we’re still who we say we are.
We also want a new logo! If you’re a graphic artist — or a tactile one — please help us define ACB with an attractive communicative logo!
We are accepting entries in both our contests for the coming six weeks. Submit your entry anytime after January 15, and no later than March 1. A panel of writers and artists, recruited from ACB’s membership lists, will pore over the entries. Our tentative plan is to announce the winning slogan and present the winning logo design at the ACB national convention.
You needed a creative outlet for your long winter cabin fever, didn’t you? Well, here it is — put those creative juices to good use. This is your chance in the first month of the new century to garner some immortality — or, at the very least, experience your own personal 15 minutes of fame! Send your entries in print or braille to: Slogan Contest, American Council of the Blind, 1155 15th Street NW, Suite 1004, Washington, DC 20005. Or e-mail your entries to preeder@acb.org.
We are looking forward to receiving entries from every segment of the ACB population — from every age group, from every affiliate, and from all our varied perspectives.
Happy 2000 to all!
Penny Reeder, Editor