Letter from the Editor

---

20 Questions

Help us keep Bay Weekly the paper you want to read

“I always enjoy reading Bay Weekly,” writes Annie Owen of Annapolis. “It is my treat after dinner on Thursday evenings or before I go to bed.”

Letters like Annie’s are recurrent pleasures; I get a lot of them. They’re heartening to everybody who works to bring you Bay Weekly because they tell us we’re achieving our purpose: communication. Newspapers without readers simply aren’t.

Even grumpy letters make me happy, because they tell me what you’re reading, what you like and — most often — what you don’t like. I got some of that sort this week, complaining that music calendar was neither in the paper nor online. That’s a glitch we’re fixing in this week’s online edition.

No matter how old, newspapers are always works in progress — because we always (for 808 issues so far) get to try again. If we don’t get it right this week, there’s always next week. Of course it’s easier to hit a target we can see.

So I’m asking you to help me see how Bay Weekly works for you. Send me your answers to any of these questions that move you, and you’ll help all of us here keep Bay Weekly the paper you want to read.

I’m waiting for your answers at [email protected]. If you prefer real mail, write to Editor, 1629 Forest Dr., Annapolis, MD 21403.

What You Read

1. What do you read first? Why?

2. Last? Why?

3. Can you remember a favorite story?

4. How about one you liked least?

5. Are you more likely to read a short story than a long one?

6. What motivates you to read long stories?

7. Do you read them all the way to the end?

8. Do you have a favorite subject — like people, voyages or ways we can be better environmental citizens?

9. Do you like stories about local businesses?

10. What do we write too much about? Fishing? Boats? The Volvo Ocean Race?

11. Anything we used to do that you miss?

12. As well as reported stories, columns of opinion and advice come to you in each week’s paper, some weekly and some monthly.

Which do you read and why?

• Bill Burton

• Dennis Doyle’s Sporting Life

• Dr. Frank Gouin’s Bay Gardener

• Rob Brezsny’s Free Will Astrology

• Chuck Shepherd’s News of the Weird

• Steve Carr’s Where We Live

• Gary Pendleton’s Earth Journal

13. Each week’s paper also bring you two puzzles. Do you spend time on either?

• Ben Tausig’s Ink Well Xwords

• Sudoku

14. Do you use our calendar, 8 Days a Week, to plan your free time?

15. How about Music Notes?

How You Read

16. Do you read Bay Weekly on paper?

17. Where do you pick up your copy?

18. Do you read Bay Weekly online?

19. Do you ever use our online archive, sponsored by Google, to look up past stories or information?

When You Read

20. Annie Owen reads at night on Thursday, the day each week’s fresh paper is delivered. When do you read?