Sun To Move & Go Weekly

Dear supporters and friends,

We're getting ready, right now, to go through what we think are some of the biggest changes that the SUN has seen in the 3 years that the paper has been on the streets of Ann Arbor.

These changes affect how we relate to the large, rapidly expanding community that lives here -- in other words, they affect how we relate to you and lots of other people in the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanü area. And we think you should know just what's going to happen.

You ought to know what's going on not only because it affects you, but also because we can't do everything we need to do all by ourselves. We need your continuing support in many ways, just as you've helped support us these last three years with your interest, your criticism, your time, your energy, your labor, your donations, your loans, your advertising, your purchase of newspapers. Here's what's happening:

WE'RE WEEKLY STARTING SEPTEMBER 20

In an effort to make the SUN more current and more sensitive to community activities, we will begin publishing weekly starting September 20. This means that we'll be available on the streets of the AA/Ypsi area every Friday morning (except once during winter and spring breaks, and during July and August, when we will publish bi-weekly).

FREE HOME DELIVERY

Our distribution/circulation department has revived home delivery of the SUN starting with this issue (see opposite page). We think that this service is essential to effective distribution of the SUN, and our hope is that it will prove so useful that we can more than double the number of SUN subscribers.

NEXT ISSUE: SEPTEMBER 4

We're skipping one issue this month (as planned) so we can better concentrate on re-organizing -- and also to give us enough time to put together our next issue, which will be the biggest (at least 48 pages) and most colorful in our history. Besides the regular SUN features, the next issue, out September 4, includes:

THE OFFICIAL BLUES & JAZZ FESTIVAL 1974 PROGRAM, with complete features on each performing artist. the history and nature of the event, and a complete discography of Festival act. An extra print run on the Sept. 4 issue of several thousand copies will be done to accommodate Blues and Jazz fans in Windsor this September 6, 7, & 8.

SPECIAL BACK-TO-SCHOOL SUPPLEMENT with a SUN "people's yellow pages" directory outlining the when-where-how of student/community life in the area and other features on the rainbow political-cultural-social scene which is so unique to Ann Arbor. Another large extra print run on the Sept. 4 issue will be done to help introduce the SUN to the new U of M and EMU student communities.

OUR NEW SPACE: 603 E. WILLIAM

This change helps make all of the others possible. In response to our "call for help" on the back page of the July 14 issue, friends at the New World Film Co-op helped us secure rental of larger, on-campus office space - at 603 E. William near State, directly above the soon-to-open Matrix Theatre. This means we'll have the room we need to work as well as being directly accessible to people enrolled at the University of Michigan. At least a couple of folks have loaned us enough money to start the work of moving (thank you!) and we will be settled there by the beginning of September.

On the economic front, our paper has been maintaining a break-even point for almost 3 months. We have had to borrow money, however, to be able to establish a small payroll account for our staff. Until recently all work done on the SUN was donated by the staff. Now, although most of the work is still done on a voluntary basis, we're glad we can begin to support the people that take the responsibility of putting out this newspaper!

We've had one successful benefit to help raise moving expenses, at the Blind Pig August 7, and another is coming up August 14. (Thanks to the Rabbitts and Chinner.) But we still need help to the tune of about $1,000.00, so if you've got all or part of that (and would like to donate or loan us the money) please contact us right away.

Whether or not you've got any money for us, we also want to point out that you can make some money now, this fall, and this winter -- helping to get the SUN to more people. We really want to get our home delivery service going in a big way, and we need people to help sell and or service home delivery subscriptions in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. You can make 10% or more on every subscription you sell, and you can make a guaranteed amount weekly (10 cents per copy) if you deliver an Ann Arbor SUN route. People who already deliver newspapers can make the SUN their weekly bonus by signing up new SUN subscribers on their routes. Or you can make your own route in your dormitory or apartment house, or in your neighborhood. Contact us now if you are interested, and our circulation department will tell you how you can help, and how much you can make.

Even if you don't get into home delivery of the SUN yourself, we hope you can see we're serious, anyway, about building a strong, effective. alternative newspaper - a newspaper that will serve the community that is made of you, us, and thousands more who may not have even heard of "The Ann Arbor SUN" yet. A couple of issues ago that community was described here as: "a broad spectrum of people, throughout this entire area, that are interested in one way or another in an alternative to the honky, capitalist/competitive life forms that currently hold sway in this country." Truly a Rainbow Community.

And what we want is a real Rainbow Community News Service. Thanks again for everything.

-The Staff of the Ann Arbor SUN

SUN Staffers: Gary Kell, Frank Bach, David Fenton, Kathy Kelley, Barb Weinberg, Tom Pomaski, Elaine Wright