Note from the Editors…

Dng'ay teshekimen, keisha anTefen qerbenal. We have yet to come up with the appropriate self-effacing punishment appropriate for our tardiness last month. Indeed, it is a blot on our ye-tebazeTe T'iT literary shemma that no amount of enddod and berekina has been able to cleanse.

We're sorry already!

Resolute that we were not going to repeat this werada of all weradas behavior, we made sure we burnt several kinds of midnight oils to bring you this, the November issue on time. That accomplished, we have to go fulfill our silet to ye Qulubbeew Mikael. (Little promise we made…in exchange for remaining focused and intractable this month, we would circle the Qulubbee grounds on our be-birtukan CHimaqi yadegu knees. Trust the SELEDA mentality to try to gyp ye Qulubbeew'n Mikael.)

Off we go…

Wait. Before that we want to tell you about the staid advances made to make SELEDA shine brightly and keep its inhabitants happy and content.

(Luckily, upper management is ensnared in the ugliness of tracking down receipts to justify yet another yalhone expense report, so the impish creative contingent was free to…well, actually be creative this month.)

We are happy to announce that the next three issues of SELEDA will not only be on time, (providing we don't renege on our "in hindsight hasty" silet) but will also inaugurate our "Theme" feature. December's issue will focus on Ethiopian Arts and Music; January will be the "Home" issue, where we will explore/pontificate/lament the concept of "home" and what it means to all of us; and then in February's "Valentine's" issue we will pay homage to love, cupid and various aspects of be gira ij medhanit meyaz.

Also on our SELEDA radar are the "Computers & Sciences" and "Careers" issues. (Regrettably, our pièce de résistance, the "Egomaniac, Snotty & Puerile Cybermagazine Editors" issue still has a lot of kinks to be worked out. But, rest assured, it's coming.)

As always, we welcome submissions from our readers. We hope the "Thematic" SELEDA will help those in the "eyasebkubet new" camp find their niche. Let those who are still taking cover in the cyber-CHaka come gallivanting forward, intrepidly parting the thick forest growth, literary machetes b'and ijaCHew, and leza yalew humor in the other.

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[As luck would have it, still no sign of several receipts. The be balCHut yetelekosew ye creativity esat engulfs the SELEDA Boardroom…]

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The "How to make SELEDA more interactive" thousand points of light thing continues to enqilf mensat our restless SELEDA spirit. We have to start somewhere, we thought, so here's the test balloon the "in no immediate danger of winning a Pulitzer Prize" Editorial Board is sending (forgive the whiff of Black Label that accompanies it): Next month's Top Ten has hereby been declared 100% Interactive. Let the subject be... Top Ten Differences between people from Bolè and Arada. Submissions from the sefiew hizb will be happily accepted until November 25. Please send musings to editors@seleda.com.

As unadulterated gubo and incitement, our marketing department is offering hand-painted, mouth-blown, lead-free crystal SELEDA punch bowls as prizes for the ten best entries. Wait. Do we have SELEDA punch bowls? More importantly, do we have a marketing department? Hmm. Before we trap ourselves into making more promises, (and this time we might just find ourselves running down a kororonch and ihoK pathway barefoot and naked) how about we settle on "an honorable mention"? Make sure to include a name with your submission and from where you hail. Meanwhile, we promise to start working on creating a marketing department to be freely mooched off of SELEDA merchandise. So, sharpen those tongues. We wait with bated breath.

And thus, with a stroke of a pen, SELEDA Interactive is borne. Amen belu.

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We are proud to introduce a new feature, "Ye SELEDA Bawza" in this issue (Bawza = spotlight in Amharic for those in Kansas). It is a new column where guest writers share general perspectives on Ethiopia and Ethiopians in the Diaspora. A bully-pulpit if you will; an oasis of sanity in the desert of the ye ibd menaheria territories presently occupied by SELEDA editors. So, speak up, SELEDA-wian!

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Our joy is boundless in announcing that the SELEDA awaj and call for essayists has fruited submissions with the kind of wit, essence and profundity that has left us breathless. Breathless, we say. Gulbet simenal. We continue to be amazed and humbled by the unwavering support of our readers. Some have even taken that final step to being completely immersed in the SELEDA chlorine-free pool, ke wede deep end-u bekul, by sending in essays (and ye bulla genfo). Enkwan ke sideline tifozonet wede active participator-inet be selam ashegagerachihu belegnal. Keep it coming.

Finally, keff yale misgana to all our November contributors, who, and please don't think we are being overly sensitive here, we think want nothing else to do with us. Ah. You win some. You irretrievably alienate and terrify others. We are, nevertheless, deeply grateful for their time, efforts and brainpower in making this the mastareqia and comeback issue. But mostly, we are grateful that that they've had the various restraining orders against us lifted.

We really must go… off to do a little crawling, a little self-reflection and a lot of begging ye Qulubbeew Mikael for mercy. Check on us once in a while, why don't you. Drop us a note at editors@seleda.com.

Until the December, we bid you happy reading.

The Humble Editors.