Out in the Mountains Purpose The purpose of Out in the Moun- tains is to serve as a voice for lesbians, gay men, and our supporters in Vermont. We wish the newspaper to be a source of information, support and affirmation for lesbians and gay men. We also see it as a vehicle for celebration of the goodness and diversity of the lesbian and gay com- munity. ~ Editorial Policy We will consider for publication any material which broadens our under- standing of our lifestyles and of each other. Views and opinions appearing in the paper do not necessarily represent those of the staff. This paper cannot, and will not endorse any candidates and ac- tions of public officials on issues of importance to lesbians and gay men. We will not publish any material which is overtly racist, sexist, anti-Se- mitic, ageist, classist, or homophobic. All materials submitted must be signed so we can contact the author should we need to consider editorial revisions. However, within the pages of the newspaper, articles may appear an- onymously, upon request, and strict con- fidentiality will be observed. No revi- sions or rejections of materials will oc- cur without dialogue with the author. We welcome and encourage all readers to submit materials for publica- tion and to share your comments, criti- cisms, and positive feelings with us. This paper is here foryou. The deadline for submitting material for each‘ issue is the - 7th of the month prior "to publication; Materials should bef_sent to: Out in the Mountains . POBox 177 V A ' . " Burlington, VT 05402‘ To SubmitArtieles and Letters We encourageour‘ readers to partici- pate in bringing this publication to Gay and Lesbian Vermonters.‘ Please assist us by submitting— ’a‘rti‘cles“*'no longer than two" double-spaced typed pages and letters to the editorno Iongerthan one double spaced typed page. Your submission should be received by OITM no later thanthe 7th of the previous month. ‘ Thank you! New Year at OITM I had planned to write a standard “Welcome in the Gay ’90s” editorial. 1 was going to sum up the highs and lows of the past year and ponder new directions for the decade to come. My conclusion was going to be an announcement that OITM proba- bly wouldn’t last through another year, and then I started to laugh. Why not tell the story of, for example, this issue? I’m not doing this to dig at folks who aren’thelping, financially or otherwise. I’m doing it be- cause I believe that many in our community will be able to identify with the vindictive crabbiness that inevitably accompanies bum—out. The editorial meeting was held on December 11, the first night of my finals week at UVM. I didn’t go and neither did my partner, the layout editor, because she “already spends two Saturdays per month working on this thing, which nobody else has to do, and I’ll be damned ifI’m going to this meeting.” My sister is an editor and she didn’t go because she’s “sick of bailing out a sinking ship”, so neither did her partner, the advertising executive. (Sound like a family operation?) Good, we all thought, the paper will finally fold. Wrong. Perhaps the most pain- ful thing about OITM is that a couple people always come out of the woodwork at crucial moments and hold together the pieces just enough to get us limping off to press for another month. People did show i up to edit. Unfortunately, they left the COpy i in the office rather than typing it onto disks so it wasn’t discovered until late in the evening before galleys were to be poured. The layout editor started crying. I said, 0 “Sweetheart, don’t worry. I’ll get up early .- tommorow morning and do some typing on one of the UVM computers.” Morning arrived accompanied by a huge snowstorm. The layout editor was performing triage on the untyped copy when I rolled out of bed later than planned. ‘‘I’m the typer. Don't do my job for me,” I grumbled. She explained that she had some old copy on disk that we could use and that I shouldn’t bother typing. Besides, Aunt Gay was the only crucial piece and it was hand—written, too long, and regular con- tributors should type their own stuff any- way. “Well, why don’t you tell her that.” “Hey, I’m not in charge of correspon- dence.” “Did we get any response to the‘ fundraising plea?” (I was still planning an upbeat editorial.) “Yes. That’s another thing that ticks me off. Why can’t some- body write thank yous to those people?” “Because nobody volunteered for corre- spondence._” We knew better than to keep going, having declared a moratorium on OITM-conversations long ago. Well, I’m off to do some typing now. Happy New Year. Boo Hoo! No letters from OITM Readers. OITM would like to apologize for the delay in publishing the January issue. We experi- enced difficulty coordinating typing and layout due to the hohdays.