Happy May Day, The Stand’s 1st anniversary

A message from the Editor:

Today on May Day 2012, The Stand celebrates its first anniversary online.

I have been truly amazed — and grateful — at the positive feedback we’ve received at the Washington State Labor Council since launching The Stand. If anything, we had underestimated the demand for a news source that focuses on working families’ issues and is independent of commercial interests.

The Stand accepts no advertising — not from any businesses, nor from sympathetic groups and organizations. It raises no money. It is simply a service provided by the WSLC and its affiliated union organizations to provide news with the kind of populist voice that once thrived in Washington state.

We pledge in the coming year to continue to expand the site and add new voices to the discussion. Where our first year has been largely focused on developing the site’s format and content, this year we plan to focus more on publicizing The Stand and trying to grow its audience — both inside and outside the labor movement.

You can help. If you haven’t already, please subscribe via email, or “like” us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter, or add our RSS feed to your websites. Please tell your friends, family and co-workers about The Stand, and urge them to sign up as well. And please SHARE stories from The Stand via email or Facebook or however you like.

Also, tell us how we’re doing. Please email me and let me know what you like, what you don’t like, and what your suggestions are for doing things differently. I promise, I read every single message I get and I try to respond to each one.

Finally, a big thank-you to the WSLC’s executive officers — President Jeff Johnson and Secretary-Treasurer Lynne Dodson — who inspired the creation of this site, have consistently supported its development, and have never once sought to edit, screen or censor its content. Not once. Not even my occasionally snide “Editor’s Notes!”

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned!

Sincerely,
David Groves