BWNA newsletter volunteer Chris Rauber — a writer and poet — penned “Newsletter Love,” below, to celebrate our neighborhood newsletter and its indefatigable team members. But just what is the BWNA newsletter team? First, it’s not a club, and you don’t need to be on the team to submit articles. No dues are required, although suffering the “marginal wine” served by the editor may be akin to hazing!
The BWNA newsletter team is a group of highly dedicated neighbors who, for nearly every issue of the newsletter or as their time allows, volunteer their talent and time on layout and design, copy editing, advertising management, reporting and writing articles for BWNA’s bi-monthly newsletter, and reviewing and proofing the newsletter before it goes to the printer.
On top of that good work, team members participate in every-other-month gatherings to kick around article ideas, weigh in on design and policy changes, eat and drink, and enjoy some camaraderie with fellow newsletter team members. At least once a year we get together and include our spouses or partners, with no agenda other than to connect and build community.
What’s not to love about all that?
If you’d like to participate on the BWNA newsletter team or submit an article for consideration, email Editor@BWNApdx.org.
Newsletter Love
by Chris Rauber
The thing you hold in your hands is a throwback despite being concocted on computers. It’s distilled from a neighborhood’s neighborliness, shared rhythms and communal history by a small crew of those who live nearby, fueled by unpaid efforts, sleepless nights, marginal wine & occasional pizza parties. Every headline (or comma) is up for debate, but fisticuffs are rare.
It has its critics, but how else to hold a place in your hands and feel its busy dailiness by osmosis: the way the kids look on their way to school or storekeepers keep an eye out for those willing to part with cash, or dogs sniff trees and sidewalks to find out what is what.
© 2025 Chris Rauber