We don’t know about you, most venerated SELEDAns, but we are hoping this fervid election doo-hickey that is pulsating through Americans here will soon subside. Abo! It is having a deleterious (huh? huh?) effect on the SELEDA environs.

As you may remember from our long-winded Notes from last month, we have added new editors to the SELEDA Family. And, really… God bless their l’il souls, besides being on the tad startlish side, they are overall wholesome, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed people. (For how long is lela CHewata.) But we guess we should have either gone over the new employee manual a little more carefully, or they should not watch anymore electoral coverage on TV.

To wit: First editorial meeting… bushy-tailed new editor #1: “I think SELEDA will benefit from a gentle restructuring in which all voices are heard and debated”.

Eh-h? Indet? Indet?

Bushy-tailed newbie #2: “Ooooh yes. We could have elections and platforms and votes and rallies and debates and post-rallies and…”

Inanteyewa… ere mnnnn teshale?

At first we thought “Ehhh, kids! Can’t shoot ‘em. Can’t shoot ‘em and not face homicide charges.” But then we realized they were truly and beTam earnest about this.

Zadiya, theoretically, we should have intervened and spared our new colleagues from the jaws of upper management’s infamous OAE (Operation ANiko Entuff). But practically, eh, it was easier to lean back in our swivel chairs, prop up our feet, and let the chips fall where they may.

First… the eerie silence from upper management… then the squinted eyes… then the raised eyebrows… then the big swig from crystal carafes, … and then the… “Esshii… erson man inibel?”

TenaysTlin!

Ok-kay-kay, we felt so bad about our silence while evil menfess-es body slammed their unabated niceties, that we didn’t have the heart to assign newbies as temp assistants to the permanently and emphatically neCHnaCHa Mail Editor, who has not had an assistant who has not been reduced to i-yay-yay-ing against bathroom walls. So, lesson number one to aspiring new editors: y’all, you can’t be comin’ in and throwin’ around aff-illaffi catch phrases that include the words ‘freedom’ and (especially!) ‘elections’ and not expect verbal sammia grffias from the SELEDA hierarchy. Aychyalmma!

Fortunately, as they are prone to do so, things eventually simmered down, and the SELEDAficaton of newbies is nearly complete. A few more whiffs of the weffefta that keeps the ball rolling around here, and they should be ready to go. (Lesson number two: you really don’t have to open editorial meetings in a C-Major rendition of “Negusachin” while wearing a high Tlet neTela. But, yikes, these people can sure belt out a tune!)

They’re happy. We’re faintly entertained. All’s well. For now.

Dehna senebetachiu SELEDAwiyan…?

Welcome to the Cities issue! And may we say this has been a record month for the number of readers volunteering articles. (Keep this up, and the SELEDA Seif will have ziget all over it.) Ah… we have come a long way. November has truly been a turning point for us in realizing there is a voice out there that wants to be heard. Our deepest and most humble thanks to all our contributors who willingly or unwillingly jumped into the SELEDA pool. We would promise them our first borns, but it would be unfair to burden them with the responsibility of changing the shnt CherQs of the petulant brats our loins will surely produce. So, simply, we say, yibarkachiu. We hope this will serve as encouragement to all the rest of you out there to put fingers to keyboard and share your tales.

And while we were chagrined our Ethiopian contacts in Belo Horizonte, Brazil failed to sober up long enough to jot down missives about hedonized abesha rituals they’ve perfected, we are happy the rest of our contributors covered cities and places which have impacted them somehow. It was deeply regrettable that Europe was not represented, but we figure most of them out there are busy trying to get visas to the good ol’ United States. Ah, well. Overall, we’ve presented you eclectic stories from Austin to Addis. We hope you enjoy.

So, what’s pretending to be new at SELEDA?

We’ll tell you what’s new! Besmeab! Response to last month’s SELEDA Survey was truly overwhelming. Despite its borderline banality, y’alls just went ahead and burnt numerous Twaffs filling out the darned thing. Excellent showing! We will try to bring you a summary of your thoughts in our next issue. Incidentally, the winner (and we are sorry it had to happen to someone whom we are sure is an upstanding citizen of the world) of the Lousy T-shirt Contest is Reghaset, male, from… he never said where he’s from. Unfortunately, our emails to him keep bouncing back, so, if you are out there, Lij Reghaset, contacts us immediately. We hope the rest of you will remember him in your prayers for his random act of senselessness for choosing to wear a SELEDA logo. Hey, better him than us.

What else?

We are happy to introduce to you a new feature which we hope will speak to all you artists out there. SELEDA Berenda will be our feature art galley where we will showcase our reader’s visual works of art… paintings, photographs etc. Those who find words trifling can illustrate your way into SELEDA’s heart and soul. Well, yes, all of us do share one heart and our souls are on hiatus… but you get our drift. So, find a theme that intrigues you, and paint your words! We are honored beyond reason to have as our inaugural Berenda-er, Robel Mamo, who has represented the "Cities" theme in a series of fabulous photographs. We thank him. Our mothers especially thank him.

Lelas…?

Oh. We keep forgetting about our need to search for SELEDA’s purpose. Aiii. God gave us Qum neger be shai mankia lekto. Well, winter is approaching, and maybe as we lounge around the fire, the girl SELEDAwits brewing abol in a Krups 2001 and meQuaCHeting the fringes of their cashmere pashminas, we can finally seek higher intellectual ground and once and for all fill this inherent void. But remember, our brainchildren are all orphans, so we can’t promise you we’ll actually find ourselves a purpose. And the almot by tegadais that we are not, we’ll probably blow this off until spring.

Coming up in December is SELEDA’s overdue Humor (and for them fancy awropyawiyan, “humour”) issue… and it’s about time we printed something funny in these pages! So, oh you smart alecky SELEDAWiis here and yonder, here is your chance to showcase your wit. Any and all subjects. No holds barred. In Amharic and/or English, and/or (as one reader put it) in SELEDAgna. Please refer to Hamsa Lomi for guidelines and deadlines, and let it rip. And since we are on a self-imposed Tsom from leveling what we like to call insights at Lyceé temariwoCh, we hope to find other things to entertain our Adbar. So send in your contributions. Fast!

As always, your comments, criticisms, jerba dleQas and kurkums are welcome. For our awropiawiyan readers, you can blink twice to show delight, or turn up them cute noses to display displeasure… Awwwwwo. Inndsuuuu.

Selam inihun.

The Humble Editors editors@seleda.com