September 1989, Page 58

The American Educational Trust

Publishers' Page

Looking Better, Growing Bigger

Reader responses to last month's request for comments on contents, appearance, and ideas for future columns and coverage have been an ego trip for the editorial staff. We've expanded this issue to 60 pages to accomodate a portrait of PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat from Vanity Fair. We think it offers fresh insights and provides a little lighter summer reading than much of our usual fare. We'd like to retain the 60-page format for the rest of the year. Should we fill it with reprints of relatively light material, as in the Arafat piece, more specialized columns, or perhaps some short stories as suggested by two of our readers? Let's hear your views.

Donate Copies of Paul Findley's Book

Responses to our request for reader donations (at $5 each) of Paul Findley's They Dare to Speak Out to media personnel, or anyone who should have it, have been overwhelming. We've mailed 4,000 donated copies of his latest (June 1, 1989) edition already. We're depending upon our readers to get this book to opinion molders in their localities.

Donate the Washington Report

Last issue we reported that a reader had sent $500 and a list of editors to whom he wanted the Findley book sent. We asked readers to provide the $500 needed to send gift subscriptions to the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs to the same list. The first offer (and $500 check) came from a long-time subscriber who insists on being anonymous but whom we'll call MAI of Manhattan. For years he's renewed his annual subscription with a $100 check and said keep the change. Thanks to people like him, the change in US Mideast policies will come a little sooner.

Another regular and generous donor, James M. Saghi of San Francisco, reminds us that libraries are important recipients for Washington Report donations. He sent $1,000 for 200 library subscriptions.

We invite subscribers to join AET's own "thousand points of light program." Just send $5 for every subscription you want to donate to journalists, educators, clergy or libraries, and provide the addresses of your designated recipients. We'll check to see whether they already subscribe and, if they do, divert the subscription to another recipient in the same category. In the case of libraries, it's helpful if you can show the magazine to the head librarian in advance and secure an assurance that there is a place for it on the shelves. If you don't have the time to do it, however, we will. And, 12 months later, instead of going to you for renewals, we'll go first to the recipients and then tell you the results. If 2,000 of our readers send 12 recipient names and $60 to pay for their subscriptions, we'll reach 24,000 opinion molders and libraries. How else can you save a soul for $5?

Group Subscriptions

We opened Pandora's box in the previous issue when we mentioned group subscriptions. They're of two kinds. One, for huge organizations, means that members can write in to claim an individual subscription at a reduced group rate as a privilege of membership. This year we've made such a get-acquainted offer for members of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the National Association of Arab Americans (NAAA) and Association of Arab-American University Graduates (AAUG). Members receive a 12-month $15 subscription for $5. The offer expires Jan. 1, 1990.

The other, a permanent offer, extends to groups that send in 15 or more addresses at a time. We save money because they're easy to process and renew. Some examples of groups with such subscriptions follow. The big ones pay quarterly and adjust the numbers up and down. The small ones just bundle up 15 renewals at a time.

We'll continue to list some group subscribers in subsequent issues, both to guide like-minded people to them and stimulate new group subscriptions.

Help Wanted: Part time, Anytime

Our summer interns are disappearing. We're getting requests for summer 1990 internships already, because the word's out that we've emancipated students and pay minimum wage. But, as usual, we're going to give priority for summer internships to students who can work part-time during the school year. We're generally oversubscribed for summer, and hurting for hired hands in the winter. First hand knowledge of at least two Middle East countries helps. Typing or computer skills helps a lot.

Yes, We Have Speakers

There was no space in the previous issue to talk about the just reopened AET Speakers Bureau, directed by Janet McMahon and Uzra Zeya. Ms. Zeya's specialty is supplying Islamic groups with speakers about the US political system, and non-Islamic groups with speakers about Islam and the Muslim world. Ms. McMahon handles all the rest. They'll be happy to talk about your organization's interests, resources and requirements.

Make A Difference-This Month

Congress is out as we write this, but before they adjourned, a few members covered themselves with glory. As the latest crisis involving American hostages unfolded, Senator Robert Dole (R-KS) spoke from the heart when he said a little bit more responsibility on the part of Israel would be refreshing. If you think what he said was refreshing, drop him a letter to say so. His address is SH-141 Hart Senate Office Bldg, Washington, DC 20510-1601. His telephone is (202) 224 6521.

Only five US Senators didn't sign a letter drafted in the Israeli Embassy endorsing Yitzhak Shamir's vague West Bank elections plan. It was really a warning to Secretary of State James Baker III that 95 senators weren't prepared to take the heat with him if he continued warning the Israeli prime minister to abandon the dream of Greater Israel. The five who abstained from signing the Israel-drafted letter were Robert C. Byrd (D-WV), John H. Chafee (R-RI), Mark O. Hatfield (R-OR), Ernest F. Hollings (R-SC) and Malcolm Wallop (R-WY). If any are from your state, they've earned a pat on the back, and then some. If your senators signed the letter, you might want to discuss it with them as well.