What do we at SELEDA know about love? Well, we certainly have issues with love… so… put two and two together, and here comes …"The Love Issue" hurling right at your heart. (Obviously, we failed our Logic class at that night school we hastily signed up for, so we are back to zibriQ-riQ thought processes.)

Welcome to the Valentine's issue! Not that every day is not Valentine's day around here these days ever since top SELEDA sira askyajs were court marshaled to attend Anger Management classes.

This l'il happenstance/fluke/gift from ya yeferedebet Qulibi Mikael has meant that the Creative "everyone is an associate here" Crew has been serving as our de facto nefs abats, and will do so until the season for e-insurrections is over, becomes unfashionable and/or upper management comes crashing through our new Japanese screens after flunking "Your Anger and You: Harmonize" classes. By then we're sure we'll get sick of them beanbag chairs and lava lamps anyway.

Meanwhile, we would like to take a break from another "not at all mandatory but yilblagn for your karma" yoga class to express our thanks to all our February contributors. We remain shocked, shocked by the absolute fineness, caliber and wordsmithery of this month's writers. "Love," the newly empowered writing crew kept chanting from underneath the conference table during editorial meetings, "Love fears no commas…it does not bow to paragraphs nor is enslaved by quotation marks."

…Y-y-yeah.

We're tickled pink, too.

Heartfelt gratitude to all our readers-turned-writers, who came galloping forth, agelgils of beautifully constructed poetry and prose in tow to pay tribute to love and Cupid. It helped exorcise all remaining upper management gan-nens haunting the breakroom, and for that alone, we will forever be indebted.

We have tried to cover some aspects of love among Ethiopians in the Diaspora in this issue. We keep saying that each issue has been the most fun to publish, but never has it rung truer. "Where are all these people coming from?" Indeed, where? We hope it has the same besemeab, besemeab, besemeab effect on you as it did us.

So what else is new at SELEDA?

The writing crew, what with being new to ruthless power wielding and all, could not synchronize the various schedules of its members to make this a smooth transition of power. ("Regrettably," their interoffice memo read, "all of us attend different 12 step programs. Please re-schedule the meeting/schmeeting").

That meant we had to postpone "the mother of all editorial meetings" where we are supposed to map out the contents of our first year anniversary issue. Oh, well. Maybe after they finish reading the well-thumbed "Padding your Expense Account: The Mobutou Seseseko Approach" manual, they'll have more free time to dedicate to solidifying the future of SELEDA. So, as of yet, no progress to report on the Gala Celebration. We are officially alarmed.

What else have we not been going? Plenty.

We have been getting a lot of inquiries about what the "purpose" of SELEDA is from readers who obviously believe in fuzzy little concepts like that. Hmm. Lack of purpose. This may be, was the general consensus around here, why eternal happiness has been eluding us. (Our new bosses promptly formed Purposelessness Anonymous. Three hours, twice a week. Bring your own Zoloft.)

What purpose, we dismissed flippantly, until respectable azawints not associated with this 'zine summoned us into the guwada to inform us that the "purpose of SELEDA" was topic number 85 on the Ethiopian Dialogue-o-meter at several area idirs. (Up from languishing at # 299: right before rumors of Kassa Tessema sightings in DC and behind rabid tizibt,s that a certain mid-western Qess was seen taking Tai Chi classes. "Zim new ye-zarayn Qess.")

"Are you a place to get information," these tiliQ sewotCH inquired of us in all seriousness. (Lucky for them we are not easily hod yemibisegn,.) Yeeeaah. Only if the information you're looking for has anything to do with being incurable know-it-alls and/or taking advanced lessons in consummate snobbery! (We didn't say that out loud. We just distracted them by adding fuel to the nefarious "they are building a nursing home behind bomb tera" CHim-CHim-ta.)

It is, we hope by now, excruciatingly yadebabai misTir-ish like that all SELEDA information is gotten through sima belews and strategically placed werè aQebais. So, no. No information here.

But for people like us, miskins and so easily susceptible to finding new and newly tasteful neurosis (it being a new century), we have taken on the obsession with "finding a purpose" as the new SELEDA Mania of the Millennium. There! We hope everybody is happy now.

We hope the writing crew, who don't miss an opportunity to tell us that they are very much in tune with all aspects of their "wusT simmèt" will spearhead the movement to find us a purpose. For now, we are toeing the company line: "This is the Web Sight about…nothing."

Moving on…

We've been busy not settling for one look for the SELEDA front page. "We will vote on one permanent look," we keep telling the computer komitay liQe menber, "very soonish." But he doesn't wanna play nice.

"OK. We'll vote on it this month" we tried to reassure him. But darn if he doesn't protest the outcome of every vote. "200 to 7 against keeping one look? But there are only 17 of us voting! I demand a re-count," he'd say coming dangerously close to calling us frauds. As if we have, er, time to stuff ballots.

We patiently point out to Rule 17.91. "There shall have to be a vote to vote for a re-count." Results: 341 to 1 against voting to vote for a re-vote. Ahh. We love democracy. So, until further notice, we look forward to new artwork and web wizardry every month. Valuable lesson: If you just let it, people, the system works just fine. We don't care what Jesse Jackson says.

Beterefe, we are working hard on the March issue focusing on "Science and Technology". It has been a feeding frenzy for shamelessly hypochondriac Editors, who may have not just stepped over the ethical line but gallantly CHifliQ adirgew squashed it by soliciting free medical advice from potential writers, and computer guidance from prospective contributors. We apologize for their behavior, and remind ourselves to schedule a "vote" to vote them out.

As always, we look forward to your feedback, suggestions and kurfia laced provocations. Send your thoughts and antidote for migraines to editors@seleda.com, or click on the "Comment Center".

Be CHer yigTemen.

The Humble Editors.

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