The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

Women start paper geared toward females in the region

Among the pens, unsorted papers and newspapers scattered on Chanda Green's kitchen table, only a few things are clear.

"We're up to business," Green assures herself. "We just haven't gotten very far."

Green and her daughter, Dalus Kulich, spent Sunday afternoon evaluating an issue of Heartland Women, a newspaper they put out for the first time this month.

They rely on the press of a local paper, as well as relatives and friends who helped them to deliver it. The paper uses freelance columnists, but is mostly the work of Green and Kulich, who act as editor and managing editor respectively.

The columnists at the paper range from Suhalia Meera, a 13-year-old who does book reviews, to a doctor, Annette Vaillancourt, who provides health columns.

"We want to highlight diversity so much," Green said. " There's so much diversity here and not just in Carbondale. We may expand this all the way into Kentucky."

Kulich and Green seem to have some difficulty laying out a perfect agreement when it comes to several small design issues such as headers and jumps. But both seemed satisfied with each other's definition of the paper.

"Our motto is to entertain, enlighten and empower women," said Green.

Heartland Women is a monthly publication focused on the issues faced by women in the area. Green emphasized that although the publication, which she refers to as a "newssine," targets women, it is not geared toward a specific age group.

Kulich and Green said area women have been receptive to the idea of a newspaper geared toward them. Local resident Cynthia Fligel said she was ecstatic to hear about a publication that caters to this population and was anxious to use her networking skills to help the publication gain advertising.

"First of all, I think the women of Southern Illinois are a very unique population," said Fligel, who is a former president of the Southern Illinois Women's Council. "There's a large gamut of these people, from high level professional people who have traveled the world to women who have been here their whole life."

Vaillencourt, who owns her own practice in clinical therapy and plans to write a monthly column for the publication, said it would provide networking and informational opportunities.

Green said her daughter first came up with the idea for the publication. Both Green and Kulich have journalism experience and believe they have the skills to pilot a publication.

Kulich and Green worked in journalism long before the existence of Heartland Women. Kulich began at the age 13 as a correspondent for the Southern Illinoisan segment, "Our Voice." She has since spent several years as an editor and publisher for various publications.

Green's journalistic life has been similar, starting at the age of 18 and holding positions such as city editor for local papers such as the West Frankfort Daily American and Southern Illinoisan. Green worked with the Southern Illinoisan for 15 years prior to retiring recently.

"With my work with Quark and her writing," Kulich said. "It's almost as if every job we had in news prepared us for this."

Years of experience make it easier for the two to develop the layout and the stories for the publication, Kulich said.

"We want people to look at the paper to be like a friend you have," Kulich said. "Someone you could talk to if you had a problem."

Green said that, as time passes, she would like to tackle more difficult issues facing women. But for now, she is most concerned with putting out a newspaper.

Although they are satisfied with how far their work has come, they both said it is difficult to put out even a monthly issue while maintaining a fulltime job. It is factors such as work that keep them from immediately publishing a weekly newspaper instead of a monthly. There are other factors they would like to change in time, as well.

As they become more experienced in publishing the newspaper, Green said they would like to see it grow in several ways, including the number of freelance writers and circulation of the newspaper. She said she eventually hopes to double the current circulation of the paper.

Fligel said she hopes the newspaper continues to provide messages of empowerment and understanding for the gender. And as both an advertiser and a woman reader, she is satisfied with what the newspaper has accomplished thus far and the direction Kulich and Green are hoping to take.

"I just want this to be a publication we can call our own and something we can take great pride in," Fligel said.

 

 

[Macro error: Can't include because the file is larger than 32767 characters.]

Today's News | Sports | Voices - Editorial | Letters
Newsbriefs | pulse - Arts & Entertainment | Calendar | Photo Staff
Apts & Rentals | Photo Personals | Live DE NewsCam | Classified Ads