The State of the Site Address

by Gorman Moloko

Greetings, loyal readers. My name is Gorman Moloko and, as some of you might know, I have recently been named Managing Editor of the Ken Socrates World News Organization by it's founder and President Ken Socrates whilst he is otherwise occupied. Fear not, however, (and restrain yourself from the harrassing e-mails and phone calls and visits to the office and drive-by shooting attempts) because Ken is not gone from the Organization. Far from it, actually, he remains as annoyingly vigilant as always and, though he claims to have given me free reign over this website and our other publications around the globe, he still manages to text me almost hourly with ideas, suggestions and critiques. So, much to the chagrin of many of us, he's still very much the Lord of his Realm.

True, he is spending alot of time in his Bunker these days, writing, amongst other things, his long awaited/dreaded thirteenth novel. While there, in order to remain in close contact with his demanding audience, he has created a somewhat self-indulgent blog that he has creatively named The Ken Blog. Should you, for whatever inexplicable reason, find yourself jonesing for a Ken Fix, do drop by the place and listen to him ramble on about such profound subjects as hockey, comic books and odd music.

As utterly fascinating as all that may be, we here at the KSWNO feel we have been entrusted to continue providing the insightful, scathing sort of peerless journalism that you, our devoted but simple readership, have come to expect from us. Beyond that, we feel that this is an opportunity to move the Organization forward in ways that Ken, who could politely be called "set in his ways", would never attempt when he is here, free from distraction. Not that that happens very often, but let's be honest. This is a guy who breaks into cold sweats at the idea of rearranging the furniture in his living room so, before he comes back, we have a chance to actually bring this place out of the dark ages.

Which is exactly why I'm now in charge.

My record speaks for itself, of course, but perhaps I should remind you that I have always had a backround in the arts. Flint Hills Technical College may not posess the prestige factor that many other art or communications schools have but it is actually a haven for the open minded and the creative. The fact that there is never a shortage of homeless people in the surrounding area willing to pose nude for sketch classes is a nice bonus, too. It was there that I learned a love for all creative arts, be it literature, painting, design or dental hygeine. It was there that my mind was opened to the possibilities that surround us in life if we can somehow free ourselves from the oppression of the rigidity of societies and governments that try to keep us down. It was there that I figured out how much fun watching Star Trek: TNG could be when you're high.

My resume, of course, doth speak for itself. I've been here at the KSWNO since it's inception nearly 20 years ago, tirelessly providing a journalistic approach saturated with soulful conscience and social regard. I have fought alongside Ken for even longer than that, having first met him in Boston in 1981 at a violent protest over the cancellation of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. All these years as the number two man on the Totem Pole have me itching to flex some pent up creativity and, at the same time, free the way we do things around here from what was a rather single-minded approach. I'm not saying Ken was a fascist but he did enjoy getting his way on things and, depending on how much Absolut had been consumed, editorial meetings could sometimes be tinged with slightly tyrannical overtones from the Boss.

So I think I deserve my kick at the can.

Here are just a few of the changes I'm hoping to process as we move forward.

• A Total Site Redesign - Yes, folks, as much as we all enjoy the aesthetic of a site created in basic HTML on notepad, perhaps it's time we moved past the giant, blocky lettering and cro-magnon simple format. I'm not saying light the thing up like a low level Vegas casino but maybe a few artistic flourishes that suggest actual adults are in charge of the place. Maybe there will be actual columns here and there. Maybe embedded tables, maybe a new font or two. All sorts of truly relevatory stuff. World wide web, prepare to be astonished.
  
  
• Less Ken Is More - You may have already noticed the new header atop this page and, perhaps, the one Chippy McGuinness has garnishing her latest effort. This is part of a new approach that encourages the individuality of each writer and highlights the thematic content of their work. There really is no need for every article, regardless of author, to have a stern faced guy with a fur hat and sunglasses staring out from what appear to be 10 foot tall letters spelling out his own name hanging above it. No offense to the boss but his name is already an inseperable part of this Organization. Does he really more facetime over everyone else's work? Other people have vanity too, Ken.
  
  
• Multi-Media - Sure, text is a wonderful thing. As journalists, it's our bread and butter. But it doesn't mean we can't appreciate other forms of media. The internet is alive with video and animation of all sorts, music and sound, and it's time we incorporated that into what's going on here. Too much static content and we stagnate. We need to draw in the reader with the colors and movement of what is essentially developing as an entire new artform. Plus, we could maybe show old episodes of Star Blazers. That would be pretty cool.