Al’s Loupe

Progreso Weekly finishes another record year

By Alvaro F. Fernandez
alfernandez@the-beach.net

This will be our last edition for 2009. For the next couple of weeks we will be taking a much needed rest and our front page will remain basically the same till January 7 of next year. During this period of time any updates or breaking news will be found by checking our sections on the black stripe at the top of the page where you see: Our Pulse, In Cuba, In the United States, Neighbors to the South and Our World. We might also offer our thoughts in our respective blogs. And finally, late breaking news can always be found on our running ticker which appears at the top and below the sections’ stripe.

The year has flown by. Someone told me that it’s a sign of growing old. Don’t know if that is true, but what it does signal is the fast-paced world we live in. And I believe that it should only become faster in the year(s) to come. Our plans, therefore, are to keep up with that pace and at times even look ahead offering you the best product humanly possible within our means.

It is also the time of the year where I usually thank the dozens of persons involved in this project, this magazine, I took over in 2003. Without so many of you out there and others who work directly with me, it would be impossible to get this magazine out on time every Thursday morning of the year. For that, I thank you. There are others who also deserve our thanks for making the project possible because of their kind economic contributions. To those people, and you know who you are, a very big thank you, too.

To our readers, expect bigger and better things in the coming year. If there is one thing you can count on from all of us involved with Progreso Weekly/Semanal, is the fact that we are never, ever satisfied. We are our own worst critics — in the good sense of the word. We are always looking to improve. Well, expect them in 2010…

Finally, numbers don’t lie. I remember how excited some of us were when we realized that at the end of 2003, Progreso Weekly and Semanal had received 1.8 million hits that year. We celebrated the effort. As time progresses, we have never looked back. In 2006, for example, the hits had grown to 5.6 million. And it looks like in 2009, we will be finishing the year with almost 21 million hits. Those numbers tell us that we’ve been successful. It also signals that we’re going to have to work that much harder in 2010.

I will finish simply by saying, “Thank You!” to so many who deserve it: Enjoy the holidays and be safe in celebrating the New Year.