by Dr. David Fialkoff, Editor / Publisher

I should never schedule anything on Thursday. I should write that one line over and over again, filling this whole page with it, as an errant schoolboy is forced to repeatedly declare his repentance with chalk on a blackboard:
I will never schedule anything on Thursday.
I will never schedule anything on Thursday.
I will never schedule anything on Thursday.
I will never schedule anything on Thursday.
I will never schedule anything on Thursday.
I will never schedule anything on Thursday.

Publishing my main newsletter each Friday is a Herculean task. And although I work five nights and six days at it, the final hours at the end of the week are always grueling.

Putting the newsletter involves hundreds of technical and aesthetic details. Presenting 16 articles and 45 event announcements, attractively and informatively, takes a bit of doing. Then every listing of every article and event has to open somewhere when you click on it, and those jump-to pages also need to be coded, to be made.

Also, the articles all need to be edited. Sometimes I actually ghost-write them, weaving together content in the "author's" name. Then, every week I write and rewrite and rewrite again my own article.

It's a good thing that I love publishing; I've been doing it since I was a teen.

Recently I've had some help. Luisa, a chemistry professor, has comfortably taken on the bulk of the puzzle-like coding behind these pages. Coding, like chemistry, is about making things fit. Those who know me well, are surprised that Luisa comes up to my perfectionistic standards, until they learn that like me, she is a Virgo, sharing the same pride-of-product that is required in any public-facing enterprise.

In some ways Luisa's presence has lightened my load. But I've really just started attempting more, like (encouraged by her Spanish-language skills) making Lokkal's magazine fully bilingual. Freed up from many of the routine tasks, I've focused more on development, public relations and acquiring articles. Someone said that the difference between a job and a career is 20 hours per week.

Without a printing and distribution schedule, digital publishing has no firm deadline. With new content, articles and events, commonly arriving late, every week things are changing right up to the last minute. Thursday night and Friday day are like being close to the finish line of a marathon, that last, 12-hour push.

That's why I should never schedule anything else on Thursday.

A few weeks ago, on Friday, Feb. 2, I held the figurative presses, to include a last-minute notice of an opening at Healy Contemporáneo the following Thursday. Then, at the gallerist's behest, four days later, on Tuesday morning, I sent out a newsletter entirely dedicated to the event, "Sincronias Gráficas," an exhibition by Maya Lucia, the "Queen" of Guadalajara's vibrant art scene.

Although the opening was on a Thursday (Feb. 8), I went. The gallerist, Michael Healy, a generous man, credited Lokkal’s publicity for the engaged crowd attending. He shared the comment with those gathered, including his friend Marina Fernández de Córdova, Marquesa de Mancera, the owner of an impressive artesania shop, Marquesa de Mancera, on Cuna Allende just next to Casa Allende. At the after-party (which I left early to go home and continue publishing), Marina gave me her card and asked me to contact her regarding advertising her store.

When I did contact her, Marina suggested the following Thursday, Feb. 15 for our meeting, and, rules being made to be broken, I agreed. That Thursday I spent a delightful, edifying hour and a half getting to know Marina, her staff and her store. Unfortunately, Lorena, her "young" social media manager was not present.

A week later, Thursday, Feb. 22 found me again breaking the rules, interviewing Michael Healy, with the idea of producing an article on his exhibit of Lucia Maya.

Exquisitely sensitive, Michael is a fountain of content, an editor's dream. After 90 fascinating minutes at his gallery at Puente de Umaran 15, just up from Mercado Ignacio Ramirez, with the Lucia Maya story, and numerous others in hand, I rode off on my bicycle, fully intending to get straight back to the pressing work of publishing my newsletter the next day.

However, after passing through the Jardín and turning onto Cuna de Allende, instead, I dismounted, chained up my bicycle and entered Marquesa de Mancera. There Marina introduced me to Lorena, her social media manager, sitting me down with her and leaving the two of us to talk publicity in front of Lorena's computer.

When she presented me, Marina declared that my Spanish is perfect, and on the subject of Lokkal it almost is. Lorena suggested we could speak English; hers seemed to be fluent. But Mexicans, whatever they say, like it better when we expats, when we can, speak Spanish.

First, I attended to business: explaining how I thought we should publicize the store, the many ways to do it; demonstrating the page I had already made for Marquesa de Manera. Then, my pitch shifted to advocating the advantages of local internet in comparison to global social media sites (Facebook, Instagram, etc.)

Mexicans are amiable to the point of flattery. But Lorena was genuinely impressed. Expert in social media (Lokkal is so much more than an event calendar, a magazine or even a website), she was thrilled with everything I showed her. And I kept showing her more.

I was encouraged, on a roll, advocating for localism as the panacea for most social ills; the community reflected online; a non-commercial public utility; a digital town square; profits returned to the community; the people's internet; internet del pueblo; "We don't need Google; we can present our own city to the planet"...

And, practical Virgo that I am, I followed up my ideological convictions with a very tangible tour of my, and San Miguel's local internet platform; demonstrating this and that search function; clicking this link to open up that feature.

Here, at last was someone who understood social media and could appreciate the innovation of making it local; someone who recognized on Lokkal all the bells and whistles that a social media ought to have; someone who resonated completely and animatedly with the world-changing nature of local social media, and who applauded my entertaining, political, almost theatrical presentation.

I've rarely spoken with anyone who so thoroughly comprehended Lokkal's mission. And I've never been so "on," so effective at presenting it. The whole thing was very heady. I felt like Emiliano Zapata rallying his troops.

My mission accomplished, I ended by inviting Lorena, with her enthusiasm for community and her expertise in social media, to join Lokkal. (And from some follow-up messaging we've done, I believe that she will.) Then, on that Thursday afternoon, at a little past 1:00, I rose, thanked her, shook her hand, walked outside, got on my bike, rode home, and worked, pausing only for a late dinner, until 1am for the third time that week. Waking the next morning, Friday, I was at it again from 9am; not pressing Mailchimp's Send button, emailing my newsletter, until a little past 4:00 that afternoon.

When Lokkal catches on, when the cavalry arrives, many hands will make the work lighter. Meeting with Michael, Marina and Lorena, building community, is really what Lokkal is all about. But right now, with everything close to overloaded, I should never schedule anything on Thursday.

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Dr. David Fialkoff presents Lokkal, our local social network, the community online and off. Please do contribute content, or your hard-earned pesos to support Lokkal, SMA's Voice; Atención robustly reborn for the digital f you can, please donate using the orange button below. Thank you.age. If you can, please donate using the Paypal button below. Thank you.

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