Rick Archer, January 2006

The SSQQ Newsletter is a true "Community Effort".

People praise my work all the time - for which I am grateful - but let me be quick to point out that very little of our Newsletter is my own material. Mostly I distribute all the great stories, jokes, and pictures that are sent to me on a regular basis from "people just like you". My friends supply me with an awesome array of great material!! 

Like a good basketball point guard or football quarterback, it's my job to pass the ball. When people send me something interesting, I quickly I turn around and share it with the entire SSQQ Community.

And yes, once in a while I suppose I insert a couple stories of my own here and there.  Can't let everyone else hog all the glory, now can I? 

(Note: Would you like to see a clear examples of how the system works?  I would like you to read a story about Chris Holmes, a real friend to the SSQQ Newsletter).

Over the years, the SSQQ Newsletter has grown in fame due to the contributions of its readers, i.e. people just like you.  As they say at Oscar Time, I couldn't have done it without you... and you... and you... and lots of others too!

In addition to Chris Holmes, other names that quickly come to mind are Ann Faget, Gary Richardson, Leroy Ginzel, Milt Oglesby, Judy Walsh, Gerald McEathron, and Carol Gafford. 

These people were instrumental in helping me put the 2006 Newsletters together, but there are people from the past who were also very important. This tradition goes way back.

For example, in 1996 an SSQQ instructor named Marla Jennings handed me a piece of paper with 24 pictures riddles on it. She said it was my job to guess the name of a Christmas Carol from the picture.

Oh, go ahead... take a guess. Stumped? Try multiple choice: 1. Jingle Bells 2. I Want a Hippopatumus for XMas 3. I Saw Momma Kissing Santa

When the Newsletter was just beginning to take off in 1999, I published the list of 24 clues that Marla J had given me.  It was a big hit with the SSQQ crowd of the day. Too lazy to remove it from the web site, the puzzle sat there minding its own business for the next year. Web Crawlers came across it. Soon the ssqq web site was listed as a place to find "Christmas Puzzles".  This quiet phenomenon drew hundreds of hits to my web page and propelled my Christmas Puzzle towards the top of the Internet.

Today the SSQQ Christmas Puzzle is one of the Top 10 Christmas Puzzles on the Internet... all because someone just like you shared something interesting with me.

Curious?  SSQQ Christmas Puzzle

The Einstein Puzzle was emailed to me in 1998 by Donna Ruth, a friend of mine who was also an SSQQ instructor.  Donna's note said that supposedly Albert Einstein himself wrote this quiz and that he believed that 98% of the world could not figure it out.

I added the puzzle to the Web Site in April 1999.  Then in the SSQQ Newsletter I challenged SSQQ Students to solve it.  We have many smart people who hang around this place and I wanted to see how well they would do. To my great disappointment, only a half dozen SSQQ dance students took a crack at it (not all my brainstorms are immediate hits.)

After a couple months, I no longer received any replies from someone at SSQQ. So I forgot about the puzzle and moved on to other amusements.

Then a curious thing began to happen. A year after I first posted the Einstein Puzzle on my website, I started getting requests for the answer from Canada, Germany, England, and Brazil. One lady emailed from Trinidad and Tobago out in the Caribbean while another lady emailed me from an island called Arru, part of Indonesia. Then I got one from Kazakhstan in the middle of Asia. In addition I got several emails from different states around the country.

Thanks to Search Engines like Google, the Internet began bringing new people to the SSQQ Web Site just like it did with the Christmas Puzzle. 

Today the SSQQ version Einstein Puzzle pops up in on Page One of Google. Just type in the magic words and see for yourself... all because someone just like you shared something interesting with me.

Want to try the Einstein Puzzle?  Go for it!

Due to the success of the Einstein Puzzle, as a hobby I list a new Logic Puzzle in the Newsletter each month.  Want to join the club?  There are plenty of openings!
SSQQ Logic Puzzle

Back around 2000, we took "Jokes" very seriously. People relayed practically every joke known to man and I dutifully published them.  Today we have a library of well over 1,000 jokes and many joke pictures as well.  The SSQQ Joke Page is a perfect example of a fun section of our web site created by student contributions.

The Newsletter has Put the SSQQ Web Site on Google's Front Page for Dance Studios

The SSQQ Newsletter was first published on the Internet in late 1998. In the first seven years of the SSQQ Web Site, the SSQQ Newsletter has grown into a monster. The Newsletter is really hard to keep up with sometimes. Once or twice a year I get so bogged down I simply throw in the towel and skip an issue.  But most of the time I enjoy putting the Newsletter out  as a labor of love.

As you might imagine, my semi-secret wish to become a writer finds its outlet in putting out each issue.  The nice thing about writing once a month for the Newsletter is I put down stories while they are still fresh in memory.

This means when the time comes to write that book, I will know just where to find the stories that will eventually find their way into "Adventures of a Dance Teacher" for sure. 

Currently each SSQQ Newsletter points to different places of interest on the vast SSQQ Web Site.  The SSQQ Web Site has 8 Sectors: Front Page, Schedule and Calendar, Information, Archives, Jokes, Travel, Halloween, and of course the Newsletter sector.

Each month I update the Jokes and Joke Pictures sent to me by "people like you".  I add a Logic Puzzle into the mix, add the names of people who get married or engaged, and of course try to publish everyone's favorite section: the infamous "Complaint of the Month".

Along the way I manage to squeeze in the occasional promo for upcoming dance classes and parties. 

And of course I plug the big events like the Halloween Party, the Sock Hop, the Sleazy Bar Whip Party, and our fun-packed cruise trips.  As they say, gotta sell tickets to pay the rent.

I wish to add one important note about what you read in the Newsletter.  While it is remotely possible I embellish some of my Travel Stories, I assure you that when I publish emails in the Newsletter, they are accurate.

I might delete the name of the party or parties involved, but I don't make this stuff up.  For example, when I get an email of protest from the angry wife of a man who found his mistress at SSQQ, and she turns around and calls my web site "slutty", trust me, I ain't making it up.

I don't need to. There is so much going on that imagination isn't necessary.

You have my word on that.

I hope you enjoy our Newsletter. Thank you for reading.  RA

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