It has been two years since the first issue of “Głos Bolesławca” was published. It was intended to be a one-off commemorative edition preceding the General Assembly of the Bolesławiec Friends Society. In that issue, we presented the Society’s aims and achievements, introduced people who had done something for our city, and described some events from the city’s history.The first issue was financed from TMB members’ contributions. We had no far-reaching publishing plans for this magazine, but encouraged by letters and favorable opinions from the city’s residents, and additionally supported financially by many individual and collective members, we published another issue, and then another...Our regular columns are “From the City’s History,” “Cultural Notebook and Guide,” “Municipal News,” “People of Our City,” “The Voice of the Young,” “The Pegasus Corner,” “Police Chronicle,” “Letters to the Editor,” as well as entertainment, sports, and classified advertisements.It follows from letters to the editor that “Głos Bolesławca” is eagerly read by the city’s residents. Schoolchildren often reach for the historical materials; some try their hand at literature by submitting their own poems, and many make use of the advertisements section.One of the credible proofs of our readers’ trust in and fondness for “Głos” is the successful course of the HEART’S GIFT campaign promoted by our publication. Let us recall that the Social Committee for the Purchase of a Cardiac Ultrasound Machine, operating at TMB, collected nearly 800 million zlotys thanks to the goodwill of residents of the city and surrounding area, which made it possible to provide our hospital with essential equipment of such considerable value.Another proof is the spontaneous, often even anonymous, financial assistance provided by people to keep “Głos” going.Exactly one year ago, misled by promises that the city budget would support the publication, we devoted our modest funds to preparing an artistic calendar and simply ran out of money. Some councilors’ verdict was that we should “fall silent.” We informed readers about the course of this unfriendly session of the Municipal Council for “Głos Bolesławca” in a “farewell” article. As a sign of sympathy for their newspaper, city residents, as well as some industrial plants and commercial companies, financed the issue opening the second year of “Głos”’s existence; money came in for subsequent issues, and the HEART’S GIFT campaign also gained considerable momentum (we were able to purchase the ultrasound machine as early as the beginning of July). The words of encouragement and support were kind and moving (“do your thing, don’t worry about the troublemakers; normality must come someday”).Alongside letters expressing appreciation, the editorial office also received and continues to receive critical letters. At first, the criticism concerned the publication’s small size; currently, it concerns the small number of photographs and decorative elements, as well as the font being too small. We explain this shortcoming by saying that we want to include the maximum amount of material in every issue. The excess material forces us to eliminate photographs and use a small font. It always comes down to money: every additional page allowing for more comfortable placement of the material means a higher cost.Readers also accuse us of being insufficiently critical: of presenting the shortcomings of life in our city too modestly and mildly. People “have nowhere to complain,” while “Głos Bolesławca” makes “too little use of its powers under the press law...”We beat our breasts here, but not everyone in our city simply likes or tolerates criticism. One can fall into great disfavor, and in the publication’s financial situation, that is not insignificant. We admit that “for the good of the cause,” we either tone down many letters and sharp critical signals or put them aside. If only some of the “potentates” appreciated that... It is painful to write this, but during these past two years not a single zloty of subsidy was approved for us.We thought—as did many people from the city and beyond—that our initiative to publish a city newspaper would earn the interest and support of the local authorities. We assumed that a city of more than 40,000 people could not be without its own newspaper. Before the war, several periodicals were published in this much smaller city. The group of “journalists” and contributors who wrote, drew, and took photographs for free and grew month by month was also a good sign for a future city newspaper worthy of the name.Unfortunately, we failed to interest “those in charge of the budget (which also contains our tax money) in this subject.” Envy, political intransigence, as well as conceit and infatuation with the more favored child—the local municipal television station—apparently prevailed. Local television has 360 million zlotys and six (in words: six) positions guaranteed in the budget.We really have nothing against local television (except perhaps that it is not objective, insular, and omits the issues we raise in its “local press review”), but we wonder how anyone can fail to appreciate the need for and role of the local press.After all, everything that we recorded in “Głos Bolesławca” about life in the city constitutes a lasting chronicle available, among other places, at the Main Library, the Jagiellonian Library, the “Ossolineum” Library, the Voivodeship and Municipal Libraries, as well as in other archives. Researchers and historians will “unearth” this material even after a hundred years. A prize to anyone who, after however many years, finds a videotape documenting, for example, the opening of the municipal library in its new building.This is not about competing over what is more important. Common sense would dictate treating both local television and the local publication equally.With a less extravagant approach, both media outlets could successfully operate for the same amount of money, because why not, for example, use the same material in a different form in both places?On the occasion of the second anniversary of “Głos Bolesławca,” I offer my heartfelt thanks to everyone who writes and collaborates with us without compensation, as well as to the sponsors, friends, and kind supporters of the publication.I also extend words of gratitude to all our loyal readers, thanks to whom “Głos Bolesławca” has been able to exist during these past two years.