Letters to the Editor:

To comment on news stories in the main section of the newspaper or to opine on views expressed on the Opinion pages, contact Letters to the Editor.

Please limit your letters to 200 or fewer words ... shorter letters have a better chance of being selected for publication.

(Please paste the text into the e-mail; do not send attachments. Our virus-detecting software will delete e-mail with attachments.)

Letters to the Editor
901 Mission St.
San Francisco, CA 94103

To comment on news stories in specific sections of the paper, for example Business, Datebook, Food or Sports, please contact the Letters sections of those specific sections:
Business: bizletters@sfchronicle.com
Datebook: datebookletters@sfchronicle.com
Food: food@sfchronicle.com
Sports: letterstogreen@sfchronicle.com

Some notes on Letters to the Editor from Editorial Page Editor John Diaz.

The Editorial pages of the San Francisco Chronicle are looking for images that are thought-provoking, questioning, controversial, humorous and quirky. In short, valuable commentary on concerns of the San Francisco Bay Area.

We are looking for arresting images -- of all points of view -- that speak without accompanying text. Think of them as visual letters to the editor.

Selected images will be printed on the Editorial pages as time and space permit. You will be notified in advance, if your submission is selected for publication. We offer you exposure to The Chronicle's readers in Northern California and the appropriate credit in exchange for the use of your image.

E-mail: images@sfchronicle.com

Forward your image to the editor in a jpeg format smaller than 1.4 mb. Smaller is better. Please include your name, address and telephone number. We will call to verify authenticity.

650 or fewer words is the going length (about two pages), double-spaced, in 12-point type. With rare exception, we won't run a writer's work more than once every six months. There are lots of voices out there and we'd like to hear as many as possible.

(Please paste the text into the e-mail; do not send attachments, our virus-detecting software will delete e-mail with attachments.)

Open Forum
901 Mission St.
San Francisco, CA 94103

Some examples of good Open Forum pieces:

Is Hiring Goal Diversity or Equality? by Paul Roscelli
By Race Divided by Akilah Monifa
The Democratic Convention: Dem Dems by Will Durst
Echoes of Rwanda by Willis Shalita

On all submissions, please include your:
Name
Mailing address
E-mail address
Telephone number (home and office)
Fax number

The editors go through hundreds of submissions each day: we receive between 100 and 200 letters a day but have space for six to 10 a day; we receive about 200 Open Forum submissions a week to fill eight or fewer slots.

We cannot notify you to verify receipt.

If we select your letter or op-ed for publication, you will be notified in advance. We will make every attempt to share edited op-ed text with the author before publication.

If we reject an op-ed piece, we will try to contact you via e-mail or with a note via postal mail. Please forgive us ... we don't wish to be rude, but we need to spend our days READING what you send us, which leaves us little time for RESPONDING to you.

Insight, a Sunday commentary section, aims to provide a forum for the area's best minds, shake up conventional wisdom and provoke fresh thinking. Have a piece about an issue in the news that's unusual in its approach and uncommonly well-written? Cover articles run from 1,200 to 2,000 words. Other pieces can run up to 900 words. Send them to Insight.

Insight
The San Francisco Chronicle
901 Mission Street
San Francisco CA 94103

Mad? Outraged? Ready to rant? Send your 250-word submission to Insight, the Sunday commentary section. Be sure to include a phone number where we can reach you.

Insight
The San Francisco Chronicle
901 Mission Street
San Francisco CA 94103

Have an only-in-the-Bay-Area story? A story that illustrates why the Bay Area is such a great place to live? Send your 250-word submission to Insight, the Sunday commentary section. Be sure to include a phone number where we can reach you.

Insight
The San Francisco Chronicle
901 Mission Street
San Francisco CA 94103

Tell us what works. Do you know someone who is tackling a problem or meeting a challenge in a particularly innovative way? Insight wants to hear from readers with 200-word stories about out-of-the-box thinking in the Bay Area.

Insight
The San Francisco Chronicle
901 Mission Street
San Francisco CA 94103

Editor: Alison Biggar
Design Editor: Zahid Sardar
Staff Writer: Sam Whiting (Bright Ideas, Healthy Obsessions, features)
Art director: Dorothy Yule
Associate art director: George Russell

Letters Editor
Chronicle Magazine
901 Mission St.
San Francisco, CA 94103

We don't have strict guidelines, but familiarity with The Chronicle is important. We are a weekly Sunday Magazine. All stories MUST have a local (Bay Area) angle. We do not run syndicated columns, comics, poetry or op-eds, arts previews, listings or event-related stories. We do not cover breaking news. If you're not sure whether we've covered a particular topic, please check www.sfgate.com. The Magazine also plans coverage at least 6 to 8 weeks in advance. Rates vary by individual, and payment is upon publication.

"At One With the Market", by Rodes Fishburne (February 23, 2003)
"Finding Mrs. Experience", by Douglas Cruickshank (March 23, 2003)
"The Way of the Bus", by Dashka Slater (August 3, 2003)

Topics we're not so interested in include bouts with illness, death of a parent or loved one (unless you're Dave Eggers), childhood memories of Playland-at-the-Beach, children's charming antics, special pet stories and childhood sports memories. E-mail essays to mywordsubmissions@sfchronicle.com. Please do not use snail mail as it will get lost in the shuffle.

Datebook Calendar Listings:

Listings are published on a space-available basis as a free public service of The Chronicle. Submissions need to be received three weeks before date of publication for the Pink section and 96 Hours and 10 days for the daily Datebook. There are three ways to send in listings:

1. E-mail to the section where the listing is appropriate. Those addresses are: