The Southwest Observer is a community newspaper without the paper. Every day we post news items pertinent to you and your communities - the Chicago neighborhoods of Mount Greenwood, Beverly and Morgan Park.

And every day we ask you to participate. Got a gripe? Air it in the forums. Planning a block party? Start a blog and keep everyone up to date. Register with us, and you can comment on the stories we post, or you can comment on the posts of your neighbors.

All you need to do to take part is sign up. We ask for your real name, address and phone number - and we absolutely guarantee that we will never give that information to anyone for any reason whatsoever. Why collect it then? If we know who you are, and you know who we are, it makes for a more respectful, friendly conversation. Anonymity breeds contempt.

If that's not your style, that's great, too. We've created simple forms you can fill out to keep us abreast of the changes in your lives. Send us your birth, engagement and wedding announcements, with pictures, too. Your boy scout earn an Eagle award? Use the News Tip form to tell us. No item is too small. If you'd talk about it over your back fence, let us know and we'll post it.

No time to write? Call us and leave a message. Either leave a news tip, or ask a question and we'll get in touch with the right people to get it answered.

If you're more of a watcher than a reader, keep an eye on our photo galleries. We'll try to get to community events and take as many photos as we can. After an event, click by and see who was where and what they were up to. You can buy reprints here, too.

So sign up today, and start talking.