Posting Alan's blog on current status and some minor cleanups

content/announcements.md

@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 ---
-title: OpenELA News
+title: OpenELA Announcements
 include_footer: true
 sidebar: false
 ---
 
-* [CIQ, Oracle and SUSE Create Open Enterprise Linux Association for a Collaborative and Open Future](/news/hello_world)
+* [OpenELA Current Status and What's Coming Next](/news/2023.09.07-current_status) _(September 6th, 2023)_
+* [CIQ, Oracle and SUSE Create Open Enterprise Linux Association for a Collaborative and Open Future](/news/hello_world) _(August 10th, 2023)_

content/join.md

@@ -10,11 +10,11 @@ From Enterprise Linux downstream derivatives, to organizations that depend on En
 
 ## How to Join:
 
-We are still in the early makings of the project, so the first step in becoming part of what we are doing is to reach out to us! You can email us at info@openela.org or just jump into our Slack channel here:
+We are still in the early makings of the project, so the first step in becoming part of what we are doing is to join us and say hello!
 
 <div style="text-align: center; margin-top: 100px; margin-bottom: 50px;">
     <a class="button cta is-large rounded secondary-btn raised" style="text-align:center" href="https://join.slack.com/t/openela/shared_invite/zt-216xfnouv-AXPgcLwQeCPzZvuLolczdg"> Join the OpenELA Team on Slack </a>
 </div>
 
 <div style="text-align: center;">
-<em>note: Slack invite links sometimes need to be regenerated, if that happens, please let us know at info@openela.org.</em></<div>
+<em>note: Slack invite links sometimes need to be regenerated, if that happens, please let us know at [info@openela.org](mailto:info@openela.org).</em></<div>

content/news/2023.09.07-current_status.md

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+---
+title: OpenELA Current Status and What's Coming Next
+Author: Alan Clark
+Date: September 7th, 2023
+---
+__Author:__ Alan Clark (CTO Office, SUSE) \
+__Date:__ September 7th, 2023
+
+----
+TL;DR
+* OpenELA is still developing and moving quickly
+* We are working on technical organization, documentation, tooling, and automation
+* Come and join us!
+----
+
+On August 10, CIQ, Oracle and SUSE announced their intent to launch the Open Enterprise Linux Association (OpenELA). That announcement contained several key goals as well as the
+principles the effort will be based upon to best achieve those goals.
+
+The primary focus is to “__make accessible the sources, tooling, and assets to all members, collaborators, and the open source Enterprise Linux distribution developers to create
+and maintain 1:1 downstream derivatives.__” We stated this clearly in the OpenELA mission as we recognize the whole effort is built on this clear focus being successful.
+
+When CIQ, Oracle and SUSE started this effort we had full confidence it could be done, but we also recognized we didn't have all the answers – all the i’s dotted and t's crossed. But the
+mission is clear. We know how it can be achieved. There's simply a lot of work to put the tools in place and pull the community together. We felt it was important to launch the intent as early as possible, as the power of open source is in creating an inclusive community. It wouldn’t be in the spirit of open source to invite others only when everything was complete.
+
+To that end, we would love for others to get involved, no matter who you work for. All individuals and organizations are welcome. If you want to get involved, you may be thinking: what is next?
+
+We've been busy the last couple weeks writing down the basics for organizing the source code, and defining the tools needed that will enable us to exploit automation and achieve the
+continued compatibility paramount to this project.
+
+Soon we'll post the draft technical documents outlining these concepts. The documents will contain enough context so that together we can set up the code and get it operational to the
+point that it's beneficial to our community members. Once we get these documents fleshed out, the tools in place and the repositories completed, the project will be active and aligned with the principal OpenELA mission.
+
+__How to get involved:__
+
+* Join our [Slack channel](/join) where we will announce these next steps as soon as possible
+* Follow us on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/openela/) and [X/Twitter](https://twitter.com/OpenELAorg)
+* Connect with us via Slack or email us [info@openela.org](mailto:info@openela.org)
+
+We look forward to working with the community as we focus to achieve this goal. We are excited about the prospects this mission brings.

hugo.yaml

@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ params:
     url: /join
   - title: FAQ
     url: /faq
-  - title: News
+  - title: Announcements
     url: /announcements
   section3:
     title: The Community Repository for Enterprise Linux Sources