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Editor's Notes
There are challenges we meet in life that absolutely demand that we rely on the grace of other people to succeed. It is usually trials of this nature that turn out to be the truest of teachers, and we are changed for the better for having learned their lessons. Creating RE:AL (28,2) has certainly been one of those encounters for me, and I have many people to thank for making this issue one of which I am particularly proud.
First, I would like to thank the many writers whose grace we have been forced to rely on as we worked through a mountainous backlog to create this issue. Where many people would have answered our pleas for patience with exasperation, our submitters seemed determined to demonstrate a remarkable generosity of temperament.
Without the diligence of the Editorial Board members, who work the hundreds of stories and poems into their busy schedules, we would not have anything of singular quality between these covers. Several readers have gone beyond the call to help us through this manic time, and everyone who has read and reread for us has left fingerprints on this issue. Thank you all for using your gifts and talents to help expose to the reading world those of the writers represented in this issue.
Finally, I must mention the all-important support that I, personally, have been given through this rather stressful process. The kindnesses have come from so many directions, but no one has done more in this manner than my predecessor and mentor Dr. W. D. Hearell. Only now, after trying awkwardly to fill his shoes, do I truly appreciate his editorial acumen, his patience, and his drive for perfection.
" But speak the truth," says Ralph Waldo Emerson: and all nature and all spirits help you with unexpected furtherance. Speak the truth, and all things alive or brute are vouchers, and the very roots of the grass under ground there, do seem to stir and move to bear you witness.... [But speak the truth] and the worlds, time, space, eternity, do seem to break out into joy.
Though not as balanced as we would have liked, this issue of RE:AL contains pieces of poetry, short fiction, and a nonfiction prose essay, each of which strives to speak its truth. Included are poems by veteran writers and by newcomers, each seeking to use images to speak to and move our audience. The short fiction herein ranges from classically structured tales to more experimental pieces, each reaching for and accomplishing a singular effect. And the samples of non-fiction prose demonstrate the effectiveness of rhetoric and scholarly argument in a world often bereft of logic. In short, we believe that this issue is a fine addition to the RE:AL library.
We would like to call special attention to our cover containing a beautiful digital photograph by Lee Schultz. As the Editor of RE: Arts & Letters from 1988 to 1995, Lee worked tirelessly to create a quality journal, and he continues to play a part in the success of this journal today. We are honored that Dr. Schultz could contribute "X" to this effort.
These opening comments do not do justice to the hours so many people have put in to this journal, but we certainly hope that our efforts are obvious to readers of RE:AL's Fall 2003 issue (28,2).
David R. Dickerson
February 2004
Nacogdoches, Texas