Editorial

Perhaps some of you have been wondering why you haven't found the Fall Equinox issue of Synapse in your mailbox. Maybe you didn't notice its absence, but just had a vague feeling that "something was missing". Or, it could be that it totally slipped your mind, and now you are pleasantly surprised by its presence (better late than never?)

We'd like to explain. Once in a while we delay the publication in order to accommodate our schedules--a conference or project--which clashes which our publication date. Usually we have informed our readers of the delay ahead of time. We need this flexibility so that we can juggle our various other jobs and obligations.

So we decided to be flexible when our friend from the Media Working Group offered to be the guest editor, but couldn't get to it until October due to scheduling conflicts.

I guess our flexible attitude conveyed the message to him that we weren't really concerned about the publication date at all. So, as the weeks flew by, our email messages to the West Coast took on an increasingly frantic and desperate tone. Finally, we decided to go to print with the articles that were submitted.

The theme of this issue was supposed to be the changing patterns of human habitat. There are several articles on this topic: Keith Schneider's book review of Home from Nowhere by James Kunstler; Glen Chown's reprint from Landscript in which he discusses our local transportation dilemma; Neahtawanta Center board member Ben Drake's review and discussion about The Lawn: An American Obsession; and a poem, Feels Like Home, by Brian Robinson from Seattle. A related article by Peace Corps volunteer Tim Goodwin describes the transition to capitalism taking place in Russia and the effects on Nizhny Novgorod, the city where he lives.

We include two articles which focus on trees: in Paper Birch bioregionalist and author Stephanie Mills uses her considerable literary skills to paint verbal pictures of the North Woods; S.G. Brook shares his personal reflections of a mystical connection he experienced with a maple tree at the time of his father's death.

Finally, we include a piece by community media guru, Dirk Koning in which he describes a community media conference he attended in Malawi, Africa.

So, after all, a theme emerges--not exactly the one we envisioned at the outset--although related, the thread that connects all of the articles is the interplay between human development and the natural world.

Check out the workshop offerings so far for 1997. We hope you'll consider attending one or more of them.

Please accept our apology for the tardiness of this issue. We are committed to being more punctual in the future. Watch for our next issue, which always focuses on peace, around the Winter Solstice.

--Sally Van Vleck

Return to the Index of Synapse 37, Fall 1996