from the publisher

In San Francisco it looks as though spring has already arrived; the days are warmer and longer, and the parks are crowded with picnickers, bicyclists, and children bearing baseball bats nearly as big as they are. On Wednesday, in honor of the first day of spring, we will release a special mini-issue addressing themes associated with this season. Our siblings issue will follow soon after.

In the meantime, check out the summary below for any works you may have missed about outsiders and community.

our first issue
We have stories about the distance between Silicon Valley and the Pennsylvania Dutch country, tales of sexual orientation and longing and of magnificent disorientation. You'll find essays on heroes, transplanted bison, redemption in Arkansas, the discovery of a comfort zone, and fragments of Albert Einstein's life in Singapore.

We have a review of books about the good, the bad, and the freaks of Brooklyn and Nairobi, fiction about the lonely in New York, and a poem about the sad in San Francisco. There are letters concerning small victories in Montana and the film Chocolat, along with an interview about a magazine devoted to letters.

We hope you'll view photos from South Africa and read the poems carved from travel in Prague, bowling in Indiana, modern religion, the British museum, selecting fruit, smoking bans, and adult education.

Happy early spring. As always, we love to hear from you.