No. 7

Fall 2004

Fall is here and so is the earliest fall issue this journal has had yet. I must thank Don Strange, Hattie Fletcher and Scott Silsbe for their support. As the new managing editor, Don's already hard at work on issues 8 and 9, while planning for #10. I thank you, the readers of this humble journal, for tuning in season after season. Keep spreading the word. Keep reporting. Keep interviewing. Keep writing. Shape this world through language.

Enjoy the daring poetry, all of the fiction (including the winners of our first contest), and the dark humor of our nonfiction. I'm happy to announce the return of the "in-house" column with Ellen Smith's exploration of the difficulties of writing. Tracy Smith and Clea Koff were kind enough to indulge my "fan-boy" questions about teaching and research and illustrate the deeper connections to writing.

I willed this issue to cross into other fields, perhaps too strongly, perhaps gathering cuts from hedges and walls, but there was something that needed to be done. Ironically, as we profess to offer a nesting place for others, this journal has yet to feel fully comfortably in one of its own. We go on.

For your perusal,

Marshall Warfield
ex-Managing Editor

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nidus is an online publication supported by the Writing Program at the University of Pittsburgh's English Department.