From the Editor

          by

Meg Tufano, M.A.
Editor-in-Chief

(Spring 2014)


 
t's hard for me to believe that The Journal is going to have completed its second volume this coming autumn. What felt like an idea that we had been talking about for practically my whole lifetime –– learners need art, literature, facts, poetry, stories and academic research in order to understand ideas –– has become an established reality!

    Derrick Wlodarz has written an excellent academic article on the history of the library that may surprise you. And, despite the title, fairy tales are not really the subject of Catherine Wells' scrupulously honest story of her life, but they play a part. Read her article to see how well fairy tales and real life mix.  

    Our "Millenial" writer in this issue is Skyler Sikes whose writing I would not have had the opportunity to read except that one our editors, Laura Gibbs, shared her students' work. Let me know if you agree that his writing is very original.

    A contributor who has been at the heart of the success of The Journal is Eva Mennes, our Aesthetic Editor and the newest member of our think-thank, SynaptIQ+. She is responsible for finding the amazing visual artists from around the world who have graced our pages from the beginning. I think I have learned as much about art from her vast expertise as our subscribers. Readers can enjoy a richly nuanced description of Anne Curry's art and sculpture in Caroline Rush's well-researched article (Caroline works for Christie's New York).

    David Amerland continues on his amazing careen of insights into The Social Era, an understanding well-founded long before we started SynaptIQ+ think-tank, in a book published in 2012, The Social Media Mind. Since then I doubt David has had a full night's sleep!  He has since written Google Semantic Search, Google Hangouts for Business and developed millions of followers on G+.  His article for this issue, Welcome to the Revolution (It's Not What You Think), continues to help us peer into the future.  He writes, "We can say goodbye to the acronym IRL because real life and online life are now inseparable."

    Giselle Minoli needs no introduction, and what we have experienced together has been nothing short of a fairy tale! We write about our experience, and I won't ruin it by giving away the plot. I hope you like a good story!  (See Eros, Psyche & Modern Life.)

    Speaking of good stories, do NOT miss Laston Kirkland's two short science fiction stories, Coming Out and Watch This! Laston has reached a level of professionalism that is resulting in a book of his collected stories, Copy Me, coming out this summer. Don't miss that either! 


                                                                                        


   
Spring2014








Editor Bio:  Meg Tufano, M.A.

Meg is originally from Washington, DC, has lived all over North America and just recently returned from four years of living in The Hague, The Netherlands. She is married to Dr. Daniel R. Tufano, Sr., a scientist, and has two sons, Julian and Danny, Jr.  She completed her undergraduate degree at St. John's College and The University of Toronto and her Master's at Antioch University, Midwest.  (Meg describes her education in Part III of her Critical History of the University in the spring 2013 issue of The Journal.)  Her favorite city (so far) is Florence, Italy, the background to her picture at left. She has just had her first novel (which won The Tennessee Mountain Writer's award for Best Novel) published by S+™ in their fiction imprint. (See "Our Books" link at top of page.)  She loves new writers and encourages submissions on social era topics for The Journal. She is always happy to discuss publication by authors of both fiction and non-fiction articles and books for S+™.  Contact:  meg.tufano@synaptiqplus.com