The MOTHERS Edition
 G21 WORDS: BOB POWERS reminisces about "MOTHERS & OTHERS"
 STONEWALL VIEWS: PHIL MARTIN writes about "LEARNING TO GET ALONG."
HOUSE OF CARDS has a brand new Joke of the Day. DON'T READ ME FIRST! Our Publisher on this week's theme. From The ZEITGEIST Edition:  DUELING TRIOs:
ROBIN MILLER on "The Year 1999 Bug"
THOMAS HART says we've all gone Postal: "Good Enough for Government Work"  PLANETARY MADNESS: Jennifer Blue looks at your upcoming week in the stars.
You tell us what for again! VOX POPULI is undated.  (formerly known as POLICY MATTERS): ADAM J. SMITH predicts the Final Battle in the War on Drugs. U.S. Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, seems to agree!
 POWERSBOOKS: BOB POWERS talks with Carrie Brown, author of "ROSE'S GARDEN."
TRIO: RADIO RAHEEM sees "THE SEASON OF THE WOLF: The Triumph of Cynicism," when he looks at the Zeitgeist.
HOT LINKS(Not From Louisiana) gives a new G21 SILVER SURF AWARD, and debuts a new Link Partner!  BARE KNUCKLES: Part 2 of JEFF WINBUSH's "Search For Spike."
 BarnesandNoble SEARCH: If you're like us, you like good writing. Use the Barnes and Noble Search Engine page to find great savings on good books, delivered right to your home or office!
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Some weeks deadline pressure forces me to go with a cover not entirely to my liking. For the remainder of that week, I'm restless. If you're a regular here, you may have noticed that I've changed the cover, radically, as often as three times in a single week. Why? Because I'm grasping for that elusive something that will make me feel "right" about our Welcome mat.
Other weeks, I go into the new edition with calm and confidence, knowing that the cover represents some part of the essence of what I expect your experience to be if you come here for the unfolding features of the particular edition. (I have attempted, though I'm not certain I've been successful, in conveying by my own use of the words, that "editions" are weekly, and "issues" are daily. )
ABOUT THIS EDITION: It was the great B.B. King who sang, "...Nobody loves me but my mother/And she could be jivin', too!..."
I feel good about this week's cover, because I believe it reflects some of the elements of what you will find as our MOTHERS edition unfolds. The Botticelli image, for example, is meant to convey some of the mixture of mystery, comfort, and angst we all feel around the issue(s) of motherhood, our own personal families, and the (I often believe) unachievable burden we all place upon the institution of motherhood.
In our "pomo" psyches, tons of freight surround the institution. The Madonna is there, yes, but so is "re-parenting," abortion, abandoned children, our private and personal mothers, our family units or lack thereof, adoption, divorce, and identity.
When I first offered that we would do an edition on this theme to the writers, in our Editorial Conference of two months ago, no objections were raised. It was only during this past week, as the edition loomed large, that a few of the writers began to hint at how volatile the theme is, tip-toed toward ways of grappling with the material. I have one writer who admits having had a horrible relationship with his mother, an infrequent contributor who discovered --- as an adult --- that he is an adoptee, and another writer whose family is suffering the ordeal of his mother's recent serious illness. Further, as I say on the cover, we are taking a large chance by even launching this edition on Mother's Day.
I started agonizing about my own contribution a week ago, even as the Zeitgeist edition hit the proverbial Web "street." Suffice it to say that this is a touchy subject for me, as readers of my last column at the nrv8 site would surely know. I seldom make reference to my family at this magazine. As Edward Albee has written, "Soul-searching is the lowest form of comedy."
So expect two things: some of us will sit this edition out. It touches a little too close to home even for a crew you can usually expect to be both daring and irreverent; those who do take the plunge will bring you the usual thoughtful quality, and --- yes --- iconoclasm for which this magazine is known...
Hey! Write in and let us (and the other readers here) know what you think!
And if you know of a new site for our Link Partners Program, let us know about that, too.
We're glad you're here. As you can see from the nav' bar to our left, we have a lot to offer this(and EVERY) week. Stick around. More importantly: TELL EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS. We want you here EVERY DAY.
WHY?
Because we like you....
Be Good to Each Other,
Rod
Our Editor does listen!