EDITORIAL
Loving
When It's Tough
Michael
A. King
The prior issue of DreamSeeker
Magazine, Winter 2006, generated
intense interest. DSM readership
doubled or tripled according to such
measures as hits on the online version of
the magazine or several hundred special
orders of the hardcopy version by
individuals and congregations. Feedback
included occasional formal letterrs or
longer responses to the editor, requests
for the conversation to continue, and
criticisms that some viewpoint
weren’t represented.
In light of such
factors, the conversation will continue,
but not in the limited space available in
DSM. Instead, to honor the
significance of the conversation and give
it more elbow room, the articles
published in DSM Winter 2006 will
form the core of a Cascadia Publishing
House book likely to be released late
this year or early next.
Also included will be
letters and responses the Winter 2006 DSM
generated plus new chapters giving
voice to more authors and perspectives.
As soon as the book is ready, a future
issue of DSM will report this.
Special thanks to the many DSM
authors and readers whose interest in the
conversation is enabling it to continue.
Loving When It’s Tough
Now to this Spring 2006
issue. The "Brokeback
Mountain" review continues the
Winter 2006 conversation. Otherwise this
issue on the surface shifts back to more
typical DSM content. Yet there is
continuity in spirit: I think and hope
that the heartbeat of the conversation on
homosexuality is the question of how we
offer love when it’s hard to discern
the loving way. Meanwhile DSM
Spring 2006 also revolves around the
quest to love life and each other when
it’s tough.
That quest is evident
in the moving article by Rose Decaen on
coping with fear of losing her adopted
child Bella by loving her every day. The
quest is obvious in Carolyn
Shrock-Shenk’s account of searching
for fresh ways to love life when so many
of her old ways of loving it are taken
from her. And the challenges and gifts of
loving each other across races are
insightfully explored by Mel Leaman and
Benson Prigg.
Then Deborah Good
ponders what to do with time and grief
now that she can’t love in this life
the father taken from her. Noël
King’s parable can be read many
ways; I experience it as inspiration to
nurture pockets not only of death but
also of living love. Carole Boshart
believes we can come to love both the
bitter and the sweet of chocolate and
Easter. Mark Wenger calls for families to
love their elder members by opening
wallets. Greiser reflects on cowboys who
fall in love.
The books Daniel
Hertzler reviews address consequences of
two peoples loving the same land. And
poets Joyce Peachey, Clarissa Jakobsens,
and Larry Moffitt evoke love across eras,
differences, and death.
—Michael A. King
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