Editor's Note

We've been blessed with some unseasonably cool weather here in Baltimore. Usually, there is no spring here; one minute it's 50 degrees in May, the next it's 90 until September. So it's been a treat, the waiting and wondering when things are going to heat up.

I can say the same about the print issue. After we finish our work here, with the online Summer issue, things are going to heat up considerably in preparation for the print issue coming out in the fall. So we may be a little longer in responding to your submissions. Our responses may be a little shorter, but our intentions are no less sincere. Hopefully, we can get back on track after September.

Reading submissions for the summer issue, I was struck by how many stories are out there and how many people have compulsions to tell them. We tell stories every day; baby stories in the carpool, whoppers at the bar, life-changing experiences when catching up with old friends. Most of these stories have a clear beginning and ending, a theme, a climax, and characters by whom we are intrigued and whose actions we can relate to, even on the most minute level. However, sometimes these basic rules are forgotten when using the written word; I don't know why—I do it myself. Stories are meant to be oral exchanges, with intonations and varying cadences and volume. Such things are often hard to convey with dead words. But it can be done. We read great stories all the time. Just look at the stories, essay, and poems in this issue.

I wonder if authors ever examine their motivations for writing the stories they do. What compels us to tell the tales we tell? And do these tales stand up to scrutiny? Are these the stories we would tell at family gatherings, at raucous dinners, at graduation ceremonies? When submitting to JMWW, or anywhere, these are the questions I ask writers to keep in mind. Find the reason for this story, and then ride it like a bull.

Finally, we are so very pleased to present Beth Gylys's High Five in this issue. She is an extraordinary poet who shares with us geat insight.

Jen Michalski, Editor