Dear Readers:

The Winter '99 collection is titled lately, the silence. Several of this year's collections have concerned themselves with the conflicts and struggles we necessarily face as people -- fighting our own faults and weaknesses, living up to our hopes and ideals, protecting the ones we love. I have always believed that this type of conflict is necessary for us to grow and live up to our potential.

There are times, however, when we find our lives absent of that "joyous roar" we've been so used to -- a time of dreary silence, when things seem to stop in place and our best efforts no longer seem enough to accomplish anything worthwhile. Suddenly, life is a process of holding on: the ground we don't give up, the principles we won't abandon, maybe the dreams we won't allow ourselves to forget.

I've come to realize that we, like nature, sometimes face a winter of the spirit, when the best we can do is to respect ourselves for what we have done so far and preserve strength and endurance for another time. Weathering the winter of our spirit means learning to endure with the knowledge that we must hold on until time and circumstances permit us to do more. We are, ultimately, what we have, to make it though life. Like nature, we do not grow continually but must learn to accept our winters and live through them.

Many of the pieces in this collection address this period of silence and the spirit of perseverance. You may find it in its characters, its speakers, sometimes both. It is, I think, a theme fitting with the season. I am, as always, deeply grateful to those who have given me the insights and inspiration that made this collection possible.