EDITOR'S COMMENTS

     Welcome to this, the second issue of The Caldron, an e-zine named after the fiftieth hexagram of the I Ching--the hexagram referring to the provision of spiritual nourishment. We are very pleased to have our own web site now. Ariana and I are co-editors of The Caldron, with my focus being on the written word and hers more on the images, music, and web design that you will find in each issue.
     We are certainly off to a good start. We are very fortunate to have had submissions of such high quality. We're sure you will enjoy them all. In addition to the artistic and literary submissions, we also feature several special departments, among them this month are "Uncle Karl Recommends" and "Earth Watch," a summary of recent and alarming developments brought about by global warming.

     In German, our surname Marx referred to those folks who lived at the edge, at the boundary markers, of the town or city. Even before we humans had begun to settle in our towns and cities--when we were all still wild and wandering tribes of folks, always on the move--those of us named Marx were probably the scouts, those of us who liked to stay ahead of the rest of the tribe, always looking outwards and always letting the rest of us know what was coming next.
     There is collective movement to the human race. It is not on the physical plane. It is spiritual in nature. And there is a leading edge to this spiritual movement, made up of those of us who are most comfortable with change and most eager for whatever chance for growth that Spirit might be offering next. We are not leaders. We're just ordinary folks with maybe a taste for the strange and a desire to help the rest of the human race along.
     When I was growing up, folks like myself were called avant-garde, but that always seemed too foreign and fancy for my taste. And besides, I haven't even begun to exhaust my native tongue. I'd rather just say that we're the citizens of Edge City, living always at the edge of the edge.

     This issue is dedicated to that great genius of the 19th century, Karl Marx. Uncle Karl was born in Austria in 1818. But he really lived at Edge City, lived there his entire life.
     Uncle Karl was a happily married man, enjoying his large brood of children, while still managing to illuminate and startle the intellectual and political worlds of his time. He was a powerful mix of the revolutionary and the ordinary citizen. Together with his friend and collaborator, Friedrich Engels, he saw the power in the people and changed the world forever.

     Like Marx, The Caldron is dedicated to reporting from Edge City, illuminating and maybe even startling the intellectual and political worlds of our time. Hopefully, it will make a difference.

Eugene Marks, Editor