Welcome to The Autumn Issue!
Meg Tufano, M.A.
What a great year this has been for SynaptIQ+ and The Journal for Social Era Knowledge!
First, a word of thanks to Peter Gentenaar, our artist for this issue; and to Eva Mennes, our Aesthetics Editor for finding Peter. I think all will agree that Peter's art is out of this world!
Which immediately brings me to the science fiction by Laston Kirkland. If you have not met Laston's fiction before, you are in for a wild ride . . . well, a ride right out of this world! I would say, "You just can't think this stuff up." But Laston apparently can! He has also written a sobering essay, Exceptional, about how he sees the more immediate future. (And please note he wrote this essay long before Mr. Putin's editorial in The New York Times this past week!)
The always-thoughtful Giselle Minoli continues to teach us about just how far we've come (and how far we've not) in our understanding of the lives of women, adding her essay, A Woman's Worth to this issue. Along with her previous contribution, A Woman's Deliberation, Giselle touches upon just about every aspect of women's lives. As with everything Giselle writes, her words inspire and enlighten.
Two new contributors to the area of ethical philosophy whom I hope will become regulars, John A. Berteaux and Brian Simmons, both hail from California State University at Monterey Bay. Apparently, one of our reviewers, George Station, has been quietly cheerleading for The Journal. Thank you, George, for bringing these philosophers to grace our pages. Their article on the ethics of care is a must-read for all of us who want to make good decisions when caring for others and I think it also makes an important contribution to the philosophy of ethics.
"Tom Hemmings" (not his real name) has brought us The Millennial point of view on all things related to the social era in his essay, Digital Illusions. Of all the essays I've read this year, "Tom's" is one that has reminded me that, for many, The Social Era is the only era they have ever known! This was a bit of a wake-up call for me; and his reviewer commented that this was the first time she, too, had realized how difficult it is for Millennial's to understand the word, "privacy." If you want to understand just how difficult our future discussions about the Fourth Amendment are going to be, don't miss this one!
Tathiana Flores-Acuna brings us yet another area of global concern for universal human rights in her commentary on how international law is changing with regard to gender rights. Tathiana has previously shared with us what we are up against in fulfilling our stated goal to protect everyone's rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. How she manages to maintain her high positive energy while studying so many world-wide atrocities is one of those amazing gifts that some people give to the world. I know everyone will join me in thanking Tathiana both for helping us keep the focus on the plight of of those who cannot speak for themselves and for maintaining her high level of enthusiasm for truth and justice for all.
David Amerland has not only contributed another great article for The Journal that I know everyone will find not just informative but also astonishing. (Do you know what The Panopticon is? Be sure and find out!) But he's also just published a new book on semantic search, Google Semantic Search. I like to tease David that I do not think he ever sleeps, but I'm beginning to think maybe it's not that funny! Congratulations David on publishing yet another fascinating book!
Speaking of books, SynaptIQ+ has taken its first foray into book publishing under the imprint S+, beginning with a fiction book for a little comic relief for our Editor-in-Chief (me). Over this next year, Robert E. del Sol and I are working on four books that will go hand-in-hand with a new course we're designing on the same four subjects (see "Our Books" on this site). S+ is promised another novel by Meg McDermott next summer (;')); and we think it's about time to get all of Laston Kirkland's science fiction in a book collection of short stories by next autumn. So, look out for S+ in 2014!
Meanwhile, I am also working on two essays for the winter issue, one entitled, The Deep Dark Web, and, the other, How to Design a Great Online Course. (Yes, you're right, David is not the only one who maybe should get more sleep! ;'))
Finally, I want to thank all those who have made The Journal possible, and celebrate with all our editors, reviewers and contributors on a job well done!
Congratulations to all!
We have now completed Volume One and now begin Volume Two!
Meg is originally from Washington, D.C., and has lived all over North America and just recently returned from four years of living in The Hague, The Netherlands. She is married to Dr. Daniel R. Tufano, Sr., a scientist, and has two sons, Julian and Danny, Jr. She completed her undergraduate degree at The University of Toronto and her Master's at Antioch University, Midwest. (Meg describes her education in Part III of her Critical History of the University in the spring 2013 issue of The Journal.) Her favorite city (so far) is Florence, Italy, the background to her picture at left. She has just had her first novel published by SynaptIQ+ in their fiction imprint under her pen name, Meg McDermott. She loves new writers and encourages submissions on social era topics for The Journal; and is happy to discuss publication by authors of both fiction and non-fiction articles and books.
A paper sheet is thin and strong and, reinforced with very thin ribs of bamboo, can be compared to a leaf. By beating pulp a long time, an extraordinary play of forces occurs during the drying process of my paper sculpture. The paper shrinks considerably, up to 40%, and the force of this puts the non-shrinking bamboo framework under stress, just as a leaf when it dries.
My sculptures start as totally 2-dimensional, colored sheets of pulp laying on my vacuum-table. The forms in my work are caused by pulp drying and shrinking in unison. The simplicity of the material, which is the carrier, the color, the texture and the form, in one, makes working with it wonderful and direct.
www.gentenaar-torley.nl