750 Main StreetWaltham, MA 02451 A church of the Anglican Communion Established 1849

Contact750 Main StreetWaltham, MA 02451781-891-6012Church Office Hours: Tuesday - Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.Karen Burciaga, parish administrator

Emailoffice@christchurchwaltham.orgrevsara@christchurchwaltham.org

Webwww.christchurchwaltham.orgFacebook: Christ Church WalthamTwitter: @CCWalthamRestoration blog: ccwaltham.wordpress.com

Sunday Services 8:30 a.m. – Holy Eucharist, Spoken10:00 a.m. – Holy Eucharist, with Music

Save the DateSept 8 Sunday School returns (9:45 a.m. start time); BBQ after the 10 a.m. serviceSept 17 Tentative beginning of Free: Spending your Time and Money on What Matters Most conversation Sept. 21 Yard SaleSept. 24 Fall Education starts Tuesdays for all ages, 6 p.m. Sept 29 Sermon Talk Back Time: What did you hear in the sermon? What did you want to hear? Oct 6 Blessing of Animals 10 a.m. Softball game with Church of the Good ShepherdNov 22-23 Fieldstone Fair

For a full listing of events, go to the Events page on our website and click through to Events Calendar.

At a glance

I read lots of things. Sometimes not much more than the back of whatever cereal box is in front of me, but I’m always drawn toward words. Over time, the book I spend most time with is, not surprisingly, the Bible. Episcopalians sometimes get a bad rap about not taking the Bible seriously enough, and while our summer Bible Study on Acts is maybe more the exception than the rule, we do wade through a substantial amount of Scripture over our three year lectionary that assigns our readings for Sunday. The thing is, the Bible isn’t exactly one book. This is inconvenient.

Several years ago at Christ Church for our summer reading group we read Peter Gomes’ The Good Book, in which he talks about the Bible both in general and in the particular, in taking the “uses and abuses” of it on issues like gender, racism, and sexuality. He cautions against the sin of “bibliolatry”—elevating the book above the Creator whose Word we seek in it. “Says what it means and means what it says” just can’t apply with a text with such a complicated history—that assumes we know what it says, and if we’re honest, we admit that we don’t, always. Written in different languages, and at different times for different purposes, the books of the Bible are not one coherent whole or a guidebook for Christian living. We may wish it were, but that’s our problem. It’s inconsistent. It’s messy. And anyway, Gomes says, it’s not even one book: it’s a library.

Library or book, it deserves our attention. Not necessarily to be read from cover to cover, but to be read, period. Scripture is full of good stories. With villains and heroes and good people making terrible decisions and all of them somehow, miraculously, veering toward God. But it’s also not just a story. I can read my beloved Henning Mankell cop mysteries without bringing my heart, soul, mind and strength into it. I can read those quite passively, allowing the minutes to pass by as my kids get up for trip after trip to the bathroom. But Scripture asks me to bring my whole life along, my whole self, to listen for what God might be saying. Anne Lamott is often quoted as saying we would bring crash helmets to church if we really understood what we were doing together—the collision of human and holy and all of the spaces in between is dangerous stuff.

It’s dangerous to witness Jesus love the rich young man and then tell him to sell everything he has to follow. What do I have to give up? It’s dangerous to sit with God in the beginning of Genesis and hear every last created thing pronounced good—and then to hear that humankind is made in God’s image. How do I have to take better care of that creation? How can I take better care of myself? It’s dangerous to stand with a furious mob and then be told that the one without sin can cast the first stone. How much less would I judge others if I looked at myself first?

Scripture is as alive as we are, and we don’t come out of our encounters with it the same way as we went in. It’s inconvenient, messy, and dangerous, and it’s one of the most important ways we have to encounter God. How are you reading the Bible now? How do you want to? How will you be changed by those dangerous words, purified by that wild fire?

Finally, I have to take a moment to offer a huge thank you to Kristin Harvey for her 3 ½ years of faithful work on the Christ Church Quarterly. We started the Quarterly in the spring of 2010 (when it replaced the monthly Fieldstone Crier), and it’s been a wonderful forum for so many different voices. We don’t know what will be next—whether it will be another forum in print, or whether we’ll do more online; please let me or Eric Harvey (who is heading up a new online communication effort) know what you’d like to see, or if you want to work on it.

Peace, Sara+

Christ Church Quarterly n E W S a n D V i E W S o f C h r i S t C h u r C h E p i S C o p a l • W a l t h a m , m a

f a l l p E n t E C o S t 2 0 1 3 f o C u S o n : Books

Reading Dangerously

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I have loved books for as long as I can remember. Before I could myself, my mom would read to me. All the time. Signs. Books. You name it. She read it out loud in English and in German. My mom always loved reading, as did my dad. I heard stories growing up about how my dad would lock himself in the bathroom so that he could read a book in peace. I found myself understanding that behavior when the sixth Harry Potter book came out. It showed up on my doorstep at 4:25 a.m. Thunk. I heard the delivery truck driving away. I jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs, missing a couple along the way, and jerked open my front door. There it was: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I sat on the couch in the dark with a flashlight and began reading. Around chapter thirteen the kids woke up. I hugged them, book still in my face, grabbed a box of tissues and tore myself away from the book long enough to tell them that this day was Harry Potter Day and mommy is not to be disturbed unless someone is broken or bleeding. They laughed and agreed. I went back to bed with the book securely fastened to my hand, inches from my face. At some point, sobbing like an idiot I heard the phone ring. I stopped reading (mostly because the story was too painful and I wanted to separate myself from the fictional reality) to listen to Jackson answer the phone.

“Hello?” he answered. “Hi Nanny!” “No. I’m sorry. She said not to disturb her unless someone died. Did someone die?” “Well, that’s

good.” “What? Oh. She’s reading Harry Potter.” At this point I could hear my mom laughing on the other end of

the line. I got off the bed and headed down to talk to my mom. The kids saw my puffy tear-filled eyes and panicked. I tried to explain that it was such a good book, but they just didn’t understand.

In the age of condensing a novel into a two hour movie, I am forever trying to show my kids the beauty of the written word. I believe I just don’t possess the vocabulary to be able to explain how or why I love books. When I was younger I liked getting caught up in another reality. For as long as I was reading, I could be someone else. I could be an astronaut discovering life on a new planet, a pirate sailing the seas, a cat napping and eating lasagna, a superhero saving the world, or even (gasp) a boy. I could escape my own life temporarily and learn life lessons in the process. As an adult I find that though I have many ways of imbibing words, books are still my favorite. I love the smell of a new book, seeing dog-eared pages of an old favorite, feeling the spine bend as I work my way through chapters like the book and I are changing together.

I remember my first love affair with a book. I would ask my mom to read it to me over and over. I couldn’t get enough of how alone my prince felt, how every word he spoke seemed to be just for my

f o C u S o n Books

Seeing clearly with the heart by Anna Jones

If I am asked what makes us humans different from all other species I would have to say a Soul and an intellect capable of complex thinking, of creating a complex language for communication, the ability to transcend the finite realm and search to comprehend the infinite, metaphysical realm.

I therefore feel the need to nourish and expand my horizons, to grow and fully develop as a human being. Great vehicles for this, as regards my outer environment, are trains, ships, airplanes and other modes of transportation that make possible for me to see different lands, interact with individuals of different nationalities, ethnicities, cultures and perspectives.

For my inner growth, my favorite vehicle is the book. It allows me to travel through time to experience past civilizations, explore past events, to travel to the future and consider possible scenarios and developments that our present condition might possibly lead us to. And it is not only in the field of non-fiction that offers this, but also in fiction authors give life to characters that are so real they become part of my world; characters

that give me insights into the human condition, characters and situations through which authors grapple with deep and serious issues confronting us all, fiction that not only entertains but more importantly educates. A combination I feel is markedly missing in today’s literature with its emphasis on entertainment and distraction.

I take very seriously the responsibility to myself to grow and to become, to stay intellectually and spiritually active, to acquire the tools, knowledge if I am to help others and contribute to the whole and not sink into indifference or apathy. This belief pushed me to two realizations. The first is very mathematical, if I take my expected life expectancy (and, yes, I was hopeful here) and take into account the expected hours of leisure in that lifetime devoted to books without infringing into other rewarding leisure activities and finally factor in my reading speed without sacrificing comprehension and work all that into a formula I come out with a very finite, limited number of books that I can possibly read in that period. That brings me to the next

realization which is that I have to be very selective then in choosing the books I will read for each one will decrease that number. This means I have to consider the merits of the book, its author, thematic context and its potential to contribute to my further growth, education and the expansion of my mind and spirit. It also means that I have to be vigilant about the distractions that will waste my time and sidetrack me from my path. Things like commercial books where financial remuneration is the main driving force behind the author’s purpose. So called “bestsellers” which as Daniel Boorstin explained “A best-seller was a book which somehow sold well because it was selling well” or Television which has been often described as a vast wasteland. Although TV is not completely without its merits as the well known social critic Marx once observed.

“I find Television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” –Groucho Marx.

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my time machine by José Borrás

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Books (not just) for kids by Heather Leonardo

We have children’s books in almost every room of our house, and I get great enjoyment from finding new books for the kids. My favorites tend to touch on themes related to emotions and relationships, and I’ve reviewed a couple of those here.

A few years ago, at a children’s mental health continuing education workshop, I was introduced to the website, CommonSenseMedia.org. Since then, it’s been my go-to guide for all things children’s media. When I’m researching movies or TV, I go there to find out what’s appropriate and not-too-scary for the kids, but when I’m researching books at Common Sense Media, it’s to find out what’s good. This is how I found Finn Throws a Fit!, written by David Elliott and illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering. This is a sweetly illustrated book that uses weather imagery to portray a toddler’s tantrum. It beautifully depicts what a tantrum can feel like when it’s going on. The fit upends the whole house and “goes on and on” until the dog ends up outside with its paws over its eyes trying to hide from the chaos. And then the fit ends,

and all is well again. This is a book that is as much for parents as it is for children. It’s a reminder for everyone that big emotional reactions, though they may feel overwhelming at the time, are temporary and common experiences of childhood.

Before I was familiar with Mo Willems, I was browsing the children’s section of a local bookstore, and I came across his book, Can I Play Too?. Mo Willems has authored a number of different series, and Can I Play Too? is one of the Elephant and Piggie books. I bought this book right away because I just adored Gerald’s (the elephant) and Piggie’s persistence, with their friend Snake, in trying to figure out how they could all play catch together. There are lots of mishaps and lots of “bonks” on Snake’s head, and I won’t ruin the story by telling you how, but in the end they succeed in playing catch together. This book is fun and cute for toddlers, who just love those “bonks,” but the story becomes particularly relevant for preschoolers, who often have difficulty including others in play who they may fear will ruin their game

somehow. (Heather Shumaker’s It’s Okay Not to Share provides a particularly good discussion on this topic.) Can I Play Too? was the first in our now large collection of Mo Willems books.

I have many other favorites focusing on relationships and emotions, including Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day written by Judith Viorst and illustrated by Ray Cruz, Calm Down Time written by Elizabeth Verdick and illustrated by Marieka Heinlen, George and Martha by James Marshall, and Zombie in Love, which was written by by Kelly DiPucchio and illustrated by Scott Campbell. Continued on page 4 …

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Mike, Jenn, Eden (5 ½) and Henry (almost 4) Hughes reside in Waltham. Mike and Jenn are originally from a small town in Western New York (they were high school sweethearts), and came to Massachusetts for college (Jenn at Holy Cross and Mike at Bentley). They found themselves sticking around for jobs and graduate school (Jenn at Tufts), got married in 2001, and bought their first house in Waltham shortly after. Mike is now a real estate agent, specializing in residential sales in the greater Boston area, and Jenn is a research scientist, studying the genetics and evolution of X and Y chromosomes. Eden will be starting kindergarten at Plympton Elementary in the fall, and Henry will be attending preschool at 123 Day School.

Both Mike and Jenn were raised as Roman Catholics and attended Catholic schools throughout much of their lives. Their commitment and faith waned as they became adults, however, as they began to see their church through a more critical lens, and attendance at mass became a Christmas and Easter only ritual. As the saying goes, children change everything. Once the craziness of infancy and toddlerhood passed, Jenn and Mike recognized that something was missing and they wanted a spiritual influence in their children’s lives. After doing some research, Jenn decided that the Episcopal Church sounded like the right fit, primarily because of their openness and acceptance of all. Because of the friendly and gracious congregation and the amazingly down-to-earth, relatable, and knowledgeable rector, it did not take long (just one week) for Mike and Jenn to realize that Christ Church was exactly what they were missing. In fact, just two months after they attended their first service, Mike and Jenn made it official—undergoing confirmation at the Cathedral in Boston. The Hughes’ have found a new commitment to faith and are elated to be a part of the family that is Christ Church.

o u r p a r i S h Family

The hughes family

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Erica Coates was also confirmed but not pictured.

Images by and courtesy of the Fowlers

in pictures: C o n f i r m a t i o n

I find it hard to think back to a period predating books. My earliest memories

are about books. I have to admit that in those early books I started reading, entertainment was the driving force. Books like Men of Iron by Pyle, Treasure Island by Stevenson, Annapurna by Herzog, Karl May’s 5 novel series of intrigue and adventure. But as my early days of my physical world were limited to skates and a bike, I started to grow and mature and expanded to trains and planes, so is was with my books. I had to leave behind that youth stage and look for books that were not only entertaining, but educational and enlightening as well. In that stage the list of authors was as large as it was diverse, I soon realized when I thought back to all the vehicles that contributed to get me to where I now find myself. Names like Balzac, Zola, Stendhal, du Gard, Pagnol, Galdos, Gironella, Baroja, Galeano, Unamuno, Kazantzakis, Silone, Manzoni, di Lampedusa, Dostoevsky, Ibsen, Sinclair Lewis, Zoe Oldenbourg, Sienkiewicz, I.F.Stone, Lewis Mumford, Dos Passos, Kingsolver, Trollope and too many more to mention here. So I exhort all, grab a good book, climb onboard your time machine and set off to discover old and new worlds, to meet intriguing new characters, alternative voices both fictional and non.…Bon Voyage!

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inside outside upside Down by Roger Jermyn

I vividly remember the day I finally figured out what those things my mother called “letters” in my favorite Dr. Seuss book actually did. My mother had been reading Inside Outside Upside Down and trying to teach me my alphabet as well. Like all parents, my mother was my first teacher, and she would read the book repeatedly until I basically had it memorized. But I had no idea how the pictures and black lines worked. Until that magical day when it all seemed to click.

I remember when it happened, how amazed I was, to read Inside Outside Upside Down by myself start to finish. Then I picked up one of the dozens of Dr. Seuss books on our bookshelf, and I could read those words too! Little did I know at the time that this learned behavior, that becomes involuntary once established, was going to be such a huge part of my life.

Ernest Hemingway once said, “There is no friend like a book.” I have written in this space before about the relationship I have had with music throughout my life. If music is the bed that gives me respite, books are the comforter with which I wrap myself in. At least to me, anyway. It is hard to imagine a world without books, new or old, fiction or nonfiction, bound, tattered, musty or fresh.

As a computer technician by trade, I suppose I should embrace the “digitalization” of our written word with open arms, and in some respects I do. As an amateur writer, I think blogs, for instance are a wonderful creation and great way for aspiring writers to contribute their ideas to society. Sometimes. On the internet things are written all too often because they can be written, not because they should be written. But I digress. They would not exist if not for the digitizing of the written word. So I do see how it is good in some respects. But try as I might, I cannot seem to get my mind around the idea of reading an entire book off a lighted screen on a device like the Kindle, or iPad. I know it is what all the cool kids are doing these days. I know you can have “entire libraries at your fingertips.” That is pretty cool, I admit. I just don’t think it’s for me. There are so many missing elements that are part of reading a book, that you lose via electronica. Where is that comforting feeling of the heft of a book in your hands, especially that of a well-bound hardcover, coupled with the anticipation as you open it and turn to the very first page? Where

is the sound of turning each subsequent page as you work your way through the chapters? I also miss the ability on a Kindle to watch the remaining pages flip by as you read, like sand in an hourglass. I even like the smell of a book. I imagine eventually a story on paper will be as archaic as Dead Sea papyrus is to us now. Though I hope it is not in my lifetime, however.

My wife and I encourage our children to read, and they both have done so from an early age. I sense a lot of excitement from them when it is “Media Center” day at school and they get to go and pick

out books. Our daughter has a voracious reading appetite, so it is a great thing for her to have such a well-stocked library at school. I was not so fortunate when I was her age. We did not have a school library in my elementary school, so we were encouraged to visit the local library and get our library cards. I got my first card in first grade. That was an exciting day. The main reason I got one, though, was not so much to be able to take books out of the main library in Beverly where I lived, however, but to be able to take books from the “Bookmobile.”

Ah yes, the “Bookmobile.” Like a Partridge Family bus (remember them?) full of literature, the Bookmobile would roll into the school parking lot once a week. A large, windowless truck of sorts was painted dark blue, green and light yellow and filled floor to ceiling with shelves of books. The excitement was electric in school on those days. The rooms would buzz as each grade would wait “patiently” for the principal to announce when it was our turn over the loudspeaker. Once you climbed up the stairs, this library-on-wheels was a maze of shelves filled with many books; so many it was hard to choose. Looking for fiction? Got it. Sports biographies? Got it. Hero biographies? Got those too. You name it, they seemed to have it all on the Bookmobile. You had only a certain number of minutes to make the selection, so there was a lot of pressure. Make your selections, see the nice librarian/teamster member when you were done, and your bag filled with “up to three” books. Then off you went into this week’s literary adventureland, happy as a kid in a…well…a Bookmobile! We loved it, and somehow always seemed to be more than satisfied with our choices. Somehow I don’t think all the books a Kindle can hold could ever measure up to a single visit by the Bookmobile.

Why Books are Better Than movies by Helen Jermyn, age 9

Books are better than movies because in some moviesthey cut out the “unimportant stuff.” In books there are more details and the books give you an adventure to look forward to. One reason books are better than movies is because if you watch the movies first you won’t be able to understand them.

This is a list of books I have read that

have been turned into movies: Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire, Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,

all by J.K. RowlingThe Tale of Despereaux by KateDiCamilloJames and the Giant Peach by Roald DahlThe Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. LewisDiary Of A Wimpy Kid by Jeff KinneyThe Lightning Thief by Rick RiordanI hope you agree with me that books are better than movies.

ChristChurchEpiscopal•Waltham,MA

Announcements

Building updateOur engineers from Simpson Gumpertz & Heger have submitted six field reports since April 15th. Each report documents the progress of our tower repairs. The most recent report states that the cross is securely in place at the top of the spire and repointing at the spire is complete. A lot of attention has been paid to detail such as the ochre color of sand to match the ochre color of the original mortar in the as closely as possible. The final mix is made up of: 5 parts East Hartford yellow sand, 1 part East

Hartford Red sand, 1 part Iron Clad gray (“buff”) cement, 1 part lime.

The paperwork for our handicap bathroom has been slowly making its way through the city permitting process. Now the permits are in place, we’re just waiting for construction to begin! We have been told that it will be a 4-5 week construction timeline once the crew gets started.

Thanks for everyone’s patience and if you have any questions please contact Jonathan Duce or Rev. Sara.

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Many thanks to our Waltham neighbor Ian Woods who saw the crew working on the spire and captured the repointing. He was gracious enough to pass his wonderful photos on to the church for our use and archives!

I reread The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry as an adult and while remembering how lonely I felt my prince to be, I now had a new understanding of what he needed me to learn. Lessons that may have been lost on me as a child, but hopefully ingrained into the core of who I am. Thanks to my little prince I will always believe people are beautiful because of what they hide. Their secrets make them special. A heart with a secret, a desert with a hidden well, or a star with a little prince that laughs are all unique and deserving of my love. I have been tamed by this book. Each time I read it I change.

When I write I feel I am sharing a small piece of my soul with you. I am taking my thoughts and feelings and putting them on paper for you to pour over or ignore. I see all writing that way, fiction, non-fiction, autobiography or poetry. Writing a letter or poem to someone I am saying ‘Here is a piece of me that I am freely giving to you, expecting nothing in return’ (but wouldn’t it be nice if you’d read it). So when I read a book, I feel the author has done the same thing in sharing a small piece of their heart and soul with me. How could I walk away from that without loving them a little in return by simply reading what they’ve written?

Anna … continued from page 2

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outreach updates:Grandma’s Pantry: The need is critical: our shelves are low! Please bring canned goods to church, especially tea, veggies of all kinds and cereal/instant oatmeal. Open Friday mornings from 9-11, to Waltham seniors.

Diaper Depot: See update to the left.

Grandma’s Attic:Get ready for the September 21st Yard Sale! The Thrift Shop is currently collecting hangers with clips or children’s hangers. No other types of hangers are needed at this time. We also accept books, cd’s, dvd’s, small household items, lightly worn clothing and shoes. We re-open again on Saturday, October 5th. Hannaford gift cards: Please consider a donation of a gift card to Hannaford in the amount of $15. Checks may also be made out to Christ Church with “food assistance” in the memo line. These cards are made available to people who stop by the church looking for assistance buying food. Thank you!

annual Yard Sale Volunteers neededJoin us to set-up and clean-up for the annual yard sale! Arrive Saturday, Sept. 21st at 8:30 a.m. to help bring out boxes and place items on tables. Clean-up helpers are needed at 2:15 p.m. to box up remaining items and bring in the tables. Drivers are needed to take boxes items to local charities. Anytime you can spare would be really appreciated as many hands make light work. Please contact Suzanne Hughes or phone 781.893.6093 if you have any questions.

Diaper Depot updateThis past August, we served 88 kids, 74 families and distributed 2200 total diapers! Thank you to everyone who contributes diapers or money to buy the diapers. We welcome Victoria Sundgren, our junior warden, as its new coordinator, and all thanks and blessings to Cathy Hughes for her marvelous work along the way!

fieldstone fair planningPlease join us for a meeting to discuss our upcoming annual Fieldstone Fair and dinner. We will meet at 7PM on Thursday, September 12th in Reverend Sara’s Office. If you cannot make it to the meeting but would like to volunteer to help out, please e-mail Suzanne Hughes at SuzanneHughes@Comcast.net. Thanks.

Sunday, october 6thAs we offer thanksgiving for all God’s gifts in creation (for St Francis Day) we’ll be blessing animals. Leashed/caged/well-behaved animals are welcome to join us for worship at the 10 a.m. service—but we will pray over photos and stuffed animals, too! At 1pm that same day, join us for softball at Lowell Field in Waltham for a game against Church of the Good Shepherd, Watertown.

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The final issue From Editor, Kristin Harvey

We will be taking a break from a traditional parish newsletter and this will be the last quarterly in its current form. Personally, I am hanging up my editor hat to start grad school this fall and continue to work full time. Rev. Sara, Vestry and a few parish members are currently developing our online presence. Adding the newsletter topic to this discussion makes a lot of sense and will lead to more holistic and helpful communication for the parish all around.

That said, the Quarterly has no doubt been a wonderful thing for the parish, bringing us closer to each other, page by page. Working on it these past three and half years, I would often worry about filling a particular issue, or editing the next version down to fit. But somehow, the stories, art, poetry, even announcements always ended up dropped into place. Our office administrator would hit print it, then drop it into the mail where it would hit your mailbox. From there I know it’s spurred small talk as we pass the peace during worship, and was a catalyst for much longer discussions over coffee after the service.

If you’ve picked up any of the other 12 issues, chances are you haven’t agreed with something written here around a particular topic. I know I haven’t! Yet, it never ceased to amaze me how our diverse voices found a harmony around a topic. My hope for the parish, and the communications we produce, is to continue finding that harmony in a way that is perhaps

more flexible, convenient and timely. Sound good? Yes! Of course my go-to theologian, Dietrich

Bonhoeffer, brings me back to the reality in his book, Life Together: “Christian community is not an ideal we have to realize, but rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate. The more clearly we learn to recognize that the ground and strength and promise of all our community is in Jesus Christ alone, the more calmly we will learn to think about our community and pray and hope for it.”

Oh yes. We do not need x, y, or z to be in meaningful community. Thank goodness! We just need to be where we are. Granted, I am not sure what is next for our communications, but I know we will find it together, in Christ. And that journey is why we are here.

Many thanks to all, Kristin Harvey

P.S. If you will miss being a contributor here or reading these pages, I encourage you to think about joining the web and communication discussion. They will be addressing content and editorial topics in addition to the technical aspects that come with an online project. Please talk to Sara or Eric Harvey if either topic sounds of interest to you.