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Welcome to BWe-Journal 7.1, the Fall 2008 issue of the Conference on Basic Writing's electronic journal. Our contributors for this issue consider everything from basic writing presentations at the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) 2008 in New Orleans, to reviews of recent books relevant to basic writing teaching/scholarship, to a social justice initiative for students enrolled in basic writing courses.

Taken as a whole, this issue represents a kaleidoscope of sorts, demonstrating the ways in which the field of basic writing shifts shape and hue, a field of motion that refracts the light and takes on new configurations as the viewer turns and shakes the colorful glass. Viewing basic writing through the kaleidoscope's lens gives us, as teacher/scholars, the opportunity to imagine new perspectives from older forms, encompassing the past, present, and future within and beyond our field of vision.

Issue 7.1 introduces a number of features brand new to BWe:

1.A brand new look! Sylwester Zabielski, an MA student in the English program at Texas A&M University-Commerce, completely redesigned this long-running journal to update the format and include multiple interactive elements.

2.Ability to comment on select articles—directly! Comment on our lead article “Social Justice Initiative for Basic Writing.” We want to hear your thoughts! In this article, Susan Naomi Bernstein outlines some key arguments for a Social Justice Policy she would like to see the Conference on Basic Writing establish as soon as possible. We want to hear your thoughts, which the editors will take to the CBW Executive Board in hopes of moving this conversation forward toward a Social Justice Policy Statement CBW and its membership can endorse and make use of in our own institutions, programs, and classrooms. The “comment” feature follows the article itself (see “Social Justice Initiative for Basic Writing” by Susan Naomi Bernstein)

3.Ability to participate in important research in progress! In preparation for their upcoming CCCC presentation “Splashing in Dead Seas: How to Envision and Implement a Reinvigorated Future for Basic Writing Programs,” Brian Ray of University of North Carolina-Greensboro and Cindy Whitesel and Bill Donohue of Lincoln University have developed two surveys and invite your participation. Please click the “Research in Progress” link for more.

We hope to add additional interactive elements to future issues, and we also invite your contributions. Contributions that take advantage of the digital format BWe embodies are especially welcome—multimodal productions containing video and audio elements are especially welcome. Please see “Next Issue” for the call for submissions.

Like the publication of all previous issues of BWe, issue 7.1 was made possible by the hard work and dedication of a large number of smart, innovative individuals. We wish to offer our sincerest appreciation to Greg Glau (Northern Arizona University), who has served the Conference on Basic Writing and Basic Writing e-Journal for many years. For the organization in general and this journal in particular - we thank Sylwester Zabielski who designed this website. In addition, we would like to thank our reviewers for this issue, Peter Adams (Community College Baltimore County ), Barbara Gleason (City University of New York), and Sugie Goen-Salter (San Francisco State University). Each of them offered both rigorous reviews and wonderful feedback. We are grateful to Sonya Armstrong (Northern Illinois University) for her careful and meticulous copyediting for this issue. Finally, we would like to thank Arizona State University for housing BWe for so many years before its move this year to Texas A & M-Commerce.

We hope that you enjoy what you find here-and that you will consider

submitting something yourself!

Susan Naomi Bernstein, LaGuardia Community College and

Shannon Carter, Texas A&M University-Commerce, co-editors