To our readers: 

We apologize for the delay in printing this issue of Turning the Tide. New jobs, new friends, and new concerns crept up on us, and before we knew it, publication of this issue had been pushed back two months.

In our last issue (vol. 1, issue 3), we asked readers to join us in exploring Empire and Freedom as a possible theme for this issue. Although we did not receive enough submissions to tackle that theme, we nevertheless decided on a theme for this issue: abolishing the death penalty.The struggle to end the death penalty in the United States—or the abolitionist movement, as it is called by its supporters—is especially significant for Texans, as Texas executes approximately one-third of all persons on death row in the United States. For this reason, the content of this issue deals almost exclusively with death penalty cases in Texas, reasons to abolish the death penalty, and activist efforts in Texas to eliminate the capital punishment system. Indeed, most submissions came from abolitionist activists working in Austin and Corpus Christi. With twelve extra pages, we hope that this issue will be a good read and valuable resource. We’ve poured a lot of energy into this one, so  hopefully it will do some good.

As we go to print, CHR Media Collective has already embarked on several ambitious projects: We launched a bi-weekly film series in August called Far Out Films, have a few book projects lined up, and one of our current priorities is to help establish a collectively-run bookstore in our hometown. Because we are growing and pouring our resources and energies into these and other causes, we have included a suggested donation on the cover of this issue. Our magazine is still freely available, of course, but our collective could certainly use some monetary support.

Some of the submissions we have received for our next issue suggest that we might be able to pull off Empire and Freedom. If you have an original submission that bears on this theme, then definitely get in contact with us.

As always, we would like to see more women and minorities get involved with Turning the Tide. On that note, we welcome our new volunteer photographer Jenelle to our ragtag group.

Until next time,

The Eds.