Adam Blatner

I  received an email from a friend in Turkey—the country—they spell it Turkiye —where they write in Roman letters—about their e-journal. This reminded me of  the idea of an  e-journal itself, which may easily outstrip the idea of the printed journal within a decade. In some ways, I regret this, because I was a "book-hound" — one who savored and enjoyed libraries, used book stores, the feel and smell and preciousness of books. Alas, those days may be gone forever in the 21st century!

The e-journal is a friendly reminder.  Mailing costs alone have become forbiddingly high. As the world gets smaller, postal costs rise, and our reach bigger—i.e., more international connections — the idea of an e-journal becomes compelling.

Would you believe that I had to go 15 miles in the snow, barefoot, uphill both ways, just to get on the internet? No? Well, we had it tough in other ways. We had to get up and cross the whole room, on foot, to change the television channel! And they had less than ten channels in the olden days—and that was in the big cities! Seriously, we are on the edge of a major precipice, shifting over from printed words on paper to electronic media.