Last week it was -41° in Houghton, America, and we hit the 300 inch mark for snowfall. Today, while the cadre of Computers and Composition editors gather around a cluster of Macintoshes to edit and print the camera-ready copy for this April issue, spring has come to the Upper Peninsula; temperatures have risen to 40° above 0°, and much of our 300 inches runs in rivers of melt off down the middle of our streets. However, if geographical distances isolate us, if we labor in a town 100 miles away from the nearest stoplight and far north of two thirds of the population of Canada, we're still thinking of connections and conversations, of how much we have in common with the colleagues who read this journal in other--generally warmer--places and consider the same issues and problems that we do. Hence, it is as participants in this collegial conversation which binds us together as teachers of writing that we bring this April issue to you. We wish you happy reading and a pleasant springtime.

The authors in this issue help us initiate and sustain our conversation. Starting off the collection is Jim Strickland who presents a case-study description of how one first-year student struggles with the task of learning a word-processing and an invention program. Following Strickland's article, Linda Stine describes a ground-breaking computer-intensive writing class for adults at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. The third and fourth articles in the issue, by Craig Etchison and Timothy Weiss, discuss how a group of basic writers in a first-year composition course, and a group of business and technical students in a persuasive writing course, were affected by the use of word-processing programs. Next, John Stenzel, Wes Ingram, and Linda Morris discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using mini-computer text-editing activities in upper-division, cross-disciplinary courses. Finally, an article by James Garvey and David Lindstrom discusses the use of WRITER'S WORKBENCH with first-year writers. All six of these articles reflect our profession's increasing interest in the relationships between computer technology and specific populations of student writers, and our growing sophistication in studying these effects.

A final note is also in order. This issue is dedicated to our Assistant Editors, most of whom pay precious tuition dollars for the privilege of laboring long hours on Computers and Composition. Our thanks go especially to Tim Zuellig who struggled long and hard, and with great good humor, over many of the charts and tables in this issue; to Angela Carter, our newest Assistant Editor; to Susan Babbitt, Dave Borrillo, Jerry Brownell, and Cyndi Weber, who leave us after this issue to go out and make their way as professional communicators; to John Velat and Bob Yeo, who provided specialized assistance when it was much needed; to Steve Syrja and Mark Thomas, who provided the role models for professional editing on our staff; to Lisa Eary and Leslie Bowen, whose eagle eyes we depended on; Steve Wolfel, who keeps our books in order; to Susan Guitar, our current Associate Editor, and to Alicia Haley, our Associate-Editor-in-Training--these are the folks who keep the words coming.