Stupid Title Goes Here

It has been a busy time for us, here at the Herald. [Isilando]'s computer crashed, a few members suffered from some health problems, and our crew underwent drastic changes. Try pairing all that with the fact that the remaining members can only donate their spare time (which is a rare thing these days) and you have a seriously delayed Herald!

In the beginning, we were pretty upset over it all. We rushed and rushed and tried to combine issues and throw something out for the public, but thanks to some good suggestions from friends [ciri] and [gsveda] who are associated with Woodworks, we decided to take a negative situation and turn it into a positive one. While deadlines are a top priority, we feel quality should be just as important. What does this mean? It means that the Heralders are utilizing this down-time to renovate and remake the Town Herald. We'll have new crew, new features, and a new face.

Your questions answered:

January 1st, 2004, the new Herald will debut and will be comprised of the material intended for October, November and December's issue. It will be a three-part layout, intended to summarize the end of this year as we prepare to begin the new one.

• We have several! First off, is the addition if the Poetry Corner, suggested to us by Elftown member [Aethe]. Each month, we will be selecting poetry to be featured in the Herald along with our normal selections in the Featured Section. That means that, if you submitted poetry for previous, unpublished editions of the Herald, you can look for it in our very own Poetry Corner. If you haven't submitted a poem and would like to, you may link to the wiki: Poetry Corner@wiki
• Also, we will be adding an Elftown Chronicles section, thought up by Ducky ([All_Most PUNK]). Ever heard of the Butterfly Chase or the Attack of the Clones? Well, it all happened right here in Elftown and you can find out all about it in the Chronicles! Message Ducky at [All_Most PUNK] to see about helping out!
• The humor section is scheduled to kick off in January, powered by [skylie], [All_Most PUNK] and [Lost_Solja].
• Like the Elf Corner? Well, in January's edition, we will be featuring a new Shire for the Halflings! If there is anything you little guys want to see in the Shire, send it to [Lerune] or [Calico Tiger].
• Contests! We are sponsoring contests right now and they are nearly over! Due to the down time of the Herald, we have extended the competition end dates, but they won't be up forever! Give them a look-see at Town Herald Contests@wiki. Feel free to post in the comments section about your own contests, and look for the results of our competitions in January.
• Also, our advice columns have changed hands! You can now Ask ButterflyFairy@wiki and talk to the Town Herald Mystic at the Mystic's Hut@wiki.

Who are the new crew members?

[Riverstar] -- Is quite the busy little bee. As a high school student, she faces the pressures of classes and yearbook (she's a senior editor!). She holds a part-time job at a community center and is always writing something, even if it's only homework. She is hyper and crazy, especially with coffee in hand (starbucks....grande white chocolate mocha)! She is our new Mystic and heads up her own advice column.

[Skydancer] Marion Z. Skydancer - Chaosian Artist, works in several mediums, Photography, PhotDigitial (C) Paintings, Color Pencil, Graphite, Pen & Ink, Mixed media, stained glass, sculpture, writer, composer, poet and cook. Born Oct. 19, 1948 in Wilmington, Ohio. Raised in the farmlands and rolling hills of southern Ohio. Very much connected with the natural forests, fields and mountains, could not possibly be happy in an urban world. Marion is a reviewer, mainly, and will also be offering "advice" from time to time.

[Calico Tiger] is a senior citizen living in New Mexico. She spends most of her time working on art, playing video games or reading. She has a strange sense of humor that ends up showing itself in her artwork quite often (dwarven ballerinas, for example). She drinks coffee at the Senior Center with [Lerune] and is an avid stalker of [skylie] clones. Cali will be doing some anime reviews and helping with the Halflings Shire, which is set to debut in the January Herald.

[ButterflyFairy] in interested in drawing, art, web design, graphic design, reading, writing and video games. She is currently working on her Bachelor's degree in Digital Communication/Web Development. At the moment, she works full time for an Insurance company and in her spare time, she will be handing out advice in her own advice column and assisting Isilando with the Herald layout and design.

[Ophelia's Eyes] Is 13, 5'8", has green eyes, long dark brown hair, loves to draw and has been since forever. Her mother went to art school and she is just now learning how to use photoshop. She will be organizing the Herald Poetry Corner.

[patter] Patter aka Emily Veinglory is a poet, freelance illustrator, author, pornographer and adventuress. Her day job is to help develop methods for quantifying the happiness of pigs. Life is strange. She is a New Zealander living in Scotland and would like to gratuitously publicise her webpage at veinglory.com. Patter will also be organizing the Herald Poetry Corner.

[Schob] 5'-10'' Brown hair brown eyes. Likes swords and knives. Practice swordsmanship and archery while dabbling in black smithing. Writes poems which he thinks are barely decent but people seem to like them. Dabbles in writing descriptions and maybe a lullaby or short story every now and then. Schob will be helping with the Poetry Corner and his deep love of verse will surely help to keep the mood upbeat in the Herald Office.

[Lost_Solja] is a teacher at the Elftown Academy@wiki, in the Italian Classroom@wiki. He is also a member of the Elftown crew and will be doing reviews and articles for the Herald.

It's back to work for all of us now, we hope you'll be looking for our hard work to come out in January, and, until then, we hope you'll feel free to browse through our contests page at Town Herald Contests@wiki, and chat with us in our open forum here: <joinforum:177:union>.

So, tenna' ento lye omanta (until we meet again) and Happiest of Holidays to you from the crew of The Town Herald@wiki

Lerune, Isi, Ducky, Rogue, Kae, skylie, le_m8, mordigen, bod, Delorin, ButterflyFairy, Calico Tiger, Skydancer, Ophelia's Eyes, patter, Schob, Desiderata, Riverstar, Faëry and Lost Solja.