Many editors are frustrated authors. But employed in editorial pursuits, their literary talents can help them earn a steadier paycheck than the author’s life affords. And when saddled with a home mortgage and children’s dental bills, the bohemian writer’s drafty-garret existence is neither attractive nor practicable. Thus a magazine like CT finds itself well-provided with staff members who like, yea need, to write.
This issue marks assistant editor Tim Jones’s debut as a CT essayist. His article, “Reading Life Backwards” (p. 28), is his first full-length piece for this magazine. Tim, who joined CT just under a year ago, devoted his skills to writing the history of Indiana’s Manchester College for the 18 months before he joined our staff. Manchester College: A Century of Faith, Learning and Service will be off the press next month.
Tim’s interest in the spiritual significance of the past—both our personal histories and those of our families and faith communities—found its complement in the design team’s approach to the article. CTi held a company-wide contest among its 123 employees, asking for family pictures that embodied the spirit of the essay. And we who judged learned some items of interest about fellow workers.
Pictured in this issue are Tim’s wife, her grandparents, her mother and her sister, and associate news editor Randy Frame with his brother and Santa Claus (no blood relation).
We hope you enjoy these family photos as much as we did.
DAVID NEFF, Senior Associate Editor
