Here we are, dear reader, at the last issue of diode’s eighth year. Some of you have been with us since the first issue, some have joined along the way, for others, this may be your first encounter with diode. No matter how long you’ve journeyed with us, our gratitude remains the same. So many things could call you away, yet you are here, and we are grateful. At the close of 2015 we are looking to 2016, and we’re excited about what’s ahead. In 2007, editor Jeff Lodge created the diode website, and we’re now in the process of re-designing the site. Our intent is to preserve the clean and elegant look that Jeff created, while offering a greater variety of media and content, as well as an enhanced overall experience. We’ll also be adding Law Alsobrook, graphic designer and poet, to the masthead, and we’re looking forward to the energy and creativity that he’ll bring to diode.

Finally, whatever this season means to you, we wish you joy. As I was writing this preface, a phrase from the first line of Robin Chapman’s poem “Sky Writer” from the current issue kept swirling around my head. As a New Year’s wish Robin captures best what I want to say to you, “Choose a page wide as horizon. . . .” I echo this when I say, choose a page, a life, a dream, a hope—fill in the blank with whatever means something to you—and make that thing as wide as the horizon, then write it, love it, fight for it, and open your arms, your life, your mind wide enough to embrace the whole of it.