I would like to begin by thanking Donal Higgins, Giovanni Abrate, Richard Binder, Len Provisor and all the other Pentracers who have given me such a warm welcome to our Pentrace “family.” For some time I have read the boards and lurked around the site, now I have the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the most vital pen community going. Thank you all.

For those of you who don’t know me, in “real life” I am a college teacher, a husband, parent, writer and political activist. Previously I served as editor of one of the leading pen magazines. As a collector I have gathered pens, mostly Parkers, since 1984. My current focus is Pelikans.

After a difficult summer marked by the passing of my mother, this fall has been bountiful. I have had the pleasure of two great pen shows, at San Francisco, which was a wonderful new start for that show after a hiatus of a couple of years, and the always wonderful Columbus show where hosts Sonya and Terry Mawhorter outdid themselves. You’ll find the Pentrace report on the Columbus Show elsewhere on the main page. Also, I have recently been privileged to add two significant Pelikans to my collection, a lizard 100 in the short captop export model and a first-year 1929 in the light jade green banded model. Both will remain as permanent cornerstones of my collection; and my third bounty is the chance to join all of you here.

As newly appointed Editorial Director of Pentrace, my mandate will be to help bring to the site fresh new material in a new format. Over the next few weeks I will be working with the Pentrace team to shape a new kind of publication that will represent the whole range of our diverse hobby--pens and pencils of all sorts and vintages, paper, ink, books and anything else that would interest the well-rounded collector. The new publication (we still need a name!!) will feature serious research articles of lasting significance, human interest stories, fiction, poetry, collector and penmaker profiles, pen adventures from around the globe, up-to-date news and views from everywhere and everyone. We plan to include anything and anyone that we think will be of interest and value to the community.

So join with me as we start a journey toward what will soon become the premier pen publication in the world. I look forward to hearing rom you on the message boards and in e-mail and I hope that many of you will see fit to share your pen perspectives with all of us.

Best Wishes,