Publisher's Page by Deverick Martin Some of you noticed that, for the first time, I did not include an article in the February issue. I was feeling a bit uninspired, and at the same time looking at stack of intimidatingly inspired articles that couldn’t be printed because of space limitations. I was also following the advice many of you have given me to be as attentive to my own needs as I am to those of others. Having given myself that freedom once, I realize now that I may skip my column again from time to time. Once released from self-imposed pressure, it’s hard to go back! This is a wonderful time of year for me. The days are getting longer, and for me there's a great sense of renewal and a feeling of greater ease and energy. From the perspective of my roots in Alaska, the equinox heralds a shift of season and energy far more intense than anything I have experienced in Seattle’s moderate maritime climate, yet I still feel that dramatic sense of renewal at this time of year and hope I always will. Here at The New Times, too, it feels like there's a great sense of renewal and a new energy. My assistant, Shirley Eggerling, is making room in her life to expand to full-time the psychic counseling work that she deeply loves, and starting in February began phasing out her work at The New Times. I’d like to introduce and ask you to join me in welcoming Amanda Patrick, who is now in training as my assistant. Amanda combines excellent organizational skills and attention to detail with a heart-centered approach to the important relationships that make up The New Times. She is a beautiful soul that I trust you’ll come to know and love as many of you have Shirley. Use this time of transition to reconnect with Shirley and to get to know Amanda! One new initiative we’re working on is meeting the demand for the growth of The New Times through home-based, part-time workers. The idea is to provide a greater level of customer service by having people with greater access into more areas of the region we serve, while at the same time avoiding growth through a more formal, centralized organization and contributing to the region's crushing transportation problems. One of my goals in buying The New Times was — and now is more than ever — to help create, or at least be part of, a new paradigm for healthy businesses and healthy relationships on all levels. As this new program takes shape, I’ll be discussing it further. This month, the "Emerging Woman" column takes on a new name: "The Sacred Feminine." The writers for the column remain the same: Sophia, Starfeather, and Tess Sterlinge. "Emerging Woman" always felt to me not so much a column exclusively for women, but one bringing forth and honoring the often-ignored sacred feminine energies that are embodied in all elements of life. The change reflects the subtle shift in the focus already in motion in this popular column; as it continues to evolve, a new name reflecting its new essence seems most appropriate. It’s by no means only about — or for — women only; although conceived to fill that need, it’s come to be about feminine energy (sensitivity, vulnerability, intuition, cooperation, sharing from the heart, and so on), not the female gender. The year 2000 ushers in the most feminine vibration in modern history. We are already just beginning to see the signs: women are moving in great force to become leaders and masters of their own lives; men are using historically feminine words, like compassion and spirituality, and are attempting to get in touch with their more tender emotions. Perhaps this gentle vibration has also influenced and encouraged such remarkable phenomena as the worldwide movement for disarmament and the men’s movement that has swept the United States. When we talked to the columnists to get their feedback and suggestions on a name change, we found strong support; Starfeather said that she "felt emerged." Just last month, under what turned out to be the final appearance of the "Emerging Woman" banner, Tess spoke for me, and, I hope, many (if not most) of you, men and women alike. She said: "Our goal is to learn to carry the masculine and feminine energies in grace and balance. We are taking the aspects of the masculine that we have mastered and applying them to our lives in a new way." In a nutshell, she said (and I agree), the bridge so gapped is the one between competition and cooperation. As if to further affirm the decisions we'd made about the men's and women's columns, in that same issue, both Bill Marshall and Karl Svendsen wrote about welcoming the feminine aspect of spirituality into their lives and the positive changes brought them as a result. Because we no longer have a column devoted to men (or the sacred masculine), I especially encourage the submission of articles by both men and women about contemporary men’s issues, and specifically spirituality as it embodies the masculine energy also present in all of life. Our single letter to the editor this month raises many of the concerns that I considered before dropping the "Transitional Man" column (I wrote about these in my January article). With or without columns focusing on gender-specific issues, I trust that the values of fairness and balance that hold an important place in my decision making will allow the pages of The New Times to explore the many facets of the masculine and feminine energies in our lives. What I hope for most in these pages is that they will continue to foster awareness, learning, growth, understanding, harmony and — most importantly — respect for one another.