Springtime paloverde blossoms

Late in the spring semester, especially if the winter has seen a little rain, paloverde trees paint the Sonoran desert hills and arroyos chromium yellow, a honeybee-happy color that suits the richest bee habitat on the planet. The shrubby green-trunked paloverde brings a canopyful of blessings: shade, brilliant color, pollen, seeds.

The paloverde serves as a nursery plant for the characteristic landmark of the Sonoran desert, the saguaro cactus. Without the shade of the paloverde's branches and leaves, the giant saguaro would perish as a seedling.  Sheltered beneath the nurturing paloverde, the saguaro grows to maturity, eventually towering over the tree, far surpassing it in size, elegance, and majesty.

Like the desert paloverde, Arizona State University West nurtures students of many kinds, some of them maturing writers. Our literary magazine, PaloVerde, now in its eighth year and its first year on-line, seeks to showcase the work of our campus community. Students, faculty, and staff contribute to this award-winning publication. In time, at least one of these new writers will grow into prominence, as the saguaro grows to greatness on the desert. At ASU West, our greenhouse for writers has been the Department of American Studies, which offers a number of courses in non-fiction writing, sponsors an annual writing prize, provides an undergraduate certificate in writing, and supports the ASU West Express newspaper as well as PaloVerde.

This year, the Department of American Studies owes a special debt of gratitude to the university's Instructional Technology team and to Deanna Montis, a professional on-line publications developer who took time to help edit copy and to design the new web for PaloVerde. Deanna worked with IT Analyst John Gibson to create and mount the web pages that bring this Internet publication to you. We would like to thank our faculty board, Dennis Isbell, Linda Stryker, and Gene Burgess, for taking time to review submissions and help select the magazine's content. We also thank Ron Davidson, Margaret Gonzales-Jensen, and Tom Cutrer for serving as the American Studies Writing Prize Committee; no prize was awarded this year.

Our Year 2000 centerpiece is a memoir by Psychology Professor Tom McGovern, a wrenching story of his battle with Guillain-Barré syndrome. We particularly like the story for the insight it gives into the workings of the human spirit, and for the rich detail it provides for those who may also face this terrifying illness. If each issue of PaloVerde seems unwittingly to coalesce around certain themes, then this year's issue addresses life-changing moments in many of our writers' experience. Carolyn Engel-Wilson, for example, tells how a rattlesnake bite (miraculously dry) changed her view of herself, Maria "Romy" Castro describes her long search for success in the United States, John Robinson relates a mundane moment that cast light on the character of his romance, and Deanna Montis's short story shows how an innocent gesture can end one life and change another forever.

The saguaro casts millions of seeds during its decades-long lifetime, but only one may germinate and grow to maturity.

Special thanks to all who contributed to PaloVerde this year, and to the Department of American Studies and the Arizona State University West College of Arts and Sciences for their continued support.

—Victoria Hay
Editorial Director

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