[Alex Pepple]

Dear Eratosphereans,

I am pleased to present our newest moderator, a popular Spherean, as quick and fluent with critiques as with a witty riposte laced with zen. Drum rolls for Stephen Collington! Stephen will be replacing Robert J. Clawson who’s been absent for some time and was eventually unable to continue moderating. He will co-moderate with John Beaton and Catherine Chandler who have been doing an outstanding job on the Deep End.

Most of you already know quite a bit about Stephen, but did you know …

When the Buddha was born, so the story goes, he immediately took seven great steps forward, then pointed one hand to the sky and the other to the ground and declared, "I alone am the World-Honoured One." A more modest sort, Stephen Collington limited himself, apparently, to pooping on the nurse. Still, for reasons he himself finds difficult to articulate, this act seems in retrospect an early sign that he might indeed have it in him to be a moderator for Eratosphere someday. Among his other qualifications are degrees in English and East Asian Studies from the University of Toronto, and in Comparative Literature and Culture from the University of Tokyo. He has translated a book-length dissertation on metrics, and written verse, formal and free, in three different languages. Over the years, he has worked as a golf-course groundskeeper, copy editor, translator, private tutor and university lecturer. He has written a novel, and one of these days (ahem) he is going to write another. He hails from Hamilton Ontario, Canada.

Let’s all give a big welcome to Stephen into Eratosphere staffdom!

Cheers,
…Alex