i wonder if the red hand files were a form of ministry. well, i wouldn't. . . ms a little highfalutin. you know, i never saw it in that way. i think the red hand files for me was a way to learn how to articulate certain things that were going on me with the help of the people who wrote in. so it felt like something we were doing together and that that's been enormously helpful. and i think it's been helpful to other people, too. and that's. .. ..how to write about something. it's actually quite difficult, quite different than how to speak about something. and i think with sean's book that we wrote together, i learned how to through these conversations, how to speak about these matters as well. issue number 210. is such an endeavour a fool's errand for someone of my age? i had made some ceramic pieces when i was a teenager, and they were not bad. but there was nothing to suggest that i had any particular talent with clay. still, my mother liked them, so i thought it might be fun to make some more. get your act together. and if you do and warren, mardy, jim, and i