Editors' Introduction: Proceedings of the 2012 College English Association Conference

You hold in your hands the first issue of The CEA Critic as it will be henceforth be published by The Johns Hopkins University Press. On the most obvious physical level, the matte cover feels different from that of previous issues, but you should make no mistake: The CEA Critic will continue in its long-standing tradition of rigorous engagement in subjects across the Humanities. Before we continue with what is new and what is not, though, allow us to pause and applaud the capable editorship of Dan Robinson, who, from his helm at Widener University, has served as the journal's General Editor over the past decade. During that time, Dan has shepherded the journal as both it and the CEA itself have grown and changed. We, the new editors, greatly appreciate Dan's dedication and hope to build on the firm foundation he has set.

Our Prospect

Although the CEA was founded in 1938, the papers delivered at the organization's annual conference have never been the focus of The CEA Critic. However, as the conference expands and the number of presentations multiplies, it becomes impossible for even those in attendance to take in the full range of panels and papers. Those who are not in attendance, meanwhile, not only miss this happy frustration but also the general esprit de corps of the event. In response to both problems, we offer to you this issue, which aspires to capture the varied nature of the conference. Not only is this issue the first of its kind in the journal's history, but it is also the first step in moving the journal to its future three-times-a-year publication cycle. Beginning with this issue, The CEA Critic will annually publish (1) a conference proceedings issue, (2) a special topics issue, and (3) a general topics issue. Our situation, in a sense, is "'twixt and 'tween" as the journal now finds its home at the University of Northern Colorado under the auspices of a new set of editors and a new editorial board (a formal introduction of this group will appear in our inaugural special topics issue, fittingly on "The West"). With this issue, then, we are setting our sails.

In producing this issue, we have learned some valuable lessons that should well serve us for our 2013 Proceedings. We will, notably, have in place a more efficient procedure for identifying potential contributors and clearer guidelines for submitting papers by the time the CEA members convene in Savannah. As a result, the 2013 Proceedings will follow more closely the format of actual conference presentations. We anticipate, moreover, that these improvements will allow us to work in concert with our sister publication, The CEA Forum, so that we can share even more of the conference with our readers. The Forum, as an electronic journal, has capacities that are quite different from The CEA Critic, especially in reproducing multimedia and multimodal presentations. The potential complementation— even collaboration—between the two publication sites is exciting indeed.

This Issue

To prepare the contents of these proceedings, we asked those whose papers were selected "Best in Section" to submit their work for consideration. We also decided to publish a sampling of papers that received special honors from the CEA Board. Because some authors had already begun revising their conference presentations into full-length articles, we invited these longer discussions. In a sense, the variable length, tone, and methodologies of the papers collected here reflect not only the organization's annual conference but also the subsequent year—that is, not just what happened in Richmond but what has happened since. For this issue at least, perhaps that variance is as it should be. The late Dr. John Shawcross, a long-time and much beloved member of the CEA, would advise his students (many of whom have gone on to shape the organization) that the CEA Conference was a congenial place to "test" one's ideas before moving them to written publication. What happens when a paper is presented at a conference, according to Dr. Shawcross, is thus a foreshadowing...