From the Editor

We want to point out that this issue of JAF is actually a combination of issues 457 and 458. This seemed to be the most prudent way to finish out JAF for 2002 with the last issue to be produced and distributed by the American Anthropological Association in Washington, D.C. This ends a long and productive association between the AAA and JAF. We want to thank all the editors, copy editors, and other personnel at AAA who have worked hard with us to produce attractive and accurate issues of the journal for the past several years. The next issue of JAF will be published and distributed by the University of Illinois Press. Perhaps the depth and breadth of essays in this double issue point toward new directions for JAF. We are pleased to publish articles on Native American riddling, Mayan courtship rituals, lumberjack/lumberjill sporting traditions in the Northeast United States, approaches to belief studies, African American folkore in film, Egyptian tales, and legends in New Mexico. Such a profoundly eclectic representation of scholarship in the field of folklore should inspire us all and profess to the world what it is we do as folklorists. Please feel free to correspond with the editorial staff of JAF at the University of Missouri field office. We appreciate your comments, criticism, and interactions as we try to produce the best possible journal for the American Folklore Society-even as we endeavor to employ new techniques and technologies that will better serve the members of the society. Most importantly, we want your articles. The journal can only be as good, as innovative, as creative, as scholarly, as appropriate to all aspects of the discipline as the articles that are submitted to us. We are an energetic staff interested in a wide range of topics and approaches to the varieties of ways in which we interact with folklore and the areas of inquiry that intersect with our discipline. Please keep us in mind for your very best work.