From the editor.

Harris, Muriel

While preparing this issue of the Writing Lab Newsletter, I noted that two articles focus on reflecting on tutoring. We talk a lot about reflection, in the sense of thinking deeply and carefully about something, but may not be as aware of another meaning of "reflection"--that of throwing back or returning without absorbing, e.g., as a mirror reflects light. So reflection involves both inward absorption and outward returning back. Both directions are evident in the article by Manna Bitzel and two of the tutors in her writing center, Candice Bailey and Bo Jacks. They introduce us to process recording, that is, writing records which reflect on one's own tutoring but also reflect back so that other tutors can talk, share, and discuss. Similarly, Bonnie Devet invites tutors who have graduated to return and reflect on their writing center experiences, reflections that, in turn, inform current tutors working there. Reflection in both articles is a two-way process.

In addition, R. Mark Hall and Russell Carpenter offer reviews of Jackie Grutsch McKinney's book on the grand narratives of writing centers, Peripheral Visions for Writing Centers. Reviewing, a major service to the profession, requires both a close reading of a book and also the ability to draw on one's own scholarly knowledge to set the book in context for others who read the review. In his review, R. Mark Hall, discussing Grutsch McKinney's book, notes that writing centers now offer more than "seventy commonplace non-tutoring activities"(7). One of those activities, offering dissertation boot camps, is the subject of Elizabeth Powers' Tutor's Column essay as she reports on a model for others to consider. Much to reflect on in this issue.

Muriel Harris, editor