by Megan McMillan

You know that feeling -- everyone's had it -- when you start doing something again that you haven't done in a while? Maybe you pick up your guitar after a long absence and find out you remember a lot more chords than you thought you would. Maybe you start up an old exercise regime; you renew your YMCA membership and take to working out on what used to be your Stairmaster. Maybe you start dating someone again after a long period of separation, and you remember what makes her laugh, that he always orders Pad Thai even at the best restaurants, the way she picks stray hairs off your shirt when she's preoccupied. The time that lapsed melts away and it feels like coming home again, but with a fresh start, a chance to make it better this time.

This is how it feels at the DiverseArts office where we've been working on this issue of Austin Downtown Arts Magazine. The time since our last issue doesn't really matter, because we're back with a fresh start and a desire to make things better than they've ever been. There are the same familiar columns: "Verities," "Notes From the Woodshed," and "Up All Night." We have the same look, the same ideals, the same distribution locations. We still introduce you to the arts and culture scene in Austin that you always suspected lived beneath the surface of the clinical arts listings you'll find in other print media.

Essentially, we're the same monthly arts and culture magazine you know and love. But we've also initiated a few changes. We've got Piper Anderson, a true neo-Renaissance woman, writing "Earth Lessons," a column about everything-under-the-sun. We're introducing articles on topics so deep in the subculture that you'd be hard-pressed to explain them to your great-aunt Ethel. We also have another new section called "Diversions," which will keep you informed about all the cool arts happenings going on. And we've got some new folks working with us -- including me, Megan McMillan, and no, I'm not related to Harold. The name thing is just a fluke.

We also want to include you, our readers, in our new beginning. In our next issue, we're hoping that you will help us create another new section: "Letters to the Editor." We want to know what you think about this magazine and about the arts scene here in Austin.

We also want to include you, our readers, in our new beginning. In our next issue, we're hoping that you will help us create another new section: "Letters to the Editor." We want to know what you think about this magazine and about the arts scene here in Austin.

Do you think that the art gallery owners in Austin should coordinate show openings like galleries in other major cities do? Do you think that UT has a strangle-hold on culture here in town? Do you think that the arts scene in Austin is too conventional? Too experimental? Too full of praise for Stevie Ray Vaughn and Charles Umlauf?

Let us know what's on your mind by emailing mag@diversearts.org with "Letters to the Editor" in the subject line, or you can mail us at: Letters to the Editor, DiverseArts Production Group, 1705 Guadalupe, Suite 234, Austin, Texas, 78701. We'll print the best of the bunch in next month's issue.

We're back. Welcome home. Again.