Note from the publisher.

Things are heating up and the stakes are rising. In homes, schools, workplaces, and communities across the country, people are feeling the consequences of national policies and practices. The establishment of the Homeland Security Department has people looking around their shoulders; the proposed federal regulations to manage corporate misconduct makes us want to put our money under a mattress; the collaboration between the Immigration and Naturalization Services and local police departments has people trying nor to leave their houses. As we see in this issue, families are separated, educations ended, and people the world over must search for a place they can call their own. At the time this issue is going to press, the prospect of war has international allies scrambling to choose sides and social justice organizations scrambling to save themselves. Upcoming elections are likely only to aggravate the gap between what U.S. residents want and what our political leaders will fight for. No matter what our issue o r community, it will be affected by a war, whether it's immigration, education, or funding for domestic poverty programs. As tempting as it is to give in to panic, the way our will only reveal itself over the long haul. Better settle in.