2006 Letter from the Editors

Delta Winds: A Magazine of Student Essays
A Publication of San Joaquin Delta College
2006

Letter from the Editors

As with previous volumes of Delta Winds, the themes and the developmental patterns of the essays in volume 19 vary widely, making Delta Winds useful as a textbook. In this year's publication, themes range from memorable fragrances to national security. The methods of developing the essays include narrative, analysis, and persuasion. Here is just a sampling of the various patterns and modes of writing in this volume: Rodrigo Villagomez uses a cause and effect method of development to explain the popularity of the game of poker in "Poker Nation." Nicholas C. Ridino compares and contrasts in his expository essay "The Hero and the Anti-Hero." Several essays, such as "The Dead," "Who Was that Guy?" and "Crossing the Gulf into Adulthood," rely on the narrative to connect with the reader on a personal level. In "Sylvia Plath," Sara McDougall uses close textual analysis in the manner of a literature major in an upper division course. The modes and patterns of the essays can be as interesting and informative as the ideas expressed. With this much to offer, Delta Winds has not surprisingly become a valued supplementary and primary reader in a number of classrooms at Delta College.