You may have noticed, but probably didn't unless you are a games aficionado, that writer Aaron R. Conklin has returned to our pages. It's been about four years since he contributed, but now he's back on a weekly basis, starting last week, to provide our coverage of the booming gaming world.
Conklin, married to former Isthmus government reporter Melanie Conklin, first started writing for Isthmus in about 1992, by his recollection. He did mostly arts writing, reviews and arts news stories, and back in the day he convinced then features editor Bob Whitby to let him write about the newly introduced PlayStation and other videogame platforms. He's been writing about the gaming world ever since, but not always for Isthmus.
He stopped writing for the paper in 2006. Since then we've had the good fortune to run Doug Elfman's syndicated weekly game critique. We've taken the opportunity to put a local boy back in control of the joystick, but we thank Elfman for his consistent and reliable contributions over the last four years.
Also returning to our pages in this issue, but after nowhere near as long an absence as Conklin, is Denise Thornton with another of her interesting science-oriented features. So far this year, the former daily newspaper veteran has informed us about global warming last January, the UW ant researcher Cameron Currie in April and the dairy entrepreneur Tera Johnson's plans to make hay out of whey in June.
Thornton completes her year in Isthmus this week with "Now I Lay Me Down To...," an eye-opening account of the activities of the UW Madison's Center for Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research. You won't get drowsy reading it. And if you want to read more of her writing about nature and science, check out her blog, digginginthedriftless.wordpress.com.
