Today is officially one month away from Christmas. That means, among other things, that It’s time to start deciding what should be in the Annual Best of The Voice issue that we print to start each year.

Now is a great time to look back at some of the articles over the past 45 issues and see if any of them twig your memory as something that more students need to read. I’ve already got a selection of my favorites, but I’m curious to see what yours are. Was there a particular music review that made you seek out the album? Did one of our articles help you get a better mark on one of your courses, or look at things from a different perspective? Did you get a scholarship or award that The Voice let you know about? If so, then let me know at karl@voicemagazine.org, and not only do I want to hear which articles you think stand out, but I’m really interested in why they stood out to you.

And while I don’t want your decisions to be any more difficult than they have to be, I’m afraid this issue isn’t going to make it any easier, as we’ve got a lot of good stuff in here, starting with our feature article by Carla Knipe. She digs in behind the statistics of the Mom Economy and looks at what that term means when it comes to the real world. How are real women and moms coping with the additional demands, choices, and difficulties that having kids can bring with them? Carla interviews various women to try to bring us an answer and an idea of where we can go from here.

This also happens to mark the third year that writer Barbara Lehtiniemi has been with us. We commemorate it with her article looking at what brought her to The Voice Magazine and where It’s helped her to get to. If You’re curious about how to start making writing into your career, the first step is simply to write me and ask, I’m always happy to encourage new writers. And as Barb says, “You gotta start somewhere.”

Our third article this week brings to light an issue That’s been going on at the University of British Columbia by Deanna Roney. It starts with an accusation of misconduct, followed by an open letter from Canada’s writing community, and then the reaction that spawned. Deanna focusses on that reaction. On how a single event can ripple out to ever wider communities and what we can learn from it.

And of course we also have our regular columns, whether It’s using advertising techniques to increase your chances of being published, interviews with musicians, news and events specifically for AU students, or just advice, information, and articles to give you a bit of respite from the normal news cycle and something to think about while you wait for inspiration to strike for your next essay. It’s all here.

Enjoy the read!

P.S. If you didn’t already know, The Voice Magazine has a Facebook page and a twitter feed if You’re into that kind of thing!