Welcome to the first issue of Somniare. Somniare means "to dream" in Latin. One pronounces it Som-nee-ah-re (the "re" is as in "red"). I chose this word because it is indicative of what goes on here: dreaming. I chose somniare in the infinitive over other tenses for a reason. First of all, the infinitive has no person. In a way, this separates the art from the artist. It is not Somnio--I dream. These are just dreams, dreams on their own--even if they are my own. Second, the infinitive has no tense. These are not dreamed already, being dreamed, or yet to be dreamed. Somniare--to dream. It is a continual, ongoing process that is not bound by the confines of time. Dreams tend to be in such a state. As well, somniare is a verb. I did not take somnium, a noun. It seems that this thoughtletter of mine is not a static, concrete object nor is it a static, abstract object. It is more of an ongoing, perpetual thing that took on a life of its own.

Now the reader asks: "What goes on here? What goes on where?" Why, at Randomness, of course. One day, I realised that Randomness was no longer random. The key element that made it exciting for me was missing from it. These days, once a month we get Andy Dandy (woohoo!) and at another point we get Random Poetry. Almost every issue deals with theology, the Church, the Christian life, philosophy. Therefore, these thoughts of mine that once were random had ceased to be so. Therefore, I decided that I would either have to completely change Randomness or give it a new title. I have done both. The Napkin Principle was the first issue of the "new" random Randomness. And this is the very first issue of Somniare, which will be exactly what Randomness had become.

And is Randomness not just that? Has it not been the repository of my dreams? Has it not been the place where I took a dream, crafted it into art, then presented it to the world? Has Randomness itself not been a dream? Aye, it has been just those things. To have an actual readership of my ideas was but a dream two years and a few months ago (whether the readership likes what I have to say or not is debatable). But it became a reality--the fulfilment of a dream. And what are several of my dreams? I dream of being a writer of both fiction and non-fiction. Well, do I not do just that in Randomness? As well, I dream of being more godly, of more unity in the Church, of God Himself, of what it is to be a Christian, of the might of the Almighty. These dreams have often been themes in Randomness. I dream also about Canada, literature, history--all of which are intertwined throughout these writings. I have many more dreams, and many of them have made themselves known through Randomness.

So here you are, reading Somniare. Maybe you should take a chance and dream yourself. Dreaming can be a very potent act. Do not pass it up.

Somniare . . . to dream . . .