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Greetings and goodbyes from Sylvie and erin!

As March ends, so does our run as blog editors here at Hyphen. Though we've enjoyed being in the thick of Tiger Moms, Linsanity, the Occupy movement, and other cultural phenomena big and small, it's time we let fresh eyes navigate Hyphen through this ever-evolving online landscape.

We're looking forward to seeing how our longtime columnist and your new blog editor, Cynthia Brothers, grows this space. Aside from being your faithful Hyphenite's Social Calendar, Cynthia has been running her own blog at Bicoastal Bitchin' for some time. Lately, she and Mic Nguyen have also been managing Hyphen's social media (notice how good it's been?). Cynthia has great vision -- ranging from social justice to pop culture -- so stay tuned! We know we will.

Thanks, dear readers, for following this blog with us these last few years. A few more words from us each below, for now, and we'll see you around.
 

Sylvie

I started as a blogger with Hyphen back in February 2008 and as I hit the four year mark this year -- after bouncing around Hyphen's masthead as film editor and blog editor -- it feels like I'm ready to graduate.

Having a public, managed space for Asian American voices is significant in a way that I can't quite articulate without getting mawkish. So, I'll just say it's been a truly invaluable experience for me to work with a staff of dedicated and talented writers/editors who find time in their busy schedules as students, employees, and parents to contribute to Asian American and ethnic media. I also can't say enough about how much erin has helped shape the Hyphen blog, its writers, and a newbie editor like me. They've inspired me to return my focus to writing (and to become a better writer) and I'm very excited as a reader to see what they come up with next.

But I'm not disappearing entirely. I'm like that person who's already graduated but still shows up to your parties and you feel too awkward to ask me to leave. I'll be serving as a contributing editor, assisting in culling some great excerpts from the blog to include in Hyphen's print issues and chiming in as necessary on projects here and there.
 

erin

Last time I left a leadership post at Hyphen, we barely had a blog yet. There was no facebook, no twitter, and so altogether no means or need to make public announcements. But teary farewells there were, a party and parting gifts that I still display proudly in my UCSB office, souvenirs of my time as publisher.

Compared to how uprooting and final that departure felt, I'd call this more of an attenuation than an end. Makes me think of immigration before versus after affordable air travel, email, Skype.

So, while my 3 1/2 years as blog editor are coming to a close, this time you could say I'm not really going anywhere. I'll still be editing the Across the Desk series, for one. Still writing my own posts occasionally, for another. And I hope my team knows that they can always find me.

But I think the Hyphen blog has come as far as it will go ... under the direction of an academic who never meant to be a blog editor. In the last three years we have instituted systems, created order! I have worked with (and assembled -- pat self on back) a very fine group of skilled, thoughtful and generous writers. And I've been lucky in my fellow editors, especially the talented Sylvie.

If I stay any longer, though, I'll have to break down and get a twitter account. Maybe even give up my daily paper delivery of the L.A. Times. Best leave before it comes to that.

What else will inspire the love and devotion that Hyphen has, these now eight years and counting, we'll see. Any great causes out there needing their systems whipped into shape?