A Letter from the Editor:

Dear Reader,

Welcome to Volume 2 of the Mythological Studies Journal, featuring writing by students enrolled in the Mythological Studies MA/PhD program at Pacifica Graduate Institute. As we launch this issue into cyberspace, I think of the wide variety of readers who will find their way to this site, this single point in the vibrating World Wide Web, on a certain day at a certain time, perhaps to read an article out of curiosity, for a research project, or simply for enjoyment. I hope that the reader engages in a dialogue-an inner conversation or perhaps even an email dialogue with the author- with the ideas expressed herein.

 The seven articles in Vol. 2 represent diverse approaches to cultural studies, film studies, literary criticism, psychology, and even music theory. The articles share in common an attempt to plumb the depths of human experience through a variety of subjects-by descending to a figurative cinematic underworld or a fairy tale's dark wood, by spiraling with Captain Ahab to his watery end, by contemplating death through the metaphor of alchemical processes, by dancing with the masculine and feminine within, and by analyzing and reveling in Apollonian and Dionysian musical styles. Each article has undergone multiple revisions during the peer review process.

 Many thanks are due to the foundational work of last year's inaugural Board:  Cerena Ceaser, Joe Muszynksi, and Leslie Stoupas. I am deeply grateful for and impressed by the skills and insight of this year's Board and our faculty advisor Dr. Dennis Patrick Slattery. I have enjoyed the spirit of collaboration and camaraderie. I am equally appreciative of our dedicated Peer Review board and all authors who submitted articles to the Journal this year. Without this shared energy, this volume could not have emerged.

Sincerely,

Laura Strudwick

Editor-in-Chief, Vol. 2

Summer 2011