My name is Wesley Snow and I have been a member of NeoPoet for two years during which it has been my privilege to twice serve on the Administrative Council. I am a workshop leader currently directing Storytelling in Verse and (most important of all from my perspective)…

    I am a mentor.

    Recently it has been my honor to accept the position of Director for the Mentor Program here at NeoPoet. Please do not think me facetious. Honored is how I feel and I believe the term is in all respects appropriate, for I have interacted with poets of such remarkable talent and character as to give one pause. To be asked to participate in this manner demonstrates a level of faith in me I don’t entirely deserve and before proceeding I would have my intentions known.

    This opportunity occurs at a time in my life when I am prepared to contribute with an enthusiasm unattainable for me as little as six months ago.

    I have many goals in mind for the Mentor Program, but my first is to do no harm. To use another platitude, I have no intention to repair something that is not broken. Despite my eagerness to create a higher profile for the program (at the least to better inform our new members of its existence), I will take no action that interferes with established mentor/protégé relationships.

    That said, I desire the Mentor Program to assume a more pervasive role in the daily activities at NeoPoet and toward that end, I would ask your help. Though I will be more specific in the coming weeks, for now I have more generalized requests to make of the body.

    First, who shall be the mentors? I have a growing list of individuals whose doorstep I will soon be at, hat in hand, asking for participation, but please don’t wait for me. If you know of someone suitable or if that “suitable someone” is you, bring the poet to my attention. If you are already a mentor, please drop me a note to reaffirm your desire to remain in the program.

    If you are a potential protégé, don’t let my lack of understanding in the present system stop you. For now my pool of information is low, but the water will rise.

    Ask and the mentor will be found.

    Lastly, I ask for advice. If you have a suggestion as to how the program may be streamlined to make it more efficient, if you’ve a thought as to how I might “get word out” that there is a new sheriff and he’s hell bent for leather to make the Mentor Program more relevant than ever, please don’t be shy. The smallest suggestion repeated endlessly in my ear is germane to my goals.

    I want to thank Andrew and Paul for trusting me in this endeavor and most of all I thank Jess for his endless confidence in my ability to find my way in the darkest of nights.

    It is here that I should close with a pithy motto for my new tenure, but since I only have the following… perhaps one of those could be suggested as well.

    “All of us have something to offer to all of us.”