In the beginning, there were skepchicks, and it was good.
Rebecca Watson

Last year this time, there was only an idea for a fun project - a calendar of skeptical women to be sold amongst our skeptical friends, to raise money to send a woman to the James Randi Education Foundation's Amaz!ng Meeting. We worked on it all year long, encouraging each other to somehow come up with 12 photos we each could be proud of. When we started selling them over the Internet, word spread, interest grew, and suddenly we had a whole lot of support from men and women who wanted to help us encourage more women to get involved in the critical thinking community.

We started a forum, and that filled up pretty quickly with smart and interesting people. The next logical step was to start publishing an online magazine for people who want to read compelling articles, essays, and interviews dealing with science and skepticism and how they relate to women. Skepchick isn't just for the ladies - we have both male and female contributors, and the subject matter is something that affects everyone in one way or another.

Enjoy this issue, in which we take a look at skeptical beginnings: growing up skeptical, raising little skeptics, and looking back to see how an innocent doll may or may not have affected us as children.

If you have something to contribute for a future issue, let us know here. If you just want to sound off, you can always reach me here (I might publish your letter, so don't send me dirty pictures . . . please send all dirty pictures to Lola).

Rebecca