So, what is a swale?

Although the name SWALE was birthed as an acronym (see sidebar), there is actually a thing called a swale, that upon review, is eerily appropriate for this group, as I see it. From Wikipedia here:

"A swale is a low tract of land, especially one that is moist or marshy.  The term can refer to a natural landscape feature or a human-created one. Artificial swales are often designed to manage water runoff , filter pollutants, and increase rainwater infiltration."

So, experimenting with the stretchiness of vocabulary, I offer an analogy:

• We are a human-created group that has come together naturally toward a common purpose
• We collect runoff (stories) and filter the pollutants (offer feedback), with a goal of increasing infiltration through purification
• We languish below the normal idea of success - we are a valley of unpublished ideas and undiscoveredness, slowly and humbly doing what we know to do, without notice or applause (who ever thanked a ditch for efficiently freeing the road of rainwater?)
• We are moist.  Hmm.  Okay.  Like I said, a stretch. 

So, we are SWALE.  And, swale.  Time to rain some story.

Oh, and Swale is also the name of a borough in Kent, England.  We don't have the right accents for that, though.