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that asked students to select and analyze a document for areas of cultural conflict.One of the students chose to analyze a song by the rap star Eminem.The resulting essay not only has homophobic overtones but, more to the point, ambiguous belief spaces.As editors, we realize that the rap lyrics quoted by this student may be shocking and offensive to some readers.Nevertheless, after consulting with several members of our Editorial Board, we decided that it was essential to quote freely from the student's essay and to include both drafts of his paper in the Appendix.The authors make it clear that they do not condone this student's implied meaning, but they explain how the belief spaces concept provided a way to talk with the student about revising his paper without silencing the expression of views with which the instructor disagreed.In "Student Reflection and Critical Thinking: A Rhetorical Analysis of 88 Portfolio Cover Letters," Laurel Bower problematizes the issues raised by this relatively new genre of student writing.Surprisingly few of the cover letters she examined in her study showed evidence of genuine reflection about the student's writing process.She suggests that possible reasons for this may include the audience (usually the teacher), the length (in most cases, one page), and the point in time (the end of the semester, when students are busy with exams and projects for other courses).She concludes by recommending ways that teachers could actively encourage students to develop their metacognitive abilities through assignments that would lead to real reflection."Basic Writing and Second Language Writers: Toward an Inclusive Definition" by Paul Kei Matsuda is a historical account of the relationship between the fields of basic writing and English as a Second Language, often reflected in the pages of this journal.Matsuda suggests that because of demographic and institutional factors, the two fields frequently overlap, and non-native speakers of English are often enrolled in basic writing courses.This is particularly true for the growing number of so-called Generation 1.5 students, who were born in non-English-speaking countries but received at least part of their high school education in the United States.Matsuda argues for improved programs and teacher preparation so that basic writing instructors can better serve all the students enrolled in their courses, including the growing number of second-language writers."Integrating Reading and Writing: A Response to the Basic Writing 'Crisis"' by Sugie Goen and Helen Gillotte-Tropp illustrates how challenges sometimes become opportunities.Faced with an administrative mandate that students who did not complete remediation within one year would be "disenrolled," a team of faculty members at San Francisco State University developed a new fully integrated reading/ writing program in which students could complete remedial require-