From the Editor

Hello. I'm the new editor in town. And before all else, I'd like to celebrate my predecessor, editorial director Pam Daniel, for making the magazine so compelling to read and so luscious to look at. She pretty much put this issue together (more about it later), and it's a wonderful note to leave on.

My magazine background? It includes many subjects in many locales. I've had editor-in-chief jobs at TV Guide, New Choices (for the Reader's Digest company), Cadillac Vision and Today's Health (for the American Medical Association). I've also toiled for magazines as various as Ladies' Home Journal, Sport and Parade.

So why this magazine and this town now? What better way to celebrate the good life! It's like the pathway to paradise to go from Philadelphia, Chicago and New York . and land in Southwest Florida. There's an ease to the lifestyle here-splendid weather, great dining, picturesque surroundings, a lively arts community . and outdoor tennis all year round. It's a great beat to cover as an editor and a great place to live a little.

Our March issue captures a lot of this spirit. We bring you "Our Most Beautiful People" (p. 121), and just sample the variety-from 100-year-old looker Leila Canant to 23-year-old Natasha St. Cyr. Canant came to Naples by bus in 1928, when the roads were still oyster shells. She became the principal of Naples High, a founding member of the Naples Woman's Club and has been a force in the community during her 78 years here. Says her friend Anne Langley, "has always been a role model on how to live and laugh." Beautiful.

Our editors scoured the Gulfshore for the well-known beauties, but we also found quite a few treasures in our midst. Just look at Natasha St. Cyr, 23, who has quietly worked at the cosmetics counter at Saks Fifth Avenue for years. In late 2005, real estate editor Nanci Theoret, struck by Natasha's stunning looks, nominated her to be part of our story. And, from there, Natasha's building a story of her own. She has signed with multiple New York modeling agencies and will be modeling swimsuits for future issues of Vibe magazine. You'll be seeing this emerging Neapolitan beauty in national fashion magazines too. We feel we got her started professionally, and we'll be celebrating her personally when she gets married in June at the Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club.

Let us luxuriate in another kind of beauty as well-the glorious beaches, waters, land and wildlife that distinguish our treasured corner of Florida. They're so essential to our joy in being here, and we guard their purity zealously. It is with great pleasure that we report (in "You Can Stop Overdevelopment," p. 114) Sanibel Island's dedicated, relentless and (so far) successful battle to keep overdevelopment from despoiling its beauty. And it is with increasing concern that we write in "Off Our Shores?" (p. 102) about the oil drilling that threatens to pollute our coastal waters.

Finally, on the back page, we hope to leave you chuckling over Bob Morris' discoveries about "The Rise and Fall of Bare Feet." Laughter is beautiful too.

So I hope you enjoy this issue and all those that follow. And feel free to let me know what you're thinking and feeling about them.-David Sendler