Last night Zyzzyva editor Howard Junker threw a book at my head. I forgave him, since he was enthusiastically flinging free copies of his literary journal to people – and I fully endorse both free things and literary journals.
Junker was part of a panel discussion about literary journals, held at San Francisco State University last night. It was a Word Pirates field trip! (Joy also said things about it on the Internet.)
Other panelists included McSweeney's managing editor Eli Horowitz, novelist and Fiction Attic editor Michelle Richmond and poet and Shampoo editor Del Ray Cross. There were a bazillion other panelists, but these are the ones whose names I can remember without looking them up.
I was distracted for a long time by the fact that 40 percent of the men in the room were wearing the same kind of jaunty cap. I did not know that looking like a 19th century newsboy was all the rage in the Bay Area literary scene. But it is. I was distracted by hats for much longer than a grown-up should be.
Working for a newspaper, I have heard the "Oh-no-the-Internet-is-ruining-everything and paper-is-so-wonderful" spiel a lot. Luckily the hand-wringing about the sad state of words on paper and how stories are dying and how today's kids are blah blah blah was kept to a subtle minimum. It's not that there are no valid concerns. But I don't go to these kind of things to wallow in my own obsolescence. I am about the future!
The panelists all had a clear view of what they were doing, why they were doing it and how lucky they are to work so hard on something they love so much. And I really appreciated that and felt encouraged by it.
Junker was part of a panel discussion about literary journals, held at San Francisco State University last night. It was a Word Pirates field trip! (Joy also said things about it on the Internet.)
Other panelists included McSweeney's managing editor Eli Horowitz, novelist and Fiction Attic editor Michelle Richmond and poet and Shampoo editor Del Ray Cross. There were a bazillion other panelists, but these are the ones whose names I can remember without looking them up.
I was distracted for a long time by the fact that 40 percent of the men in the room were wearing the same kind of jaunty cap. I did not know that looking like a 19th century newsboy was all the rage in the Bay Area literary scene. But it is. I was distracted by hats for much longer than a grown-up should be.
Working for a newspaper, I have heard the "Oh-no-the-Internet-is-ruining-everything and paper-is-so-wonderful" spiel a lot. Luckily the hand-wringing about the sad state of words on paper and how stories are dying and how today's kids are blah blah blah was kept to a subtle minimum. It's not that there are no valid concerns. But I don't go to these kind of things to wallow in my own obsolescence. I am about the future!
The panelists all had a clear view of what they were doing, why they were doing it and how lucky they are to work so hard on something they love so much. And I really appreciated that and felt encouraged by it.
McSweeney's dude said how at this point he believes that if you are going to put something on paper and make people buy it, there should be some physical reason it's on paper. McSweeney's often has clever design elements that the Internet just couldn't convey. My personal favorite was the issue that was made to look like a bundle of mail and department store circulars. When I saw it in the book store, I was immediately charmed and almost bought it. Except it was $23. I am broke! (see also: issue with a full-color painting every fourth page)
Zyzzyva guy had an interesting metaphor about literature:
Zyzzyva guy had an interesting metaphor about literature:
... maybe "literature" will survive the way horses have, not so much for day-to-day transportation (consider the pollution we'd have if they had), but for recreation and racing and pastoral delight (and food). Since there are now more horses in this country than there were in 1900, us farrier/editors may have a future.... (from his blog)I thought of this today on my way to work because I saw a man walking a Shetland pony around on a leash. That was rad.
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Firstly, I have always been sort of awed by McSweeney's and their crazy approach to layout and design. If I were a Crayon, my color would be Jealous Bitch.
Second, I think those sort of caps are downright silly; having seen far too many of them in Irish pub's, adorning the heads of tattooed rockabilies, and warming the shiny solar panels of overly earnest beekeepers. I once journeyed to an actual hat store with a friend in search for something more stylish, but after thirty-five no go's, no way's, and a series of "are you mental's"?, I walked out wearing the same style of black knit watch cap I've been rocking since 1991. It's action, it's gritty, it's me.
There is no third thing.
I like when you write on your blog and comment on mine. I also like that I have a bit part in some of your entries, like this one!
The caps! I was there too--no less than 4 guys wearing the cap that must have a universal name to it, but I only described as "Depression-era newspaper-boy cap" to someone. 19th c. newsboy sounds about right too.
I don't think those were real San Franciscans. All the SFers I know wear Fidels.
Oh by the way, I'm back from France. Which I indicate of course by leaving a comment on your blog.