Editor

I've made some incredible new friends lately, particularly some new writing buddies. I've been attending a poetry workshop, going to more readings, and just generally getting connected with the literary community in Pittsburgh. I'm proud to say my hometown has a vibrant cultural scene in general, and there are a lot of talented writers here.

I met Margaret when I attended a reading she co-produced with her group The Typewriter Girls. They do these cabaret-style readings that incorporate comedy sketches, music, performance art, dance - basically anything, as long as they mesh poetry into the performance. I was so impressed by their show and how well attended it was. Afterward a group of people all went out for Thai food and we all exchanged Facebook info and became fast friends. We attended readings, went out for more food and in particular, I asked Margaret to read some of my poetry. Eventually we began meeting to discuss writing and possible project collaboration ideas, and she invited me to her poetry workshop.

During one meeting, I expressed my desire to get into independent publishing. I had done my homework in regards to zine creation, buying some personal-style zines along with political and literary zines. Margaret was more familiar with the literary journal and had been published before and was rather connected to the scene. We immediately brainstormed some ideas for a project, I purchased literary zines and she purchased some journals. Just last week we narrowed in on our projects themes and goals. It was really happening.

I've always been a poet. Even in junior high, when I was writing incredibly selfish - just plain bad - poetry that no one would understand but me, I was still expressing myself through words. This was obviously pre-internet and while I would share my writing with friends but that was the extent of my writings distribution. In college, I took writing courses and workshops and that fed my hunger for a creative outlet After finishing college, I missed having chances to connect with other writers and since creative writing wasn't my major I wasn't trained in how to stay connected outside of the academic environment. I will write more about the "poet" label in the future. There is a lot of humor in calling oneself a poet so I look forward to exploring that.

Now I currently find myself in a new seat - editor. It was somewhat unexpected and I'm trying to get used to it. Just last week, Margaret and I launched our new writing project to the world. Weave Magazine is a print based art and literary publication that strives to bring together art and writing of many genres created by artists and writers of all walks of life. We want to break down any barriers people may feel are surrounding the literary world. There are many talented people out there, both published and unpublished, and Margaret and I really want to provide a space for them to share. We will simultaneously be supporting the humanities while also building community and making art more accessible to the general public. I'm so excited to be a part of this endeavor and it seems Margaret and I are well-matched in terms of what we each bring to the project. I've got a great flair for marketing and the technology aspect of things, creating and maintaining the website and other social networking aspects of things. Margaret is well connected to the community, so she has known who to align ourselves with and where to announce our call for submissions. Her previous publications have also given us a bit of credibility and we are both humbled and excited by the positive response we've gotten in less than one weeks time.

I would like to take a moment to invite any of my readers to check out the Weave Magazine website for our submission guidelines and be sure to check back for updates. We are aiming for an October 2008 release of our first issue and plan to have a great release party around that same time.

I am super excited about this project and I'll be sure to keep you all up-to-date on how things are going and how my editor hat fits.

Oh and be sure to join our group on Facebook!