Just got the summer 2011 edition and I am very very happy. Read it on my tube commute today. It has everything. The stories got the juice and the craft to boot.
I'm still thinking about Kristen Felicetti's story: Ms. TG C/O T.G.! A man approaching 40 who writes an advice column for young teenage girls in a teenage girl magazine (TG= Teenage Girl). He writes under the name Ms. TG. An attempt to bridge the gap between ages. Loneliness. Compassion. Empathy. Reaching out to others which is also reaching out to ourselves. Shit man. This story is for REAL! It's got the dance moves of a Miranda July flick.
SO MUCH IN THIS MAG!
Lots of humour too. In the haikus by Zachary Feldman and the drawings by Kerry Ryan, whim and also moving meditation on dinosaurs and girlfriends with fantastic drawings by Mike Rothenthal, women and trees and seeds by Clayton Eddy. And lots and lots and lots more.
One of my favs was the graphics and writing by Tim Vienckowski: "I Appreciate you, Bill Murray. Honestly liked everything in the whole mag. A MILLION TIMES BETTER THAN THE OFFICIAL LIT MAGS LIKE FENCE, _______ UNIVERSITY REVIEW, THE NEW YOKER, and other resume enhancing literary pubs.
yadda yadda yadda.
And I appreciate the lo-fi mimeograph revolution continuum here. I mean no matter how much we go electronic there's still something about something made to hold in the hands.
There is sadness here. And humour here too. In this magazine. It is the stuff of life. Life and art hand in hand cause that's the why they were always meant to be.
I almost cried when I read Kristen Felicetti's story: "Ms. TG C/O T.G.!"
I hardly ever almost cry. Esp. when reading a literary magazine. Sweet bejesus.
The work in this mag opened me up. Like my chest opened up. It reminded me why I write and make art in the first place. It reminded me I am alive. Not why. But that I am.
It's expansive rather than tunnel vision specialist art for the academics and theorists and so on. It's the stuff of life. It's breathing. I'm breathing. I'm still breathing. Can you believe it? Believe it!
Bushwick? Buchwick. I wish I lived in Bushwick!!! I hope in my next life they will move me to Bushwick.
order a copy here: http://bushwickreview.tumblr.com/
Labels: alt lit, Brooklyn, Kristen Felicetti, The bushwick review
