EDITOR’S NOTE
Greetings from the fire-scarred state of New Mexico. Issue #3 is making a late entrance because I finally decided to assume the duties of page design and layout. I also want to point out the obvious: I raised the price of the magazine by a buck, the S/H charge by an extra 50 cents. I did not do it for the money. I never expect to break even. I don’t have an MBA or a marketing degree. For the time and the place I’m at right now, it is a financial hardship, and I hope you understand
The online printing service I will be using automatically makes the magazine available through Amazon. No more boxes of magazines lying around collecting cobwebs, waiting for someone to order a copy. (The magazine will still be available through Alamosa Books in Albuquerque, and Beyond Baroque in Los Angeles.) I will be putting in more hours, and the stress is going to go up several notches, but that’s my cross to bear.
And I don’t mind when I can present poetry by friends like Virgil Suarez, who also provided the artwork for the cover. He has an album of his work on Facebook, and I was pleasantly surprised and impressed. I recommend checking it out. Mitsuye Yamada (author of the seminal poetry collection about her family’s forced relocation during WWII, Camp Notes) offered some poems right after the natural and technological disasters that took place recently in Japan, and which will have global repercussions for decades to come. Al Masarik has returned with more poetry about his struggle with Alzheimer’s. And I have the honor of presenting a new poem by mentor and friend, Edward Field.
All this and much more, for you, my friends.
Salud,
Richard Vargas
