Assignment 8

I was struggling to find the right magazine or journal to do this assignment on. For all of the magazines that I “found” were based around minimal fiction. After talking to Professor Hummer, I discovered that this was for the beneficiary of finding a place where to which young writers could turn. After constant search in the library and other areas of the S.L.U. community, I finally ended on good ol’ Google and found the online journal “The Blackbird,” Spring 2008, Vol. 7 No. 1. Which can be found at http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/v7n1/index.htm. The Blackbird always starts off with a foreword to discuss the issues content. All issues hold fiction, non-fiction, essays and poetry. There are several authors that work to make this production possible.

There are several good structural aspects about the site. It is very easy to navigate. I enjoy the simple dynamic. I think that when things get to frilly they start to lose the depth of the actual piece of writing. The argument of the journal is that they are basing their journal on the content of the piece. The journal trys and promote this feeling, in their message they state that by having less frilly-ness one can enjoy the content of the piece and just focus on the writing.

After reading through the journal , the piece that I liked the most was in the fiction section which did not entirely surprise me, because I am usually geared more towards the fiction aspect. The piece that I liked was unconventional in its content. Liam Callanan wrote “When the Lights Go Down.” The story deals with a sixty year old woman who has finally had a life-wakeup call and starts dating one of her previous students who is thirty years younger than her. Now like most stories, this is naturally scandalous. However, the kicker is that at the end the man and woman do not separate but they stay together, despite all of the social stigmas. I think what I like about this story is the depth to the difference. A normal situation would go the route of this just being a onetime fling, but this time is something that is real to them. I think that this difference is what attracted me to the story. Another aspect that attracted me was the simplistic nature of the story but still insightful writing of the story. I would read this author again, and I really enjoyed the piece.

The section that I was not too fond of reading was the non-fiction book review section. I had nothing against the style of the authors, but it is very difficult to read a book review when you have not read a book. Now, if having the read books that were discussed, and I came across these articles, then I would be more apt to enjoy these pieces. But for the purposes of reading everything, this is the one section that was difficult and not useful for me. However for the stamina of the journal, I think that it is really good that these parts are included in order to reference to good books and for their name.

I think I would love to look at the next issue of this journal. These types of simplistic, but still necessary, journals give me hope that there is more chance of me getting published later in life. Right now I just write for pleasure, but if the day arrives that I want to look for a journal to try and publish my works in I know it is possible. The Blackbird has shown me more options as long as the possibilities of other small but necessary journals. All of these smaller and simplistic journals give hope to writers searching for publication.