Exciting Things in the Mail, IV

I always wait too long to do a post like this. Too many exciting things have come.


Art of Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz

This came yesterday, and we opened it today. I ordered it after listening to an interview with him on the Radio Times show via WHYY. He spoke that night at the Free Library of Philadelphia, but I had a previous engagement (Partyknife and others book release party at L'etage!) Geoff and I (and by "Geoff and I" I mean "Geoff") brew our own kombucha via a kit I got him for Christmas. Really, you don't need a kit. All you need is a decent sized jar, rubber band, and a piece of a cloth. Oh, and a SCOBY/mother. We had some trouble at first because our house wasn't warm enough for it in the winter, but we've been drinking kombucha regularly now. As soon as we opened the book, I read the section on kombucha, and I'm excited to try some of the tips/ideas that Katz has. I also would like to ferment some of the many other things he discusses in the book. It's more like a reference book than something someone would read cover to cover, but from what I've read so far, I could see myself reading a good chunk of it. There are a lot of references/end notes to refer to, and he covers all sides of the benefits of what he's writing about-- the good, the bad, and the okay. Finally, to everyone out there like me who wants to eat more healthily and cannot afford it, a book like this is worth the investment (not to mention if you buy it directly from the publisher, it's on sale.) Any store that sells all natural/healthy foods marks up its prices. We save so much money already not buying pre-bottled kombucha and making our own. I hope that this book imparts knowledge on us that will help us continue to eat how we want to eat in a more affordable manner.



Whole Beast Rag and ephemera

I have a poem in the new journal Whole Beast Rag. When I submitted my work to them for their HUNGER issue, I knew I was submitting to an online magazine. I like having my work online. It's easy to post and easier to get people to see than a print mag. However, I do love print mags more than online mags. There is SOMETHING about getting your hands on a journal that online doesn't do it for me. Additionally, my attention span online is nearly non-existant. I am constantly popping from one tab to the next. This is not to say I don't read things online, just that I admit I have a lot more trouble doing so. I will leave and come back to a single piece in an online journal much more than a print journal, which I am more likely to read ALL of rather than just clicking around. Now that I've admitted this, I am pleased to say that the editors of this magazine ran a "select" print version that was available at their release party and sent to any contributor who wanted one. I believe they are still selling them online as well. Though the way it's printed makes it slightly more difficult to read than I had anticipated, I am glad that I have this journal  in my life. Adam Moorad, a Gigantic Sequins 2.1 contributor also has a story in this journal. Additionally, the journal came with a beautiful letter thanking me for contributing and a mixed CD! I am such a fan of mix CDs!



Everyday Genius June 2012

Please see my harangue above about print v. online journals. Okay, now, Adam Robinson feels differently about this and lets us know in his Editor's Note of this first ever, limited edition, print-only-for-now version of Everyday Genius, for June 2012. I'm not saying I disagree with most of what he's said, just that I *like* print magazines better for my own set of reasons. I am reading along and reading ahead. Everyday Genius has the same "birth month" as Gigantic Sequins-- April 2009, and I am impressed at how much its been able to accomplish in that time. I feel an affinity for what they are doing because they attract some of the best writing out there to their site and additionally have managed to put together a gorgeous print edition. And I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover but, damn, will you check out that awesomeness?



Word Up (envelope)

Word Up, which is celebrating its ONE YEAR anniversary, despite starting off as being a pop-up bookstore in the Washington Heights neighborhood in NYC, sent us money for the copies of Gigantic Sequins they sold and they decorated our envelope quite beautifully. I appreciated it.



mojo/Mikrokosmos 58

Mojo is another online journal-turned print! They published one of the two poems, "Near sonnet for an extreme solitude", which I had in their online edition in their very first print edition. I dig the square format and unique design.



Exciting Mail that I sent...

And finally, did you know that to send a square envelope, you need extra postage? Well, you do. I looked up how much extra postage and it just so happened I had a number of old and new stamps sitting around to send off this square envelope in a unique fashion! What you see is one FOREVER stamp from the poets collection that debuted this past April (e.e. cummings) and is worth 45 cents (get yours here). It's 20 extra cents to send the square envelope, so also on this envelope were two Tiffany lamp 1 cent stamps, an old 3 cent stamp depicting Francis Scott Key, and finally an old Robert E. Kennedy stamp worth 15 cents. The card I sent arrived at my BFFs house safe and sound the next day. 

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