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ZAUM Sonoma State University's Literary Magazine | |
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Return to current zaum Blog post May 11, 2010 Isn't it funny how the end of the year just creeps up on us all? The end of any thing, really. Semesters, marriages, coffee cream expiration dates. zaum has been my constant this past year, and there is something sad about not being involved again. On the plus side, maybe I'll still get in on a little zaum drama, I do love me some drama! Especially since I'm rarely ever at the center of it. But being involved in something that is so under-appreciated and yet so aesthetically pleasing with a certain underground attitude is like being in a sweet club that everybody wants to be a part of. Except that the zaum class never fills to capacity. Never. It's the class that kids want to play hard to get with, you know? That's why we're so underground… not really. There really is something amazing about seeing one's name in print on some tangible surface that one can then slightly tweak so as to be seen as casually tossed on one's coffee table. My name comes up twice- once in zaum under the editorial staff section, and then also in Volt where I was an "intern." I loved being an "intern." I didn't even know I was doing it! And you can bet I sent a copy of zaum to my mama. It's like seeing your face on the cover of the Rolling Stone ("I'm gonna send five copies to my mother!"), no? No Dr. Hook? Okay. Fair enough. Just imagine if I had actually submitted a piece to zaum. Then I'd be really jazzed! But zaum is a big deal. Not to the majority of our peers who don't even know there is a literary magazine produced on campus. Or even what a literary magazine is. And print media is such a big beautiful beast, I certainly don't want to believe its on it's last legs. When the editor for a major lit. publication (ahem, ZYZZYVA) advocates publishing one's work in online format i.e. a blog, then you know we're all doomed. DOOMED! Blogging leads to equality in publishing. Equality in publishing? Bah! The fun in publishing is the pretension of knowing that someone qualified likes your piece better than the other smut that's been submitted. But who the hell is qualified anyway? Definitely not this kid. The way I'd pick out pieces would be to say something like "Well, this piece talks about Emeryville. And Emeryville has a train station. I like trains." Bam! Magazine complete. I think every person on the planet should be glad that I don't have that kind of editorial control. I just want in my heart of hearts for zaum to persevere. In fact, I wish to enact some kind of preservation act on the art of paper-and-ink publishing. But preservation makes me think of taxidermy which would involve shooting zaum full of preservatives and yellow number 2, and adding it to your antique mantle shelf. Right next to the petrified wood and childhood pottery attempts. What zaum needs is a healthy dose of conservation: we'll save what we can, and keep introducing new elements in order to adapt and (hopefully) survive in this mad non-literary world. Now all good things expire, like my parents' marriage and the coffee cream in my fridge. But not zaum. Or print publishing in general. I'm just going to be that obnoxiously optimistic girl, and claim that print media still has a lot of horrible decisions to make, and therefore can't quite call it quits yet. As for this blog, well I think you poor things have read enough. - Simone Yingst Questions for the author? Want to comment on the blog? Email us at nicolais@sonoma.edu and we'll post your questions and comments. | |
