One writer turned us down politely. The point was driven home to me recently. At a campus party a couple of months ago, a colleague and I fell to talking about an article in the latest issue of Weber Studies , when I happened to mention to him our 10th anniversary special issue. I am the journal's third editor, but the journal went through substantive changes when I got on board. Prodded by my colleague's questioning, I found myself narrating, for the next 15 minutes, the life story of this little magazine's first decade.
Some publications begin in pomp and splendor, while others start out modestly.
It saw two editors in its first three yearsNikki Hansen, who edited the first issue, and LaVon Carroll, who steered the journal through its next two annual issues. He had doubts about our ability to sustain the publication twice a year, but he was willing that I try. I made other major changes as well. In this, its tenth year, Weber Studies has begun to recognize its literary artists with cash awards in rotation for the best poetry, fiction, and critical or personal essay published in its pages, thanks to a bounteous grant from the Junior E. and Blanche B. Rich Foundation . As the Tralfamadorian from outer space in Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughter-house Five might say, It takes all the five different sexes on Earth to make and nurture this baby.