Evolution Through Mediation

There's a quote I like by John Barton, a Canadian poet: "A literary journal is intended to connect writer with reader; the role of the editor is to mediate." Our goal at Stoneboat has always been to help distribute art, whether written or graphic, to a broader audience, with the intention of subjectively publishing the "best" work using relatively objective parameters. I think we've been steadily improving as editors with each issue we publish, and I look forward to continuing that in the future.

Stoneboat is evolving almost organically, as if it lives and breathes in spite of us. While it seems that we the editors come up with what we feel are extraordinary ideas, it is the journal itself that seems to plant those seeds, those ideas--seeds and ideas that it absorbs from the artists within its pages and the readers who digest those pages. We are simply mediators of that process.

Mediation, however, is a helluva lot of work. And the team I work with is outstanding at keeping the living, breathing entity of Stoneboat alive. We nurture it. Try to give it what it wants, what it needs. What it seems to want and need right now is to grow. And grow it will. With the upcoming issue, a monster compared to previous issues, we will be including a special section dedicated to graphic literature including fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. We've procured rights to some beautiful Lichtenstein artwork that will be gracing our cover. And we will be featuring 44 artists.

This growth necessitates increased responsibilities for the editorial team. Each of the team has specific skills that have been realized over the past several years. I'm an ideas guy, but the journal wouldn't physically exist without Signe Jorgenson, Lisa Vihos, and Jim Giese--individuals who have remained, in title only, associate editors for much too long.

Signe has joined me as co-editor-in-chief. We've been working with one another quite closely over the past few months, discussing what we've done right as a journal as well as what we've done wrong. Discussions of potential for the journal have also been constant. We have some exciting projects planned that will be coming up pretty quickly.

Lisa will now be taking on the roles of poetry and art editor. She has always been the go to person for poetry. The title just makes it a little more official. She brings years of experience as a poet to the journal, and her ability to find beautiful little gems for the journal is almost mystifying. The offspring of two fantastic visual artists, Lisa is like a Greek goddess when it comes to spying beautiful art, with credentials to boot. She's a Vassar Girl with a degree in art history. In addition, Lisa, unlike the socially awkward rest of us, is a social butterfly who always plans great Stoneboat events and readings.

Jim and I will share the responsibilities as fiction editors. Our fiction submissions are steadily growing with each issue, and we've been receiving some outstanding work. Jim will also be the design and layout editor, continuing to craft each issue cover to cover. He is a dynamo who is responsible for our final product.

At the end of the day, Signe, Lisa, Jim, and I are simply the mediators of which Barton was referring to. We will continue to do our best at satisfying the needs of the journal, its contributors, and its readers.

To those of you who support us, thank you. To those of you who would like to support us and help us continue to introduce our artists to a wider audience, please consider subscribing to our journal. Information can be found on our website: www.stoneboatwi.com