Of barns and storming
UNH has an English Department to be proud of, boasting a great collection of well-respected and talented poets and novelists - including a few of my favorites. I attended UNH not cause it was an inexpensive state school that was close to home (despite popular belief), but because of the reputation of the English Department.
This week, they debuted a new online literary magazine: Barnstorm
We’re working writers, and we know that writers need open spaces where they can be read, and talk about writing, and hear from other writers. We want to build a community for writers who care about their craft. We want to publish writing that keeps us up at night — writing that we can’t wait to talk about in the laundromat or at the pub.
Barnstorming was about passion, art, and a payday. Pilots trained in the first world war gave spontaneous exhibitions in small American towns of the 20s. A team would fly low over a town to get attention, then land at a local farm and bargain to use its fields and pastures as an air strip for the day.
Whole towns would shut down to watch the show. The pilots looped and rolled, played tennis in the air, danced on the planes’ wings, dove into freefall — and gave rides. For a moment, these strangers opened up the sky.
Sounds fantastic - like a writing sandbox! Now if only they publish their ONLINE magazine with an RSS feed…
Afterthought: Maybe libraries need to think in digital resources - singular - instead of so much focus on digital collections. As more and more of this stuff moves from print to online - I think it’s essential for libraries to add trolling for the gems produced, especially within their own communities, to their standard collection development activities. As far as I’m concerned every library in NH should be talking about this to their patrons. (Way to go, Madison - which is how I knew about the magazine despite the fact that I’m everyday at the UNH library, next door to the UNH English department!)
Also, in the grand tradition of NH barns and storming: let us not overlook a classic.
Tags: barnstorm, barnstormers, barnstorming, collection development, Letters & Words, literature, magazine, new hampshire, online, unh