(or why I love the Oxford American with every fibre of my soul)
(only ten copies visible, but the love is palpable)
On lunch break during the Spring of 2000, I noticed the one with the red and green train across the front (issue #32) cover. Even though I had never heard of the magazine before, I wanted to know what was the deal with that train. Seeing "John Grisham" along the top didn't hurt.
I grabbed it, paid for it, and took it to the break room. A love affair was born and has only grown to monumental proportions over the last ten years.
There have been "To send to the OA" files on my computer. I have yet to send anything--I'm not exactly worthy (in my humble opinion)...although the long-lost dream of a Summer Internship has recently been recycled.
We've gone through a lot of changes, "The Southern Magazine of Good Writing" & Me:
As you may have guessed, it used to be published in Oxford, MS. Then it moved to Little Rock and now Conway, Arkansas...refusing to become extinct it has risen from the literary ash and proven that there is a readership out there...
Of course I've attended a couple universities, before dropping out--then rose up and after a few classes at a local community college returned to a university before finally completely my B.A. in English (Creative Writing) this past December.
Whew!
Often I find myself reading and re-reading articles and fiction between the pages of "old" issues. Recently it's been Issue #52 (2006) that's held my attention, the "private history" piece about F. Scott and his "romp" with a lady from Virginia, more specifically.
As I find myself at the beginning of graduate school--(funding, funding, funding) after being accepted into two MFA programs...the one a little further South has a firm grip on my heart--and even though I detest the heat...I love the sweet tea.
Glasses (mason jars) held high to toast...go get a copy, will ya?
OXOXOX ~~J
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