A Preview to the Fall Carousel

With almost two years of coming up with different ways of presenting The Carousel, I'm quite pleased with our Fall issue which will focus on the ways film and theater has shaped us. Like many of you, I'm an die-heart film buff. As a prelude to the fall issue, I will post trivia about movies that may mean little to moviegoers today but for those of us who remember them, we can all share a moment of nostalgia or a sigh of relief (depending how you feel about the film in question.)

Ghostbusters came out in 1984. It captured the curiosity of our nation with the supernatural as other films came out around this time that dealt with this subject (think Ghost starring Whoopi Goldberg and Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore and later Spielberg's E.T.), this was a major film for its time. The sheer otherworldness of it was gripping and quite comical as I recall. It was the top-grossing film for the year, coming in at $132 Million, beating Indiana Jones, Beverly Hills Cop, Gremlins, and Karate Kid.

Did you see Ghostbusters? What were your impressions?

We're Back!

Regular Blog posts and e-blasts will resume today.

The past two weeks have been frenzied, to put it mildly, particularly this week with all of the insanity that goes with publishing our hybrid brochure and magazine better than we did last time. Kyle and I of course made sure all of the minutia was not forgotten. There were moments when I didn’t think I’d make it. My eyes often would play tricks on me, casting a red tint on everything. And I’d look over at Kyle only to hear unintelligible mumbling from across the room.

Triumphantly! The Carousel is finished, has been sent to the printer, and will be mailed out next week. While I look forward to emails about what went wrong—as with anything involving humans things sometime do get missed—I will also look for those emails that recognize the progress we’re making. As contributor Greg McBride says “It’s been a long trip” and we’re still moving strong.

Expect a blog post from member Kathleen Pugh, tomorrow.

Wednesday through Friday of next week Kyle will be blogging from The Writer’s Center/Poet Lore booth from AWP in Chicago.

Finally, note the following literary events happening this month:

Toni Morrison will be at Howard University (my alma mater) on February 13, 2009. Contact: Tanya Hardy at thardy@howard.edu

Poet Laureate of Washington D.C, Dolores Kendrick, will be at the International Student House on February 22, 2009. (I will be reading at this event.)

Board member, E. Ethelbert Miller will read at the Library of Congress on February 23 at noon.

Contributed by Abdul Ali, thecarousel@writer.org

Behind the Scenes: Abdul Ali

As part of its makeover, this blog is going to be doing a semi-regular feature called "Behind the Scenes." In this feature, Writer's Center staff will discuss what they do at the Center and what it's like to work for a small nonprofit. Hint: it's deeply rewarding, but it's also challenging. Not to mention humbling.

Abdul Ali, Managing Editor of The Carousel, seems like the perfect way to begin. After all, our new and improved Carousel was published last month. We're pleased with how it turned out--though we know there are some things we missed (yes, there are typos, and we deeply regret those) and things we'd like to do better next time. But overall, this is what we wanted: a consolidated brochure/newsletter that brings you interesting content plus the workshops. One neat, tidy package. Abdul is a big part of the process that brought the publication to life, and here he is to talk about it:


It all starts with an idea. Let’s take travel, our next issue’s theme, for an example. The floodgates open and I think of all the ways the notion of Travel can connect with The Carousel, The Writer’s Center, and the writing life. It becomes an overnight obsession. That’s right, sweaty rashes, no showers, just brainstorming until the balloon pops. As writers, we tend to see things in layers. Of course, I do. When I think of travel, there’s the physical act of traveling and there’s the mental flight our minds make when we engage a work of literature.

Most of what I do is quite routine until it quietly builds into a supernova, a crescendo. As the deadline looms, emotions erupt, hair falls out, my eyes turn colors (not from alcohol, I promise.) Most of the routine comes in the form of following-up with authors, lots of back and forth e-mails, tracking down potential advertisers. It can sometimes be mind-numbing.

But then there are those moments—twilight ones--when an idea you have for an article or column pops out of the ether, flows through your mouth at a staff meeting, and everyone is on your bandwagon. You immediately e-mail a writer who you know is perfect for this assignment. And, they say “of course, I’d be happy to do it for free” and the rest is a wrap.

Aside from the hours that go into making The Carousel happen. A lot of it is collaborative, such as the design portions, or the conversations that make certain decisions definitive, the editing, the proofing, etc. Or the interns who make great pains to help me with this publication. It’s heartening to see members with a Carousel rolled up under their arm. Or, letting me know what they thought about a particular article. Because so much of what I do is in a vacuum, it’s lovely to hear outside voices. I’ve even created an e-mail account for this reason. It all begins with an idea so if you have any or would like to see yours into print, drop me a line, thecarousel@writer.org