Submissions Received

Today I picked up the submissions from our various locations. The response was not as large as I had hoped, but we did get some nice art work. I am still beating the bushes to get some more literary contributions--I have some friends who may be able to solicit more contributions.

I spent the afternoon and evening scanning artwork, typing biographies, and designing the magazine itself in Publisher. It is nearly ready to go, once we get some more submissions, and make one very large piece of artwork into a .jpg file at Kinko's. But all the design decisions have been made and it's looking good.

Despite the sparse return, I still believe in this project, and am hoping to do further research into a grant from the Iowa Arts Council for another issue during the summer months. I am also entertaining the idea of volunteering to teach a creative writing course at one or more of the shelters, helping others to find their literary voices.

One thing that the project probably needed, that I simply did not have enough time to give it on this first issue, was more publicity. For the next one, I need to get out into the homeless community, at the feeding locations, at the shelters individually and pass out flyers. If I can pull together just a few more submissions for this issue and produce this first one, I'm certain I can garner more support and greater media interest once we have a published issue to show.

There are also other ideas percolating in the back of my mind--getting someone to donate art supplies, and paper. Setting up a regular time at the Midwest Writing Center for folks to type their writings, maybe offer a basic computer skills seminar so people can learn to use Word.

My own experiences on the street have taught me that there are many talented people out there--in fact, one shelter director agreed with me that creative people are more likely to be homeless since they often have a difficult time fitting into our work-a-day world. Being creative, writing, making music, creating art, are activities that don't conform to strict schedule. Creativity needs freedom, time, and support in the form of supplies and encouragement. Perhaps this little project will grow into a greater movement empowering people to find their way out of homelessness and into lives that are rich in creative rewards.