“Every life is in many days, day after day. We walk through ourselves, meeting robbers, ghosts, giants, old men, young men, wives, widows, brothers-in-love, but always meeting ourselves.”
“The supreme question about a work of art is out of how deep a life does it spring.”
― James Joyce, Ulysses
Sylvia Beach, of Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris, published James Joyce's novel Ulysses on February 2,1922.
This is not a big opera...
That's where I left off last night, in the middle of the word "operation." And when I look this morning it seems right. This is not a big opera. No divas. No drama. No helmets, ghosts, wars, interns, teams of readers, or contests. Possibly an aria now and then, sure, but pianissimo, always pianissimo.
I guess you'd say Hole In The Head is a small ensemble.
When we started Hole In The Head three years ago, our goals were simple:
to publish art, photography, and poetry that moved and excited us;
to respect the artist, photographer, and poet;
to respond to submissions within a reasonable time; our goal has been to take no longer than 45 days. (Our Duotrope response stats would indicate we're doing a good job: 1 min | 25.7 mean avg | 31.0 median | 46 max days (14.3 std dev);
to have fun;
to take chances.
to dazzle...occasionally...
We didn't know if it would be sustainable. Hell, we didn't know if anyone would submit and we certainly didn't know that anyone would read it. We recognized that the world needs another online litmag like it needs...well, you get the idea.
Given the modest expectations our statistics for the first eight issues are rather stunning.
30,501 site visits
19,726 unique visitors
15 minutes 21 seconds average session time
and where are those readers? See for yourself:
We've made a few changes to our formatting with this issue. I hope you like the clean, more uniform design.
And, speaking of design, we're pretty thrilled with our first video cover. Here's how the amazing Ed Valfre, who provided the video - and photographs inside - describes it: "My friend Paul took me on a tour of the Enchanted Circle outside Taos. In every direction and every turn there was more beauty. Music- Bob Wills - Keeper of My Heart."
We welcome two contributing editors to our small ensemble, Marie Harris and Peter Johnson, each an accomplished poet. Marie is interviewed in this issue and Peter was interviewed in volume 1 number 4 Book end i4 | Hole In The Head (holeintheheadreview.com)
As always, thank you to the entire staff here at Hole In The Headquarters: Tom Bruton, Bill Burtis, Jere DeWaters, Michael Hettich, Nancy Jean Hill, and Marilyn A. Johnson.
Shakespeare & Company is celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the publication of Ulysses and you don't have to travel to Paris, though that is encouragé, bien sûr. More information here: Friends of Shakespeare and Company read Ulysses by James Joyce - Hosted by Shakespeare and Company (acast.com)
Here's what I was listening to while writing.
This whole production will be back on May Day. Happy Groundhog Day!
