Hello? Hello!

Very much sickness was happening over the last two weeks. Sickness of the body, sickness of the computer, sickness of the season. All of this sickness prohibited the blog from getting updated with anything noteworthy. It was a natural time to be sick. But now that sickness is getting purged or deferred in one direction or another, allowing things to progress unimpeded. It’s a new year, time to shed away the husk of the past and prepare for new growth. In the next few weeks we’ll be announcing some events coming up very soon and the theme of our Spring print issue, something very different from what we’ve done before, something that you will more than likely fall in love with.

What do farmers do in the winter?

Today, and today only, holiday shipping is on us. Anything ordered from our store and shipped out today will get to you before Christmas, shipped on our dime. Get Issue Seven: Endurance to arrive at your doorstep in time to put under your tree. Get the bundle for that special someone whose big holiday plans are to sit in front of the fire and read. Get Issue Five for your little brother who’s into sci-fi and letterpress. And pick up a subscription for yourself while you’re at it! Oh yeah, and we’ll cover the shipping.

Head on over to the Anna Facebook page and explain what you would endure for your very own copy of Issue Seven: Endurance. Contest ends tonight at midnight EST.

Jonathan Franzen was at Book Court last weekend. We got there late and it was like this. That speck in the front of the crowd is him.

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He was talking about Cerulian Warblers, I think. It was very hard to hear all the way in the back. We decided it wasn’t worth it and catch a 9:30 Harry Potter.

Issue Seven contributor Nick Ripatrazone has taken it upon himself, God bless him, to blog a little something about each piece in Annalemma Issue Seven: Endurance over the course of the next few weeks. And he’s starting from the very beginning with Sasha Fletcher’s “Coming For to Carry Me Home,” the first and only poem we’ve ever published. Thanks Nick, looking forward to seeing what you think of all the pieces.

If you live in Orlando then you know about the Enzian and its legendary status as the best damn place to see a good/weird/enlightening/confusing/interesting/mind-blowing movie and have a beer and maybe a veggie burger at the same time. If you don’t live in Orlando, now you know.

This weekend they’re hosting the Orlando premiere of the Allen Ginsberg movie Howl, starring everyone’s favorite mind-freak actor, James Franco. Go check it out this Saturday to get a sneak peek at Annalemma Issue Seven: Endurance. I’m not going to say what it is other than it’s going to be the only place you will be able to see this particular preview. Enjoy!

The FL release party for Annalemma Issue Seven: Endurance was held in Eatonville, FL. Why?

Because of this man: Ted Hollins.

I first heard about Ted at a photo show curated by our very own print designer, Jen O’Malley. Jen consulted N.Y. Nathiri (director of the The Hurson Museum and founding board member of The Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, pictured left) to determine who was the best photographer in Eatonville. She didn’t hesitate to name Ted. When Jen and I started talking about featured artists for the Endurance issue, Ted’s name kept coming up. He’s been documenting the ZORA! festival for the last 21 years. To us, nothing said endurance like the life and work of Zora.

So we put together Ted’s photo essay, we got N.Y. to write a really beautiful foreward for it and we decided to donate a portion of the proceeds from the issue to the Hurston Museum.

To get a sense of closure to the project, it only seemed right to throw the release party in Eatonville at the Hurston Museum. So that’s what we did.

And a lot of people came out and had a damn good time, as was our intention. Alberta, Moms, Karina and Alberto.

I stood up and said basically everything you just read. People looked at me funny while I spoke.

My heart was warmed with the old and new friends that came out to support. Metha and Kris.

The Black Bean Deli catering crew unleashed an avalanche of empanadas that Eatonville was not prepared for. They were not wearing sock garters so their socks got blown clean off. Andy, Janelle, Gabi and Jessi.

Magazines were perused and enjoyed. It was, far and away, the best Anna party ever thrown.

Thanks to Ted, Jen, N.Y. Nathiri, The Hurston Musuem, and, most of all, the Eatonville community for welcoming a bunch of strangely dressed outsiders with open arms. Don’t miss ZORA! fest happening at the end of January!

It may not always be the greatest timing to make a drastic life change while trying to promote a new issue of a magazine, but sometimes that’s just the way things work out. Good to see you again, reader of blogs.

In the interim, Issue Seven contributor Matthew Simmons recorded this video of himself reading an excerpt of the story “The Difference Between” by Andrea Kneeland from (you guessed it) Annalemma Issue Seven: Endurance.

Were you aware that it’s on sale now?

There will be empanadas. There will be red and white wine. There will be books. This will all be free. It will last for two hours. It will happen right after work. Come loosen the tie and/or ascot with us.

Looking forward to seeing you.

Curator Meighan O’Toole presents a whole slew of low brow and contemporary artist on My Love For You is a Stampede of Horses. I was tempted to poach a lot of the artists she’s already showcases and do posts on them here but it made enough sense just to link you into her capable hands. Some of my favorites like Caitlin Hackett and AJ Fosik are extensively covered in interviews and images of artists in their process. If you are feeling culturally starved, consider MLFYIASOH an all day buffet.