STUFF Issue: January 2007

Editor's Note

STUFF could be anything.
She knows her stuff.
Don’t sweat the small stuff.
He saved his best stuff for the last quarter.
I have more stuff than I know what to do with.
My shopping bags were loaded with stuff.
Van Gogh painted some great stuff.
All kinds of stuff bothers me lately.
Cut out the rough stuff.
The right stuff.
Stuff happens.

It really is an odd little word, isn’t it? Yet, stuff is everywhere. Any indiscriminate quantity of items or attributes can qualify as stuff. Not exactly like “things” which seem to be more tangible, stuff is more of a catch all, a collection of the not easily identified. It is sort of slangy, but yet occasionally legitimate businesses use it, such as Hair-n-Stuff, a St. Louis salon that was around in the 1980’s and Hats-n-Stuff, a sports merchandising store currently doing business on Delmar.

Most of the submissions we received for this issue dealt with tangible stuff and lots of it. Maybe because we have so much room out here in the Midwest we hang on to stuff a little longer. There were multiple stories reflecting on stuff left behind after someone dies. Stuff collected and stuff purged. Not being able to let go of childhood stuff, gruesome as it may be. Stuff in the bottom of a purse. Stuff found in junkyards. eBay stuff. Sports stuff. In fact, we didn’t have room for all the stuff we wanted to use, so the website is teeming with extra content this issue.

Stuff, does indeed happen and our one year anniversary has crept up on us surprisingly quickly. This issue marks our fourth print edition and we have plenty of people to thank for making this endeavor a joy for us to work on: every person who has bought an issue and passed along a kind word to us—it means a lot; our subscribers; our advertisers including The Royale, Mad Art Gallery, The Time Boutique, Firecracker Press, Hartford Community Café, Snowflake, and Joe Edwards of Blueberry Hill and Pin-Up Bowl; the outlets who carry our magazine; and the venues that have hosted our events this year including Atomic Cowboy, Riley’s Pub, Hartford, Mad Art, and Snowflake. Finally our production team of Caroline Huth, who has designed all of our print issues, and Eric Woods, of Firecracker Press, who has printed all the smart letterpress covers deserve a dynamic duo award because we do get so many compliments on the “look” of the magazine.

We have all kinds of stuff in store for 2007, including a special SOUND issue in April that will explore all things auditory and be released in CD format. After all, according to the Chinese calendar, 2007 is the year of the Pig—a time for fun and self indulgence. So indulge in a total 52nd City experience—attend an event, submit, advertise, subscribe.  We look forward to bringing you more events and more great stuff to read in the coming year.

Happy New Year!
Andrea Avery, Thomas Crone, and Stefene Russell

Online Edition

Galen's Stuff | Jess Dewes
Photo Essay

Streetside Pick Up | Elie Gardner
Photo Elie Gardner

The Gift and Burden of Possession | Ari Holtz

Franklin Visits eBay! | Franklin Jennings

The Book| Luby Kelley
Illustration Matt Kindt

Killed By Their Own Art | Byron Kerman

Liberation | Julie Newberry

Bless This Mess | Claire Nowak-Boyd
Photos Michael R. Allen

Best of Mississippi Nights | Jim Utz

Print Edition   

POETRY & PROSE

Andrea Avery, Diana Benanti, Thomas Crone, M. Davis, Heidi Dean,  Amanda E. Doyle, Joe Esser,  Chris King, François Luong, L.A. Ramsey, Stefene Russell, Steven Schreiner, and Erik Smetana.

PHOTOS & ILLUSTRATIONS

Andrea Avery, Thomas Crone, Bill Cable, Jess Dewes, Katy Fischer, Jane Godfrey, Dave Gray.