Some News and Some Pictures.

(Left to right) Chelsea, Robin and Farid. The girls
try their best not to feel awkward. Farid does
his best to make the camera feel awkward.

Beth (left) and Barbara (right) kind of wreck the candidness
of these photos, but they have pretty smiles so
we forgive them.

This part of the circle has an oblong/amoeba shape
to it. Our fault. (Left to right) Devin, me (Elfie),
Travis, Julia, Trung and Chelsea again.

Editors missing from these pictures: Chris, Justin, Jason, Richard.

Hello again, on this, another one of our random sunny days.

The editors have been meeting with a sense of determination over the past week - we are focused completely on soliciting submissions from YOU (yes you), in order to have an abundance of interesting and quality art, poetry and prose to publish in the coming issue. Each meeting we "circle the wagons" (see above) and discuss in true round table fashion more and improved ways of getting the word out about SVR. Every little plug counts, just like every submission counts.

The project that is top priority at the moment is getting our fliers and posters to each corner of the county and beyond. Our editors have all become pushers, distributing our fliers hopefully as far east as Sacramento and as far west as San Francisco. Soon you won't be able to go anywhere in the Bay Area or anywhere near the capitol without seeing SUISUN VALLEY REVIEW!

Also, I ask all of our online allies to help out in a few small ways: remember the deadlines (3/4 for visual art submissions, 4/1 for written) and remind your creative acquaintances; repost our bulletins, reminders and tweets when you see them; and, if you are sending us anything, do it sooner rather than later! We are very anxious to start considering your work.

There is another piece of news that I'd like to share. There is always a conversation that we need to have prior to the consideration of pieces that we have had, and has led to a decision. It is part of the course description (as stated in the catalogue at Solano College) that the editors may also, if they choose, submit their own work to be considered for the magazine. This leads to many questions: How do we go about doing this? Can we retain fairness during this process? Some of us even suggested to abandon this practice all together. But, as it is part of the course, all of us would need to agree to this in order for it to be legitimate.

We came to the conclusion that, since this is an entirely personal decision, each individual would make it themselves. Our process for this will be that each editor who submits will slip their submission in with the others, using a pseudonym. Then we go through and vote on it, no one else being aware that "Jane Doe" is actually Elfie Nelson, for example. Only after the piece or pieces are accepted and the book is arranged would I annouce that I am actually "Jane Doe". And in order to retain complete transparancy, a note will be placed in the beginning of the magazine explaining this process. All will be as fair as we can make it.

That is all I have for this week. Until we meet again, we will practice, plaster posters, and continue to spread the word.

Until next time (Remember that the art submission deadline is this coming Wednesday!),

- Elfie

The First Month...

Greetings from a sunny and fair Suisun Valley.

Our first few weeks as a new group of editors has been exciting as well as busy. Exciting because we are taking the first few steps to creating the 26th edition of SVR; busy because we are starting our process with an entirely clean slate. Beginning from scratch means a lot to brainstorm, build, and decide, and because of our time constraints we must do these things all in only a few meetings.

We have been successful so far in agreeing on a deadline for visual art submissions and written submissions, designing our flier and poster (which we will be plastering our county with soon), deciding on a voting process that all of us are comfortable with, and we are currently in the process of practicing this process in order to hammer out any kinks before we look at any of you wonderful people's work. This time is particularly important, so that we may not only give each piece that we are sent the proper time and consideration, but also so that we may find our respective niches in the class and build relationships and respect.

Having been an SVR editor twice before, I must say that perhaps the most positive and empowering aspect of the course is simply the camaraderie the editors acquire amongst themselves. We walk into this class having almost nothing in common besides our interest in the magazine, and when it's all over we have the ability to respect each other. We are unlikely friends because we went through the trials and frustrations and arguments that we did putting together this magazine, and we share a pride for it that cannot be easily explained. I am looking forward to the point in our journey at which we can all have our voices heard and have a great time around each other.

I'm already encouraged because there are so many of us that are pumped about some extracurricular jobs we're going to be taking on this year. There are those of us who would like to see an expansion in distribution, and some who can even give us the means to do it. That's right, that means our next issue may not be sold only at the release party and the college bookstore! We are also working to complete a bound archive of all of our past issues to be on display in the college library, as well as an online archive FREE to browse for any interested parties. And, speaking of online, each and every one of our pages on the web should be centralized on the Solano College website, for optimal advertisement for both the magazine and the class.

I am here to keep you updated on all of our goals, as well as our process as we begin to read and decide on those pieces I know you're sending us. Be sure to read our submission guidelines (below). Also, check us out on our Myspace, or, if you prefer the Facebook scene, you can add us here. Or you can join our Tribe. For those of you who enjoy updates one or two sentences at a time, you can follow us on Twitter.

Until next time (same SVR time, same SVR channel),

-Elfie

Submission Guidelines 2009!

SUBMISSIONS OPEN TO STUDENTS AND NON-STUDENTS ALIKE


PLEASE NOTE THAT THE DEADLINES FOR POETRY/PROSE SUBMISSIONS
AND VISUAL ARTS SUBMISSIONS ARE DIFFERENT.

POETRY/PROSE - 4/1/09
VISUAL ARTS -3/4/09

The Suisun Valley Review is looking for new and unpublished works of poetry and short fiction to put in our next issue. No preference is given to any specific style or genre, we seek simply original works of quality.

Manuscripts should be accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope and a brief biography for use in the authors' notes upon publication. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable as long as they are indicated as such. Editors will respond in approximately four to six weeks after receipt of submissions. Successful submissions in prose and fiction typically do not exceed 2,500 words.

Authors of accepted submissions receive two copies of the magazine gratis.
Mail all manuscripts to the following address:

The Suisun Valley Review

English Department/Humanities

Solano Community College

4000 Suisun Valley Road

Fairfield, CA 94534-3197

Electronic submissions are accepted as attachments in Rich Text Format (.rtf) only and may be emailed to suisunvalleyreview@gmail.com. Unreadable formats will be deleted unread.

If you have any questions or need more information, email the editors at suisunvalleyreview@gmail.com.

The Suisun Valley Review is now accepting visual art submissions!

Send us your art and photography for the front cover and possible inclusion within the pages of the magazine. Submissions should: Be in either color or b&w, be in .TIF or .JPEG format if sent electronically and images should not exceed 8 1/2'' by 11'' OR 5 megabytes. Images will be judged on appropriateness with respect to both the contents of the magazine and the academic environment. Send all submissions to the addresses listed above.