Discussion: Day One

Our first day of discussion, and already we are at each other's throats like ravenous dogs.

In our first piece up for discussion, editors took a personal stand for and against the poem, as though it were their own. We quickly devolved from an educated, well spoken conversation about the merits of a piece of literature, into something like a barroom conversation after three pitchers of beer.

And yet, this is good. we, as editors, are not here to like each other, or even agree with each other very much (indeed, the slimness of our magazine is a testament to how little we actually will end up agreeing). It is good that we are not shy about speaking to each other, being as frank and honest as possible. With practice will come the deftness and tact necessary to keep feelings from being too hurt or crushed. In the next few weeks thin skins will thicken, and we will fall into a groove that will allow us to move through pieces efficiently and productively.

This level of personal and emotional attachment is what is going to make, always makes, SVR a great magazine. And Kudos to the dissenters who stuck to their guns during our revote – not jumping aboard the bandwagon is the hand-holding company to emotional attachment, the real bastion of individual voice in our (not so) little publishing world.