WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.700 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.700 --> 00:00:06.000 align:middle line:84% So given our topic, "The Joys and Challenges of Small Press 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:09.510 align:middle line:84% Publishing," I thought we could begin by hearing about some 00:00:09.510 --> 00:00:12.570 align:middle line:84% of the joys of the work that you do. 00:00:12.570 --> 00:00:15.570 align:middle line:84% What positive things keep you moving forward 00:00:15.570 --> 00:00:16.650 align:middle line:90% with your publishing? 00:00:16.650 --> 00:00:21.490 align:middle line:90% 00:00:21.490 --> 00:00:23.710 align:middle line:84% And I don't care what order we go in. 00:00:23.710 --> 00:00:25.600 align:middle line:84% Whoever feels compelled to begin. 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:30.160 align:middle line:90% 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:35.800 align:middle line:84% Well, I like what Drew said in his bio somewhere which 00:00:35.800 --> 00:00:40.120 align:middle line:84% is I get to publish whatever I want, whenever I want it. 00:00:40.120 --> 00:00:44.638 align:middle line:84% And that, I enjoy that kind of freedom as well, 00:00:44.638 --> 00:00:46.930 align:middle line:84% and it doesn't come without constraints, which I guess, 00:00:46.930 --> 00:00:50.770 align:middle line:84% we can talk about in a little later. 00:00:50.770 --> 00:00:56.950 align:middle line:84% But that's totally thrilling to do what you love, 00:00:56.950 --> 00:01:01.390 align:middle line:84% to get to read so much and do creative works 00:01:01.390 --> 00:01:04.000 align:middle line:84% and meet amazing people and other writers 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:06.790 align:middle line:84% and really make a contribution that's 00:01:06.790 --> 00:01:11.470 align:middle line:84% meaningful to the community, both local and national. 00:01:11.470 --> 00:01:16.860 align:middle line:84% Those are just tremendous joys for me. 00:01:16.860 --> 00:01:19.140 align:middle line:90% Just a few of them. 00:01:19.140 --> 00:01:23.190 align:middle line:84% To me, part of writing poetry certainly 00:01:23.190 --> 00:01:28.660 align:middle line:84% is to have a sense of engaging in a conversation, 00:01:28.660 --> 00:01:32.460 align:middle line:84% a conversation that goes back to ancient times 00:01:32.460 --> 00:01:37.530 align:middle line:84% and to the present with any poet you can imagine. 00:01:37.530 --> 00:01:41.340 align:middle line:84% But starting a press makes that conversation sort 00:01:41.340 --> 00:01:43.620 align:middle line:90% of more palpable, in a way. 00:01:43.620 --> 00:01:48.390 align:middle line:84% You actually physically have to do with those people 00:01:48.390 --> 00:01:51.030 align:middle line:84% that you want to be in that conversation with. 00:01:51.030 --> 00:01:53.190 align:middle line:84% So you know, Drew says, yes, you absolutely 00:01:53.190 --> 00:01:56.910 align:middle line:84% publish whatever you want to, but you not only publish it, 00:01:56.910 --> 00:02:02.710 align:middle line:84% you know who those people are, your life has to do with them. 00:02:02.710 --> 00:02:08.400 align:middle line:84% And so to me, it is not a job in the normal sense. 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:15.560 align:middle line:84% It is a total engagement of one's life with the work. 00:02:15.560 --> 00:02:17.790 align:middle line:84% And it's full of surprises, every day, 00:02:17.790 --> 00:02:20.270 align:middle line:84% when something comes in the mail, when something happens. 00:02:20.270 --> 00:02:23.730 align:middle line:84% And so recently, we well we've published a few books 00:02:23.730 --> 00:02:26.550 align:middle line:84% by the Vietnamese-American poet Linh Dinh 00:02:26.550 --> 00:02:29.130 align:middle line:84% and I was so surprised the other day 00:02:29.130 --> 00:02:32.530 align:middle line:84% to get a phone call, someone putting together 00:02:32.530 --> 00:02:34.530 align:middle line:84% a conference in which they were featuring him. 00:02:34.530 --> 00:02:36.990 align:middle line:84% And the person who called me from Brown University 00:02:36.990 --> 00:02:40.440 align:middle line:84% was the fiction writer Robert Coover. 00:02:40.440 --> 00:02:45.130 align:middle line:84% And so I just thought, Wow, Robert Coover is calling me. 00:02:45.130 --> 00:02:48.960 align:middle line:84% You know, I mean, when I was a graduate student, he was it, 00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:50.460 align:middle line:84% and maybe still is, I don't know. 00:02:50.460 --> 00:02:53.610 align:middle line:84% But you know, it was just so that's 00:02:53.610 --> 00:02:55.590 align:middle line:84% another example of that conversation is always 00:02:55.590 --> 00:02:58.650 align:middle line:84% extending to and that is a great joy. 00:02:58.650 --> 00:03:01.840 align:middle line:90% 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:04.305 align:middle line:84% Like Lisa and Charles said that I said-- 00:03:04.305 --> 00:03:07.530 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:03:07.530 --> 00:03:08.630 align:middle line:90% I don't know. 00:03:08.630 --> 00:03:11.790 align:middle line:84% For me, it's been feeling a whole lot 00:03:11.790 --> 00:03:13.890 align:middle line:90% like a really awesome club. 00:03:13.890 --> 00:03:16.920 align:middle line:84% Like, I get to go places and there's Kevin Sampsell 00:03:16.920 --> 00:03:18.750 align:middle line:90% at Powell's in Portland. 00:03:18.750 --> 00:03:24.810 align:middle line:84% He is a lot like me, but more coherent, better spoken. 00:03:24.810 --> 00:03:27.600 align:middle line:90% 00:03:27.600 --> 00:03:35.520 align:middle line:84% But I have no, no real rationale for what we're doing. 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:40.560 align:middle line:84% We started with an objective and the objective 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:43.980 align:middle line:84% has evolved into us really wanting to do books. 00:03:43.980 --> 00:03:46.570 align:middle line:84% And we really like to hang out with each other. 00:03:46.570 --> 00:03:49.050 align:middle line:84% And because we do everything by hand, 00:03:49.050 --> 00:03:51.840 align:middle line:84% that requires a whole lot of hanging out 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:56.220 align:middle line:84% with each other, which has become for me, kind 00:03:56.220 --> 00:03:58.823 align:middle line:84% of the greatest part of everything that we do, 00:03:58.823 --> 00:04:00.240 align:middle line:84% which is these people that I like, 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:05.730 align:middle line:84% we sit there face to face, hours and hours, a day, weeks on end, 00:04:05.730 --> 00:04:08.010 align:middle line:84% just to get this little thing done that we 00:04:08.010 --> 00:04:09.510 align:middle line:90% sell for almost no money. 00:04:09.510 --> 00:04:13.280 align:middle line:90% 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:17.446 align:middle line:84% And we-- this is the coherence thing 00:04:17.446 --> 00:04:19.029 align:middle line:84% that I was talking about a second ago. 00:04:19.029 --> 00:04:21.579 align:middle line:84% It reminds me of when we were in high school, 00:04:21.579 --> 00:04:25.600 align:middle line:84% having our big dreams, that part of our brain understood 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:27.070 align:middle line:90% would never come to fruition. 00:04:27.070 --> 00:04:29.020 align:middle line:84% And we have come to a point where now, we're 00:04:29.020 --> 00:04:31.840 align:middle line:84% doing these things that we think are so super awesome. 00:04:31.840 --> 00:04:34.835 align:middle line:84% And we're drawing pictures on our peachy folders, 00:04:34.835 --> 00:04:36.460 align:middle line:84% and they were turning them into plates, 00:04:36.460 --> 00:04:38.002 align:middle line:84% and pressing them on our big presses. 00:04:38.002 --> 00:04:41.950 align:middle line:84% And it all seems very unreal, and very beautiful, 00:04:41.950 --> 00:04:43.030 align:middle line:90% and very awesome. 00:04:43.030 --> 00:04:45.850 align:middle line:84% And it's a hell of a lot more fun 00:04:45.850 --> 00:04:50.280 align:middle line:84% than I thought we would be having, doing literary stuff. 00:04:50.280 --> 00:04:54.000 align:middle line:90%