Editors' Introduction

As we embraced our roles as managing editors of Red Cedar Review, the journal that we had grown to love over the past few years, we made it a priority to define the nature of the material with which we were working. What does it mean exactly to be a literary journal? Associated commonly with dusty library tomes and complex pleonastic prose, the "L" word is one that often frightens away people who lie outside of its writing communities and seemingly elite social circles. It seems, though, that the literary merit of a creative piece is not necessarily a consequence of its form or its language, but is something that lies within the way these factors work in tandem to present an idea. In this way, we strove to expand the definition of literary in this issue of RCR to include any spark of creativity that lends itself to ink and paper.

We are pleased to highlight Michigan State University student Matt Dye's charming Chewski Goes Fishin', both within the issue and on the cover, as the first illustrated narrative of its kind to be published in RCR. This issue also features the photography of MSU students David Poirier and Meghan Colson, MSU alumnus Melissa Poirier, and Arizona native John M. Quick.

Mirroring its ever growing popularity in the world of literature, creative nonfiction in the journal has grown to represent half of the total prose published in this issue. It runs the gamut in subject matter from prominent social issues like increasing unemployment rates in Alisa Wolf's Inertia, to personal meditations on home in Jill Kolongowski's Becoming Tecciztecatl. In Just Here for Littering, Erin Wisti depicts a father-daughter relationship complicated by an attempt to deny the imminence and unpredictability of death, while Karl S Monroe faces the notion of his eventual demise head-on in his darkly humorous My Final Resting Place.

The fiction featured in this issue not only maintains this thematic diversity, but is also coincidentally reminiscent of our own editorial process with the journal. After hours spent poring over dozens of wonderful manuscripts we found ourselves overwhelmed at times, though eager to accomplish the task before us, and even prone to occasional illusions of grandeur like Robert Thomas in Brian Patrick Heston's short story Super. And like the characters that taunt the aging actor in Dennis Must's Going Dark, we have been haunted and inspired by the dozens of previous issues of RCR and the 45 years of legacy that have preceded us and remain in piles and boxes on the floor of our office.

Representing a variety of stylistic and thematic choices, the poetry in this issue features voices that are both new and established. We are pleased to introduce the intimate and graceful poetry of Lia Greenwell that opens and closes this issue. And we are honored to include both An explanation of time and Imagine here a title that calms you down from the much lauded poet Bob Hicok.

Providing an insightful dialogue on writing and literature is Jim Porter's interview with Richard McCann, author of Mother of Sorrows. We are also excited to showcase the winners of our annual writing contests. The Poetry Contest was judged by MSU professor and esteemed poet Diane Wakoski and the Nonfiction Contest was judged by essayist Jane Congdon.

Editing RCR has been more challenging and rewarding than either of us could ever have imagined. Our insurmountable gratitude goes to Steve Healey whose constant guidance, confidence, and encouragement enabled us to push through our difficulties and allowed us to turn our lofty goals into realities. And to our staff, whose creativity, enthusiasm, and diligent work lines these pages, we cannot say thank you enough.

It is our hope that all who find these pages will gain the same wisdom from reading them that we have gained from creating them.