NEW PUBLICATION PUTS FOCUS ON RIVER VALLEY

From its source in northwestern Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River flows 2,340 miles through cities and towns whose names evoke the history, literature and culture of America. Minneapolis, Nauvoo, Hannibal, Ste. Genevieve, Memphis, Vicksburg and New Orleans are some of those names, very different places with a common bond -- the greatest river in the land runs through them.

Most geographical regions in the country have a publication that focuses specifically on them -- The Journal of the West, The Journal of the South, and Southwestern History Journal -- but the Mississippi River Valley has lacked such a publication until now.

In December, Southeast will publish the first edition of Big Muddy: A Journal of the Mississippi River Valley.

"We've built 180 bridges to unite people across the river," says co-editor Dr. Frank Nickell. "We're hoping this serves as a bridge for the people between north and south."

The publication is accepting writing on any topics related to life in the Mississippi River Valley. Photography and art also are being sought.

Two well-known poets, Colleen McElroy and Roger Mitchell, have submitted work at the invitation of Big Muddy co-editor Dr. Susan Swartwout. Submissions have been received from as far away as Japan and Australia.

People in England, Japan and Australia are particularly interested in the Mississippi River, Swartwout says. "They don't have a river like that, nothing quite that big and historical."

Yet Elvis, not Mark Twain, very often is their reference point.

Big Muddy came about because of a convergence of two people Nickell, the director of the Center for Regional History, and Swartwout, director of Southeast's nascent small press publishing program. Nickell has wanted to publish such a journal for some time but the idea never got funded and moving until Swartwout arrived on campus.

She is providing the small-press expertise. She has spent 14 years in publishing, including experience as editor of several literary magazines, marketing director for big independent Dalkey Archive Press and two years as small press editor for Amazon.com.

"I asked her to review a manuscript for me," Nickell said, "and I was impressed with what she did and what she suggested."

When the subject turned to creating a magazine, Nickell said, "Her suggestion was, Let's do it."

Money became available through the university's Funding for Results grant, which requires that students must be involved in the under taking. Two student interns help read manuscripts, typeset copy, design pages and market the magazine. Swartwout's small press publishing class of 12 students also is contributing to the project.

Southeast's small press publishing minor is one of only three offered in the nation.

"It's very exciting to be involved and to have Southeast be so forward looking they would say, Yes, this is good for students," Swartwout said of the publication.

The eventual goal is to establish a small university press that would publish regional books. "This is an under-published area," Nickell says. "There are a lot of people out there who would like to have their books published."

The people who live in the Mississippi River Valley have a common problem and a common advantage, Nickell says. "That's the river. It all deals with the force of moving water, which is very great."

Just as people count on a bridge to cross the river, he said, "We would hope the journal could become a permanent fixture in the literary world."