| Alicia (not her real name) wasn’t really new in town. She’d moved to Calgary two years ago, and ever since her arrival had been haunting the magazine racks in little bookstores. The glamour magazines – glossy, heavily scented and just plain heavy – left her cold. Her eyes and hands went straight for the modest yet intriguing covers of local publications filled with the creative work of – who knew? – her neighbours, perhaps.
Hours would fly by as Alicia pored over the poetry, stories, photographs and drawings. Increasingly, her idle moments were filled with imaginary conversations with the fascinating people who put these magazines together. What were they like? How did they dress? Were they always terribly witty and intimidating? Or were they like her – supposedly pretty smart, but oh-so-aware of how much important writing she hadn’t read… yet! Because Alicia knew that one day she would dwell in that world of literature and art, and her pretty good life would find that spark it still somehow lacked.
Meanwhile, Terence-Robert (obviously not his real name) was about to collapse. He just had to finish proofreading the current issue of a magazine Alicia had often seen in her daydreamy browsings. But he’d been up all night and caffeine wasn’t helping anymore. He wasn’t even getting much benefit from the bulldog clips he’d attached, very tightly, to his eyebrows and earlobes, in the hope that pain would succeed where pharmacopoeia had failed. No, it was impossible: without some help, and soon, Terry-Bob was going to miss his deadline. Again. More volunteers! That was the plea he would scrawl in blood across his computer screen, and those would be the final words they would find when his spent and lifeless body was recovered the next day. Unless….
At just that moment, somewhere in Calgary, an alert reader was getting the hint. Interesting writing doesn’t publish itself. And interested readers need not languish in isolation. There is work to do in bringing Calgary authors to the public, and if you have the time and the interest, you can help. Because in Alicia’s ennui lies the cure for Terence-Robert's volunteer burnout. Change the names (they’re just made-up anyway) and insert your own. Then write to Paulo da Costa at filling Station magazine and join the ink-stained revelry and creative jubilation involved in publishing new writing. Just e-mail general@fillingstation.ca.
Not ready to help with publishing, but eager to volunteer in some book-related capacity? See also the Calgary Public Library’s many volunteer possibilities, from reading to/with kids to delivering and/or reading books to people who don’t get out much/at all anymore. Ask at your library or go to http://calgarypubliclibrary.com and follow the "Volunteers" link. |
