Spring 2020 Letter from the Editor

Here at Bluestem HQ, it’s sometimes hard to be patient.   

Good things take time, to be sure, but finishing a complete redesign and rebuild of our website—plus selecting the excellent work you’ll find in this issue—took more time than we bargained for. We didn’t know we’d have to teach ourselves how to code. We were afraid of code.

Needless to say, we got nervous letting Bluestem sit fallow for so many months. But, as residents of the Prairie State, we should have known that lying fallow for a while can produce great crops. When we finally finished the coding, the inputting, the domain transfer, etc etc and got the chance to step back and look at this lovely space, we were so happy we took this time to make the site you see today. It’s a space, we hope, that’s worthy of the talented writers it features. We owe the innovative design of this website to EIU Fine Arts faculty member Alan Pocaro, who suggested an “infinite scroll” layout that mimics the way people read broadsheets.

Our archives going back to 2008 will still be accessible at a temporary home here, which we’re in the process of organizing. Over the next few years we hope to migrate them to a safe, permanent home on EIU’s servers.

Though our relaunch issue was not intentionally themed, many of the pieces in it focus on the visceral, the body, and health, which feels appropriate during this surreal period in which we shelter in our homes, protecting our bodies. It’s difficult to be “distanced” from the people who matter most to us: our families and friends, our coworkers and students, members of our community, and, we’re realizing, even strangers on the street. Right now, we seek connection in other ways. The hope is that this website and others can provide readers at home with that much-needed nourishment. We must take the opportunity, here, to urge you to support independent bookstores, where you can find titles by many former Bluestem contributors. If you’re in Illinois, please consider donating to the IL Covid Response Fund.

And, for writers at home who are feeling the squeeze: in celebration of our relaunch, we’ve opened up free submissions for the remainder of April. Please send us excellent work!

Finally, please stay connected with us in the months and years ahead. There are several ways to do so. You can follow us on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. You can also subscribe to our newsletter.

 Wishing you health and calming reading in this unprecedented time.

 — Bess Winter