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Volume VII, No. 3, Spring 1980 |
Quips From The Quack
As you might have noticed there is a different editorial logo this time because there is a different story editor. Our previous story editor, Patsy Watts, graduated at the end of the semester to attend college at the School of the Ozarks where she's studying to become an English teacher. Her leaving left a vacancy in the editorship and I was elected. James Heck, sophomore, replaced me as the art editor.
James reminds me of myself when I was a sophomore. Coming from the junior high school to the
high school, I was intimidated by the upperclassmen. That year I worked on the circulation
committee and at the semester was voted circulation editor. Because I did my committee work
without saying much, our advisor gave me a poem that she had received from a Bittersweet
friend, Bob McCarthy. She thought it applied to me.
Consider the duck
On the surface ....'cool'
Gliding calmly o'er trough and swell,
But understand beneath the surface
That duck is paddling .... like hell!
Now I'm convinced that this poem also applies to the whole Bittersweet staff because getting the magazine to the finished product which is as near to perfection as we can get it, is very hectic. With this issue we worked up to the deadliness, sometimes falling over each other, as we rushed around trying to get done. And as we were trying to get this issue finished we were getting ready for the next issue, researching stories, drawing the illustrations and taking pictures.
Also, we did publicity for this magazine by writing articles and recording blurbs for the radio as we do each issue. But in December we did a much more extensive promotional program. Several staff members planned and narrated television public service announcements on KYTV and were guests on two talk shows, "Open House," KOZK, and "Ozarks at Noon" on KOLR all in Springfield.
Recently we had a break in our busy schedules. Since the beginning of the school year, we have been trying to take a group picture of the staff. Finally, after four months, we found a time when everyone was in the room at the same time! We dropped everything and spent thirty minutes taking the picture.
Now we're working full speed ahead on a clearance sale of back issues and preparing the upcoming issues. Featured in these issues will be stories on rock polishing, old-time underclothes, bee trees, antique airplanes, the old moral codes and much more. We are also planning for a spring publicity campaign including more public service announcements and newspaper articles to promote our book Bittersweet Country and our magazine. Our goal is to double our number of subscriptions which is now a little over 3000.
I'd like to bring to your attention a book, The Greatest Ozarks Guidebook, which has been released. Written and illustrated by our friends, Harry and Phyl Dark, it is a complete insight into the Ozarks with a variety of topics including wineries, rivers, caves, festivals, parks and many other places that you might want to visit if vacationing in the Ozarks. Books can be obtained by sending $7.95 per copy to Greatest Graphics, Inc., Box 4467 G.S., Springfield, Missouri 65804.
M.S.
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COMMENTS FROM OUR READERS
Dear Friends:
I enjoy your magazine a lot. Your "Winter 1979" issue is especially delightful. The articles about
the Model T Ford surely evoke a lot of memories!
The story about "A Woman in White" on page 65 of this issue almost frightens me because it ties
in so closely with an experience I had in the Ozarks.
Every summer I take some junior high school students to Camp Red Bud, in Lake Ozark State
Park, for camping. One night in 1976, I awakened about 11:00 P.M. I looked out the door of my
cabin and saw a tall, slender, graceful girl or woman in a long white gown or dress moving silently
through the camp. She moved so gracefully that I would have said she was floating in the air,
except that I could see the front of her dress move at the knee with each step. She had something
on her head, but in the dark I couldn't see what it was, nor could I see her face.
At that time I didn't think it was so very strange. I knew that there were some camp counselors,
high school and college girls, living in a cabin on one of the campsites and a similar group in a
cabin on the other side. I supposed that my "lady in white" was a counselor from one group going
to visit the counselors in the other cabin, so I went back to sleep. About 1:00 A.M., I awoke
again (I don't know why), and saw this same woman again, this time moving through the camp in
the opposite direction. I Still thought she must be one of the girl counselors, this time returning
from a visit to the other girl counselors' cabin. The next morning, I chided the counselors about
keeping such late hours and to my amazement, they didn't know what I was talking about! None
of them had been outside their cabins all night long.
I saw this person once more during the camp week. I told the campers what I had seen,
wondering if perhaps she was our good fairy, our guardian angel. Some of the campers said they
saw her later in the week, but after that week, we never saw her again. We have never found out
who or what she was. Perhaps the story in your magazine offers a possible explanation, or
perhaps it deepens the mystery.
Anyhow, "The Woman in White" has been a favorite campfire story at Camp Red Bud every year
since we saw her. This year by adding your account to mine, it should be an even better story.
O. A. Wilson, Jr.,
Jerseyville, Illinois
Bittersweet, Inc.
So glad to learn your winter issue features Laura Ingalls Wilder. I look forward to reading and
sharing it. I serve as a resource person for programs and displays relating to "Laura" in the
Washington, Virginia, Maryland area.
I saw BITTERSWEET magazine for the first time when I was at Rocky Ridge Farm doing
research. I visited Lebanon and talked with many enthusiastic people. I was very impressed with
the quality of your work.
Alene M. Warnock,
Port Republic, MD
Bittersweet:
I would like to make comment on your Model T article in Winter 1979 magazine.
A Model T didn't have brakes on two wheels, it was a brake drum in the transmission. That's why
it would tear up the rear end.
The only brake on the rear wheels was an emergency brake which operated by a hand lever only.
I would like to talk to you in person about a Model T Ford. I learn to drive on a Model T.
I might give you some other interesting stories about wood carving.
I wear a snow white beard and play Santa Claus.
Earl Hall,
Licking, Missouri
The BITTERSWEET staff, front row, left to right, editors--John Shore, business; Kathy Long, circulation; Rebecca Baldwin, publicity; Patsy Watts, first semester story editor; Melinda Stewart, present story editor; Mary Day, layout; Mary Schmalstig, photography. Row two--Ellen Massey, advisor; Carl Davis, Mark Engs-berg, Kyle Burke, Chris Cotrel, Gerry Darnell. Row three--Lea Ann Anderson, Jill Splan, Gina Jennings, Tracy Waterman, Carmen Broyles, Pearl Massey, typist. Top row--James Heck, art editor; Mike King, Todd Waterman, Linda Lee.
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Copyright © 1981 BITTERSWEET, INC.
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