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Volume VI, No. 2, Winter 1978 |
NEWS & VIEWS
from the editor
It seems that winter has crept upon the Bittersweet staff quickly. The beautiful fall colors were fading as we rushed to complete stories and meet deadliness. Though this season brings colder weather I look forward to renewing old friendships at Thanksgiving and Christmas get-togethers.
We have been fortunate again this year to have the Missouri State Council on the Arts give us financial aid in the form of subscriptions. This year, the sixth, the subscriptions were sent to selected junior high schools, penal institutions, hospitals and homes for the aging across Missouri. Our magazine has reached many people through this generous program.
It is with gratitude and a deep sense of loss that the staff bids a farewell to Ruth Massey who has taken another job. She has assisted us from the beginning and served as our consultant. Victoria Cox, who is replacing Ruth, has kept us busy teaching her about Bittersweet.
The staff decided that if we chose some men and women locally, state wide, and nationally to serve as an advisory board, we could improve Bittersweet quality with their suggestions. The advisory board is listed on the masthead at the front of the magazine.
Bittersweet is striving to preserve the crafts, lore, and personalities of the Ozarks. To do this we work closely with the men and women of the Ozarks, learning from and about them. When one of them dies we are touched because they have become like family to us. Such were our feelings when we heard of the death of Tom Price (Tie Making, Vol. 6, No. 1) and that of Iva Bradshaw (Somebody Had To Do It, Vol. 6, No. 2). Both helped and encouraged us in our work and we will miss them.
Bittersweet aided the Missouri Department of Parks and Recreation in a photographic art program, "Crying for a vision--A Rosebud Sioux Trilogy 1886 -1976," held at Bennett Spring State Park in August. This provided visitors to this area with a simple yet informative program about the Sioux Indians.
The magazine had been sent to the printer before we were able to watch the KY-3 television program "Focus 30--Magazine." Not only did we enjoy seeing ourselves on television but we received many letters and phone calls from viewers telling us they had seen the show and enjoyed it also.
The University of Missouri School of Journalism held their 30th annual photo journalism workshop in Lebanon this year. The workshop staff choses a Missouri town and selects about sixty photojournalists from all over the United States to attend. The workshop staff invited Bittersweet members to observe and attend the critique sessions. Many of our staff members went and learned much about photography and how to use it efficiently in a publication. I feel it was quite beneficial and we are grateful to Cliff Edom and the workshop staff for extending the invitation.
While speaking at the Association of Experiential Education 6th Annual National Convention, held October 1 in St. Louis, Missouri, some of our staff talked to the Foxfire staff members in attendance. Though our staffs are similar in many ways there are numerous differences also. It is always good to be able to compare staff policies to help us improve or share our methods.
October 15 part of our staff returned to St. Louis for an open house at Paperback Supply Inc. to get promotion ideas for our book and to announce its release date. It was a unique experience for us because we were only one of several booths, yet many people expressed interest even though our book had not arrived.
We have anxiously awaited the arrival of our book and it's finally here! The staff never seems to tire when signing books for people or going on promotion talks. If you would like your copy signed, please let us know. We'll be happy to. We had a publication party November 18. This gave us an opportunity to see graduated staff members and those men and women who invited us to their homes and shared their lives and skills with us. It also gave our community a chance to see our book and meet all of the staff. If you haven't ordered your copy already, there is an order blank in this issue. I'll also suggest that you give them to your friends for Christmas. I plan to!
If you have any suggestions or comments, please write me.
vlm
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news & views from the readers
Dear Bittersweet:
As a charter subscriber and long-term admirer of Bittersweet, I would be delighted to serve on
your advisory board.
I have long been impressed with your aims and the way they have been carried out. There is a
quality of reality in the publication that reflects the crafts you describe and picture so well;
magazine-making is a high craft and it seems to me that Bittersweet gets better at it as it goes
along--like quilting, I suppose, or making dulcimers. (This may not cheer all the staff, but I even
get a little pleasure from receiving a hand-addressed magazine--whether typed or written--perhaps
because of the computers that conspire against me and my subscription list by day and by night.)
Enough. I'm happy to serve. What can I do?
Frank Sartwell,
Editor, Defenders of Wildlife,
Washington, D. C.
Dear Mrs. Massey:
I want to extend a personal thanks from the Missouri Division of Parks and Recreation to Bittersweet. We greatly appreciate your help in assisting us with the photographic art show recently held at Bennett Spring State Park.
Without your assistance in the project, we would not have been able to provide the program "Crying For A Vision - A Rosebud Sioux Trilogy; 1886 - 1976" for public viewing at the park. The photographic art program was well received by park visitors.
Fred A. Lafser,
Jefferson City, Missouri
Dear Arts Supporters:
Please accept our gratitude for making it possible for us to receive "Bittersweet, the Ozarks Quarterly."
We are a halfway house for women on probation and parole and have very limited funds for
publications. This magazine presents a picture of Missouri that our residents have never
experienced and expands for them the range of what is possible.
Linda May,
Kansas City, Missouri
Dear Bittersweet:
I really enjoy the magazine. I read with interest your article on water witching, however I think there's room for more research. I watched a water witcher last summer here in California. He not only told where the water was, he said how deep it was and how many gallons per minute it would pump. My uncle had a well drilled where the witcher told him and sure enough, it was as deep as the witcher said and produced the amount of water the witcher said it would. The witcher used brass rods and a forked stick to locate it as you've shown, but then he used a single stick to show how deep it was. Also he could tell if there was more than one stream of water at the same place. I tried it and it doesn't work for me.
George Bilbrey,
Riverside, California
ED. NOTE: We not only appreciate story suggestions, but we also put them to use. Lillian and Harold Humphreys called us up and after showing us how to do it, we wrote a follow-up in this issue. It is on page 22.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank the following for their donations to Bittersweet.
David Barker, Montgomery City, Missouri
Ray Cahill, Fowler, Colorado
Mrs. Edwin Crocker, Storm Lake, Iowa
Mike Doolin, Lebanon, Missouri
James E. Herdson, West Simsbury, CT.
Dorothea Morey, San Jose, California
Mrs. Ralph Meierding, Billings, Montana
Erma L. Pace, Hermitage, Missouri
Russell Rouse, Columbia, Missouri
Edwina Shields, Lebanon, Missouri
John P. Phillips, M.D. Salinas, CA.
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Copyright © 1981 BITTERSWEET, INC.
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