Spring 2013

At long last we are proud to present our Spring 2013 issue The Minetta Review Illuminated!

Click on the cover above to flip through the online version on ISSUU! Here you can read the Editors’ Note from Katherine and I for a taste of what Minetta Illuminated holds within its 128 pages:

We millennials are products of this digital age whether by choice or out of necessity. It seems like all things, to our jittery eyes, do not exist unless they are online—if not, are they real? Or worth- while? Books—all print works—have not escaped that fate. E-books and e-readers are gaining popularity even among those who swore they’d never betray their paper companions. Likewise, literary maga- zines are going online with their archives of past issues dating back to the years before social media, before the Kindle, before the average person would have conceived of reading their news updates on the Twitter app for iPhone and not at the kitchen table over a mug of coffee.

The Minetta Review is no exception. It was only a year ago that our issues became available online, increasing the size and scope of our readership that now has contributors not only from the NYU community but also from fellow millennials (and non-millennials) from across the globe. This past fall marked the revival of our WordPress site, and this Spring we’ve launched the Minetta Review Twitter account. Thus, the theme of this issue, Minetta Illuminated, acknowledges the magazine’s quiet step into the digital age.

But Minetta Illuminated is more than that. As we went through the submitted pieces, we stumbled upon illumination, the shedding of light, in lines and images from our contributors. Noting the pattern, we were able to see how illumination brought weight and importance to each work. In that sense, this issue is also a dedication to light as our neglected partner who has been ingrained in the process from start to finish. Our whimsical cover captures this reverence for light—these particles and waves are the reason we live. They shape our existence, what we know, who we know, everything we’ve ever done or will do.

In this issue you will find other images that study light and employ it unconventional and stunning ways; you will find poems in which a partner glides their hands over a beloved’s derrière while in another a city slicker is charged by a cow in the night; you will find prose that poignantly reflects on the beauty of a father and a story that describes a man who no one really seems to know. In some way each work we read for this issue, even those that do not appear, influenced its final form. 

You might read this from cover to cover, you might skim over the table of contents and read the titles that appeal to you, or you might read just the odd numbered pages—whatever your method, we’re certain that there is something here for every type of reader. So whether you are reading this issue in the fluorescent glow of a subway car, by the orangey flicker of candlelight, or on the screen of your iPad, we hope you find that this collection of poetry, prose, and artwork flips a switch in your mind and sheds light on an idea, an image, a word that in some way changes the way you see the world in the same way it did for us. 

Diana Bauza

Katherine Holotko

Editors-in-Chief

To all Minetta supporters, contributors, and readers,

Perks of being an editor? Holding in my hands as I write this (well one hand, while the other pecks out this post), the print proofs fresh from Offset Impressions. Folks, I know I have the undeniable glow of a proud parent, but I have to admit, it looks pretty great.

It felt as though the spring semester sprouted wings and flew by, leaving the Minetta staff staring gape-mouthed with hair all aflutter. Katherine can vouch that it was a challenging and rewarding process from our first meeting on February 14th to our final celebratory CRASH meeting in May. With the submissions in our inbox increased even from last semester, you’ll notice that this issue is hardy, filled with more talented voices and artists than we’ve ever published in the past. We’re thankful to everyone who contributed their work for our Spring 2013 Minetta Illuminated issue and for all of the people who came to meetings to discuss and decide what work would ultimately be published! I also want to acknowledge the editorial board and thank them here for their hard work this semester: our editors, Sonia Gupta and Azzuré Alexander, our treasurer Jazmine Gougen, and our secretary Laura Kay Alves–thank you for sharing your time and talents!

Keep checking back here and our Twitter account for updates about the new Editorial Board and the Fall 2013 issue. We’re now accepting submissions, so please, all of you artists, poets, prosers and playwrights, kindly send your new work our way.

Happy reading!

Diana Bauza

p.s.-I want to add that it was a pleasure to end (and prolong) my four years at NYU by working on this issue, spending so many nights with so many lovely people in the Kimmel Publication Lab. At the risk of sounding cheesy (which I often risk), I feel so full of light and stuff from this whole process that my chest is fit to burst. Another thanks to everyone involved in making that happen and especially to Katherine for keeping me on track throughout the production.

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