editorial
by Thea
In case you haven't heard us screaming it from the rooftops, this issue marks the tenth anniversary of Widdershins. That means that this little all-volunteer labor of love has informed, entertained, and pissed off Pacific Northwest pagans for a decade. And we're not sure which one of those three accomplishments we're most proud of.
In my previous job out east, I edited pagan and Wiccan books for a "real" publisher. It was part of my job to keep up on the trends in American paganism, and one of the ways I did that was to read every pagan rag that crossed my desk. We were either subscribed to or receiving review copies of just about every Wiccan/pagan newsletter, flyer, paper, or magazine out there, both American and foreign. Over a period of five years I read hundreds of them, which means that I slogged through thousands of articles, book reviews, event notices, and some of the most god-awful poetry ever to be set to paper. (A note to aspiring pagan poets: The world does not need another badly metered rhyming-couplet epic about the burning times. Trust me on this.)
Anyway, reading those papers gave me a taste of the pagan communities around the country and the world; their interests, their politics, their recipes for ritual cakes (everyone publishes recipes for ritual cakes). And it gave me a true appreciation for a well put-together pagan paper; one that is consistent, informative, occasionally aggravating, relevant to the community, and actually -- gasp -- edited. So when I landed in Seattle a few years ago, I picked up a copy of Widdershins and contacted Sylvana to volunteer. I thought working on the paper would be a good way to get to know the local community and do community service. And I knew for a fact that Widdershins was one of the best free pagan papers around, and that there weren't any rhyming-couplet burning times epics or ritual cake recipes in its foreseeable future.
Most free pagan papers fold in less than two years. To me, the fact that Widdershins has stood the test of time is nothing short of extraordinary. I am proud to have been a part of Widdershins for a few years, but the unsung heroes of its success are the publisher, Sylvana, and the first Widdershins editor-in-chief, Melanie Fire Salamander, who stepped down last year. Sylvana and Melanie have pumped endless hours and energy into this paper. They've stayed up at Kinko's until four in the morning doing paste-up to meet printer deadlines. They've battled the laser printer from Hell. They've navigated the labyrinth that is PageMaker and come out the other side. They've poured their own money into the paper to cover printing costs when ad sales weren't enough. And most of all, they've given a tremendous free gift to the pagan community for ten whole years.
This is my last issue as editor-in-chief of Widdershins. I am stepping down to devote more time to writing a book, and our marvelous copy editor, Cendi, is taking my place. Although I am excited about what lies ahead of me, I am very sad to be leaving the paper and I will miss the rewards -- and the craziness -- of working on it. I want to thank Sylvana and Melanie for their support, encouragement, friendship, gossip, laughter and for the chance to contribute to the paper. I don't have words to express how much the time I've spent with them has meant to me. Thanks also to our managing editor, Freya, for her friendship, support, humor and wisdom, and for keeping my Piscean head screwed on straight -- no small task, I assure you. And thanks as well to Cendi for stepping into the editor-in-chief position. It's a formidable task, but the rewards are worth it, and Cendi is definitely up to the challenge.
I hope you enjoy this issue of Widdershins. We've beefed up the page count a bit to celebrate the anniversary. The theme for this issue was sex, blood and chocolate -- something we came up with during a very silly brainstorming meeting and decided was just weird and wonderful enough to encapsulate both Beltaine and the paper's anniversary. I hope that this Beltaine brings you laughter and joy (and sex! and chocolate!), and that we'll be seeing many more issues of Widdershins in the future.
Copyright © 2006 by the article's author