There have been a lot of inquiries to the magazine, specifically, questions about deadlines, availability of the issues and contributors’ copies.  So here is the scoop.

When we resuscitated phati’tude, it was in part because costs, like the printing of the magazine, were no longer prohibitive. But other things unfortunately changed, too.  For one,  in our shrinking economy, many of the foundations that used to fund literary magazines like ours no longer do so.  And those that do, insist an organization must publish a full year before putting in an application for funding — and even then there are no guarantees.  For another, the workload is much more intense when the job of publishing is complicated with the juggling of emails, text and social media as part of the day-to-day operations.

In spite of this, we still remain optimistic about phati’tude. It’s a unique publication that stands out from all the rest and fills an underserved need.  I think you all know that we’ve made the commitment to keep this going and we intend to keep it.

However, what many of you may not know is how mean and lean we actually run the activities of the organization.  I personally handle the bulk of the work, whether it’s updating the websites, typesetting and laying out the magazine, writing pieces and marketing on the internet. As executive director of the organization, I am also responsible for spearheading fundraising campaigns, board policies, accounting practices, creating events, and so on. I often work 17 hours a day and still have difficulty finishing all the work I set out to do.

I’m certainly not alone. You should know that there have been some key people who have helped along the way with the magazine, including Jennifer Bacon, Jon Sands, Lora Tucker, Louis Reyes Rivera, and others. Lorraine Miller Nuzzo, art director, who has worked with me for many years, has worked steadfastly in creating new ideas to develop artwork on behalf of the writers’ works; Lynn Korsman has helped beyond her capacity as treasurer of the organization, from making copies and distributing flyers to working at our events handling sales; and Michelle Aragón, who was primarily responsible for pushing me to redevelop and bring back phati’tude, has done everything from marketing to proofing the magazine to catering and working the events. Collectively, they have all made important contributions by donating time and energy to this venture, with the hope they will someday get paid to do what they absolutely love and are committed to doing.

And even still, it hasn’t been enough.

It’s become extremely time-consuming, and in some cases overwhelming, to keep up with both the production and business end of the magazine with just a handful of people. I had hoped we’d be back on track with the African American issue, but the African American Festival slowed down production. In addition to being overwhelmed by the day-to-day operations, we are also bogged down due to lack of funds.  We did not receive the full funding anticipated for the Festival, which was free to attend, so we are now in the red. While the issues have become available for sale, we simply don’t have the money to order the magazines to distribute to contributors and subscribers.

Some people may say “don’t advertise what you can’t deliver.” I would have to agree, but there was never any intent on my part to deceive anyone. Perhaps my optimism gets in the way, because I truly believe in this project and here is why: The magazines are beautiful. The writers we have published are wonderful. The themed issues are interesting and unique. In one year, we managed to develop two fully operational websites, publish four new magazines, reprinted two old ones, as well as develop two major events, one at the Bowery Poetry Club (July 2010) and the Langston Hughes Library (African American Festival, February 2011), with another event at the Bowery Poetry Club coming up on May 12, 2011.

Though we have accomplished all this and more, we cannot continue to operate on less than a shoe-string budget and limited resources.  We’ve got to be able to service both our contributors and subscribers in a timely manner.  Obviously, our priority is to be able to stick to our production schedule and get the African American and Spring issues out. We need to make sure that our event at the Bowery Poetry Club on May 12th is a raging success. We also need to mail out contributors’ and subscribers’ copies, as well as spend quality time raising money to pay our expenses and our people.

This is where we are at this point in time and why we now turn to you. We remain dedicated to providing poets, writers and artists the best possible platform to showcase their works, but we need our constituency to help us out.  We need you to help us help you!

So please, it’s your turn to do whatever you can to help keep phati’tude going.  Make a donation. Buy magazines. Send email blasts, tweets and mentions on Facebook to further our cause. Volunteer — we need fundraisers, copy editors, graphic designers, proofreaders, promoters and website content writers.  Your help, big and small,  will be greatly appreciated. And to make my life a little easier, direct all your suggestions and collaborative ideas to Michelle Aragón at maragon [at] theiaas.orgl, so that these emails will not get lost in the hundreds I receive daily.

Cheers and many thanks for your understanding and support!

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