|
History of 24:7
Frustrated by the bureaucratic and artsy-fartsy leadership of the high school literary magazine, one disgruntled postal worker, err...manuscripts editor... set out to create an independent 'zine. This man's name is Mohammad Salamey and we shall speak of him no further. Making obscenely hopeful plans with his friend Dave (formerly Simon, formerly Dave), Josh (the real disgruntled guy) set out to gather together the finest conglomerate of literary genius East of New Hampshire (where J.D. Salinger sits alone in his hut writing rejection letters for Dartmouth). Kurt Vonnegut, Tobias Wolff, Toni Morrison, and Leslie Marmon Silko couldn't show up for the meetings, and Tina Brown keeps leaving messages on the machine, but Josh tries his best to ignore her. Missing out on the "Big Guns," Josh nonetheless managed to find and assemble a crack team of literati who all happened to know each other already. Coincidence or the supernatural? Regardless, a 'zine was born, and for a good, long while it was called "A Marriage of True Minds." This name stuck until, at one point, publication seemed really, truly possible. That being the case, all the 'zine people made a point of telling Josh that "A Marriage of True Minds," while Shakespearean and all that, was an incredibly pompous name for a literary magazine. Many other names were attempted: "Blue Intellectual," "The Gathering Storm," "Spinning Bananas," "My Tuchus Hurts," and "Ploughshares," are just a few that come to mind. And, man, wouldn't those have been stupid names! The name hunt continued until one fine day everyone sat down and got bored. Food being necessary, Josh and Anthony (another name to remember) went out to do something and Anthony saw a sign (just a sign in a store window, not a divine revelation) and came up with "24:7." Josh immediately said, "Great!" and has since regretted this intensely. Given that high school students are poor and others entering college are even poorer, the 'zine's prospects for publication seemed grim. Spring and Summer came and many a literary meeting saw the hopes and dreams of Prague lay sullen and despondent on the bushy carpeting of the dining room (actually, Christine McKeever's dining room). Fall also came ('cause it does that) and still the 'zine was unloved and unfunded and mainly a figment of Josh's imagination, except that it took up seven folders, his briefcase, and the section of his dorm room not reserved for his college roommate's beer. The state of affairs looked grim. However, they tasted a little like pumpernickel. Josh's mind was intensely preoccupied with how one would go about publishing a decent literary magazine (and this means not using a copying machine), while still maintaining his girlish figure. Finally, the answer arrived (and it bore fruits, and it was good). Browsing the internet one day, Josh discovered that every schlep, every computer geek, music-nut, programmer, mobster, and homeowner had a web page on the www (Worscester Weightgainer's Workshop). Why not put the 'zine on the 'net? Disregarding sleep, food and the beauty of the natural world, Josh and Anthony spent most of their Winter break learning HTML so that 24:7 would actually exist in some semi-tangible format. They succeeded miserably, and to see their initial work, you can go to http://not.foo.net/~zine/oldwww/index.html, but why would you want to? The old site was up for quite awhile (until approximately 35 minutes ago, actually) and then someone (read: Josh and Anthony) had the brilliant idea to redo the site, especially as both had discovered the wonders of Adobe Photoshop. To make a long story short ("Too late!") the new site was completed and here you are. We all hope you enjoy the web site and find some merit in the pieces presented. With any luck, you'll feel inspired to submit something of your own. |
