Thinking Of Going BOOM

February 15th's Sacramento Bee featured an announcement of a new publication:

A publication that proposes to "explore the history, culture, arts, politics and society of California" is taking on quite a challenge, but that's the goal of a quarterly now accepting submissions from "creative voices" – writers, photographers and artists.

Boom: A Journal of California, scheduled to debut next February, will focus on "informed, critical perspectives about the past, present and future of the state." Creativity and "unusual formats" are encouraged.

Boom will be published by the University of California Press and co-edited by two UC Davis professors. Carolyn de la Peña teaches American studies and directs the UC Davis Humanities Institute; Louis Warren teaches history.

"We think it's the right time to bring (to the forefront) some different perspectives about issues we're facing in California," de la Peña said on the phone.

"We're especially interested in (written-word and visual) stories that connect specific places and issues with larger concerns. For example, if you wrote a piece about a festival in your town, you would need to show how it's raising an issue about California as a whole and the challenges we face."

Guidelines for submissions and explanations of content are at www. ucpressjournals.com/ assets/BOOM_ Guidelines_v4.pdf.

I've been thinking that I really should try and boil down my experience of the 2003 California Gubernatorial Recall Election into something more-formal. So I contacted Carolyn de la Peña:

[T]he race had many features that might be of greater general interest. Many of the candidates saw themselves as tribunes of the electorate in various ways, but when shut out from access to the media, many were forced to cooperate with the other candidates (often their ideological enemies), in order to secure publicity together. That tale of cooperation under duress was rather heartwarming, and touched on many issues of current concern to all Californians.

If you would, let me know if something like this sounds like a good fit for your journal.

She responded:

I do think there is something there in exploring how the Recall process/experience revealed possibilities for collaboration or reconciliation across the aisles in the modern media circus that is California politics.

Do I detect a note of disdain there? She speaks about the modern media circus like it's a bad thing! As alternative candidates, all we wanted to do was be the ringleaders of the modern media circus. Was that too much to ask?

In any event, by next week I can start reviewing my materials. I’m thinking maybe by late April – May 1st - I’ll have something ready to submit.