carolf@ncar.UCAR.EDU (Carol Freinkel) (05/17/91)
To the women readers of soc.feminism: ------------------------------------------------------------------ You are invited to participate in the ongoing creation of a new quarterly magazine of women's writing. _Crazy Quilt_ is a patchwork of writing from women of all descriptions, a place for us to share our secret wisdom, our forbidden thoughts, our journal entries and dreams, our imaginings and our realities with each other. I believe that women have an incredible amount of untapped wisdom, and we need to start sharing it with each other more openly. Many women feel intimidated about sharing their writing, or they believe that only a small group of women have worthwhile things to say. I believe that every woman has information of the utmost importance to share with other women, and I want to provide a place where we can do this. Like a quilting bee, Crazy Quilt is a communal project, with fabric from many sources stitched together with loving care. Crazy Quilt is a place for women's work; I ask that only women send material for publication. And Crazy Quilt is for women of all sexual orientations: bisexual, lesbian, heterosexual, and celibate. Crazy Quilt is also for women of all races, classes, and ethnic groups. To my mind, the important aspect is that Crazy Quilt reflects women's experience, feelings, judgments, and wisdom. Crazy Quilt includes the outrageous, the unpredictable, the raucous and disorderly. The "politically incorrect" can find a home here. All that matters is that your writing be truly from your own experience and made from your own life. There is a large section of letters where readers can raise questions for response from the community or comment on letters and articles in the previous issue. Crazy Quilt includes journal excerpts, dreams, short essays, notes made at work or random observations from daily experience. The subjects can be anything: health, politics, family, work, children, sex, food, spirituality, clothes, culture and language, science, nature, animals, herbs, and whatever else is part of the design. There are no special themes; each issue creates its own. Writing can be as short as one sentence or as long as an essay. I invite all of you to send in the writing that you think of as you read this flyer. Even if you don't think you're a writer. *Especially* if you don't think you're a writer. If you have something to say, I invite you to say it here. I want Crazy Quilt to be the most riotous blending of women's thought ever seen on this planet. I want us to run free and uninhibited through these pages. I want Crazy Quilt to ripple and shimmer with the full dimensions of the beauty and power of women. Become a writer/subscriber to Crazy Quilt today! Subscription rates are $14.00 per year (four issues of 32-40 pages each). Subscriptions normally begin with the next issue; send an additional $1.00 for postage if you want your subscription to begin with the current issue. Subscription rates will be rising to $16.00 after July 31, 1991. Single copies are $5.00. Write to: Crazy Quilt, P.O. Box 390575, Mountain View, CA 94039. Advertising is accepted; please write for information on rates. The first issue of Crazy Quilt was published in September, 1990. Crazy Quilt #4 will be available in late June. The deadline for the fifth issue is August 15, 1991. -- Carol Freinkel