From: The Inman Review Volume 2: Spring 2010

Editor’s Note

Last summer, after a year behind the counter at 1369 Coffeehouse, Zach and I made the starry-eyed discovery that we were both writers and sought a venue to share our work with Inman Square. We also realized that our friends and the customers at the 1369 included an amazing number of writers who had never met each other or shared their writing with the neighborhood. We started the Inman Review to close this gap and to open dialogue about writing in Inman. The people who contributed to this project offered their support because they shared a love for Inman Square and the belief that our neighborhood is worthy of artistic representation.

My first motivation in including this preface to the second volume is to thank our friends and neighbors for making this pipedream a reality. There would be no Inman Review without Inman Square. To everyone who has showed support in this project, thank you. This magazine is yours.

Since we opened submissions and started talking about a new journal in the coffeehouse, we have been overwhelmed and inspired by the quality of work we have received and general enthusiasm about writing. Our inbox is packed with wonderful stories, poems and cutting insights into Bostonian culture. Thank you for being incredible writers. Thank you for caring about this neighborhood, and thank you for letting us have this role in documenting the art and community of the square.

After spending most of a year on this project, we have realized that there has never been a better time to start a print publication. The Inman Review is available only on paper, at businesses that are locally owned and independently run, businesses where the staff befreinds customers and all transactions are made face-to-face. In order to purchase this magazine, you just spoke with someone who cares as much as we do about the community in Cambridge and Somerville. This interaction is essential to the success of the magazine. It cannot be read in isolation by scanning a blog aggregator or by having articles tagged with keywords ‘Inman’ and ‘literature’ sent to your iPhone. It is real, it is tangible and it is sitting on the table at your local café. It is based entirely on direct connections between people.

Getting to know you has been incredible so far and I hope to know you better as time goes on. Please, continue to use the Inman Review as a venue to make your own voices heard.                              

-Jahn Sood, Editor