2007-2008 Editor's Note

The NYU Creative Writing Program's Undergraduate Literary Journal

Issue No. 1, 2007-08. Editor’s Notes

For a long time, I didn’t know what I wanted West 10th to be. I always had a clear concept of what it should not be.

Not smug, not self-important, not melodramatic. Not whiny, not trite. Above all, not boring. We were imagining the journal’s inaugural issue, sealing the fates of all the West 10ths to come — and instead of a vision, I had a collection of nots.

But that all changed when we started to say yes instead of no. Yes to metered rhymes and free verse; yes to a bold design; yes to stories funny and wistful, true-to-life and mystically charged. The pages of West 10th host the work of a freshman poet and a former Poet Laureate. You’ll discover photographs, stories and an interview. Writing from film students and business majors. Among the fantastic incoherence of West 10th, we hope you’ll find something that speaks to you.

Because now I realize what I want this journal to be — what I hope you’ll find we’ve created. I never wanted it to be a testament to our talents, a celebration of our glorious words. A literary journal should be a gift. And so we present our eager attempt to capture your attention, to make you laugh, give you some sort of pang, pierce you in some place you once thought was invulnerable. We don’t want West 10th to be admired, we want it to be enjoyed.

Many thanks are due: to Deborah Landau, Scott Statland, Matthew Rohrer and Darin Strauss; to Sam Potts for his brilliant design; to Billy Collins for his guest contribution; to Emily Barton for answering our many questions; to Managing Editor Michelle Budzilowicz, and the rest of the editorial board.

And finally, thank you, our reader — always in our thoughts, a factor in all our decisions, you’re as much a part of the creation of West 10th as we are.

Abbey Fenbert

Prose

Poetry

Art

Geometry of Hope

Contributors’ Notes