Ruminate Magazine

Check out this rave review of Ruminate's Issue 09 (scroll to the bottom of the page) from NewPages, one of the top literary magazine databases in the country.  The review begins by saying, "Ruminate's layout is beautiful." Not a bad comment to start things off, and something we happen to proudly agree with. And it keeps getting better from there, discussing the great work from our contributors and "pieces which demonstrate faith inside literature as well as faith in literature, a faith that literature can explain and inspire." We think NewPages reviewer Rachel King hit the nail on the head.  

Oh, and if you missed out on Issue 09, you can order a copy here!

We are getting ready for our second annual RUMINATE Benefit: "Shop for Christmas: Support the Arts," which will be held on December 10th from 7-10 p.m. at Grace Church Presbyterian in Fort Collins, CO.

Last year's benefit had a great turn out and featured amazing work from over 10 local artists (which ranged from pottery and jewelry to photography and paintings)! We had yummy food, great beer and wine, and live music. We also raised money for RUMINATE and brought more awareness to the Fort Collins community about our mission and our heart for the art community. 

We are hoping to make this year even better and already have some great artists lined up, including our featured artist from Issue 09, Evan Mann, and local jewelry artist, Nicole Roloff, as well as some great work for the silent auction that has been donated from past RUMINATE art contributors Steven D. Johnson (Issue 08), Josh Schicker (Issue 05), and Katie Jenkins (Issue 03). We really want to thank these artists for their support of RUMINATE!

If you are in the area, please come join us for a great evening. 

And if you aren't in the area but still want to shop for Christmas and support the arts, please consider giving a RUMINATE gift subscription to some of the folks on your list!

As some of you may have heard, Westmont College and the surrounding Santa Barbara, CA area were deeply impacted by last month's "Tea Fire." Numerous Westmont faculty members lost their homes in the fire including RUMINATE contributor and Westmont English department professor, Paul Willis. Paul has been a strong supporter of RUMINATE, advocating and standing alongside our publication from Issue 01. We extend our prayers to him and his family as they begin recovering from this terrible loss.

Paul lost his entire collection of contemporary poetry, fiction, and essays in the fire. We know that many of our readers have been touched by Paul's work in RUMINATE (Issue 01 and Issue 06) not to mention his many wonderful writings elsewhere. So, we wanted to invite our readers to join other students, readers, and colleagues in an effort to rebuild Paul's library by donating a book to his library. Some of these students have compiled a booklist to show what books have been donated so far:  http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pWB45SY--hWPjZGL5nW5mDQ. 

If you would like to participate, please add your contribution to this list then make sure you click "save and close" under the file tab when you're done. Then, you may send your book donation to: Paul Willis, care of the Westmont College English Dept., 955 La Paz Rd., Santa Barbara, CA, 93108. You may also send your book donation to RUMINATE, and we will compile a box of the books and send them to Paul. Our address is RUMINATE, 140 N. Roosevelt Ave, Fort Collins, CO 80521. 

Thank you!

We are working like mad to get Issue 10 ready, which probably explains the lapse in blogs. But, we're back, and so excited to share some great news about RUMINATE's talented graphic designer, Anne Pageau.

Anne has been with us from the very beginning and is responsible for making RUMINATE what Pulitzer prize nominee Lawrence Dorr called, "the most beautiful magazine [he] had ever seen." We happen to agree with Mr. Dorr and love how Anne has made RUMINATE far from the typical literary magazine.  Instead, RUMINATE looks much more like an artist's sketch book or a writer's journal, with each poem, paragraph  and page hand-crafted. And this is all thanks to Anne.  

And because so many of our reader's have told us how much they love the design of RUMINATE, we wanted to share Anne's latest creation with you all: Give Studio. Together with her husband Brian, Anne is creating gorgeous letterpress cards and stationery (and don't worry, Anne will still be designing RUMINATE, too).  Anne loves beautiful typography and paper and taking the time to write good friends, so it is no surprise that she and Brian hope Give Studio will encourage these things, and as they put it: celebrate "generosity, handwritten sentiments, the use of postage stamps, a slightly-slower pace of life, shared emotions, experience, reminding someone of who they are, curiosity, and kindness" just to name a few. 

To us, these are quite worthy of celebration, and in many ways, coincide with our hopes for RUMINATE and why we care so much how each page is designed and the type of paper we print on--because we want RUMINATE to be something you love to read, but also something beautiful that you want to hold and touch, and pause over, and share with friends. And with much thanks to Anne, we think it is!

We wish the best for Give Studio. Go ahead and check it out for yourself...and I bet you'll want to write a letter--because Anne and Brian's enthusiasm is that infectious and the cards are that beautiful. Plus, they make great Christmas gifts too.