From Folio: After months of negotiations with the Internal Revenue Service over thousands of dollars owed in unpaid taxes, non-profit literary magazine the Oxford American Friday received a much-needed surprise: a donation of $100,000 (story here).
An anonymous doner dropped $100k to keep the magazine afloat. That’s America.
Anyone not familiar with this great publication, which regularly features some of the finest writing you’ll encounter in any magazine, is encouraged to check it out, here. The focus of Oxford American is all-things Southern (we’re talking Oxford Miss., not Oxford, England), but to assume it’s only about “the south” is to miss the point. Or, put another way, to imply that “the south” does not (implicitly and, at times, explicitly) concern, involve and comment upon all of America misses an even larger point. It’s great writing, period. And yes, it may be one of the last literary-minded magazines that discusses, among many other southern oriented things, Lowcountry Boil, hunting, and Faulkner. Incidentally, those last three topics are addressed in the same issue, which if I were forced to choose, may remain the single-best issue of any magazine I’ve ever read. That would be the Southern Food Issue; check it out, or purchase it, here.
As anyone else already in the know already knows, a subscription to Oxford American pays for itself every year with its annual music issue. Complete with a free CD, the issue contains detailed essays on each selection, and for as long as I’ve subscribed to this magazine, each music issue turns me on to at least three or four incredible musicians I would have otherwise never known. Priceless.
Bottom line: any magazine that would include a song from this guy (not to mention an essay about him) in its annual music issue is well worth preserving. In addition to the late, beyond-great Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, the current music issue features Neko Case, Arthur Lee, Jerry Lee Lewis and the one-hit wonder Wendy Rene (check it out, below, and check out the essay here). What are you waiting for?
