Next Magazine Redux CHRISTINE TRZYNA articles coming up soon!

I recently found my collection of Next..., a thin newspaper sheet magazine founded by G. Murray Thomas and Lawrence Shultz, in support of the Southern California poetry community which went into start up in 1994. I was one of the original volunteers for Next... after meeting Murray and Lawrence when we did a surf poetry reading in Santa Barbara, California, and a proponent of the burgeoning "street" scene and open mic phenomena at the time, particularly at the NoHo independent "coffee house" (actually more of a creativity space since the coffee was pitch in the pot) called The Iguana.

I rarely worked in the office of Next. Instead I responded to thematics and deadlines from a distance and distributed copies to various venues in my area such as Emersons Coffee House and California State University - Northridge. My writerly contributions to Next... were with the understanding that all rights returned to me after printing. I have to say while I was reading my articles thirteen years later I felt a sense of pride in my writing. At the time I wrote these articles I was a less secure writer primarily because I was not on the right side of the politics of the poetry scene. It has taken this distance to acknowledge my very original "voice" and viewpoint, and to no longer feel the disapproval that came my way because some readers thought I was supposed to be in service of their vision.

Soon I'll be sharing my articles and providing some commentary on my own thoughts and feelings at the time I wrote the articles and the reactions that readers had to them.

Christine Trzyna

................... Stay tuned for Next... Redux.