Letter from the editor (issue 6)
Me and my grandpa (founder of the Crowder Quill)
“He wanted to get people thinking, to be clever and spontaneous. This is why I think he started the Quill; to get all those creative juices flowing, and to give them an outlet.”
-Lesli Neuenschwander, speaking about her father Dan in the Crowder Quill 2017 article, “Dedication to the Founder.”
EDITORS LETTER
by Mark N.
It’s crazy how things come full circle. Especially with this publication. Let me tell you a story…
I started all this 3 years ago, with a beautiful little team of passionate weirdos that helped me see it to fruition. We started a real, bonafide magazine, much to our own surprise.
What I somehow didn’t know when we started all this, is that my grandfather had done the same thing, all the way back in 1980- 5 years before I was born. It wasn’t actually until last year that I came across an article laying out the history of “the Crowder Quill,” a local arts publication that came to life out of a creative writing class taught by Dan Richard. That was grandpa. I just remembered him as the goofy old guy who reveled in puns, delighted in playing poker and nerding out about movies with me, and did whatever he could to crack a smile from my stoic grandmother. (He always got one).
Dan Richard, founder of the Crowder Quill and grandfather of Joplin Toad editor Mark N.
My mom went on to be editor of that publication in 1982 when she went to Crowder.
She and my artist father later encouraged my creative streak and suggested I submit my own work to “The Crowder Quill” when I was a teenager, a process that deeply boosted my own creativity.
Then came my own time at Crowder, where I worked as assistant editor on the school paper (even though I had little interest in the publishing or journalism worlds). Yet another fact I didn’t know was that my theater director at the time- J.P. Dickey- had been in that original course where the Quill began. He was another influence in my creative journey, helping teach me the art of collaboration and guiding me as I wrote and directed my own play in my final semester at Crowder.
Add to that, the presence of Lori Marble, who was at the time Crowder’s public information director and someone I interacted with enough that she began to (affectionately) refer to me as ‘sticky boy’ when I wouldn’t stop taping up flyers around the school for my fledgling photography “business”…
Now, influenced by my grandfather and those he had guided in ways I’d never remotely comprehended, I took on something I never would have expected; running a magazine. One which featured miss Lori as a featured artist; one that’s worked with J.P.’s son Alex through collaborations with Bookhouse cinema; one that’s featured work from several other now-professional artists and writers whose art was first featured in the pages of “the Crowder Quill” when they were just kids. Two of those creatives are in this issue- my sister Veronica Carr, and illustrator Jordan Murdock-Thompson.
One last thing, before we close this circle. I had no idea when I asked them to join the Toad, that two of our team members- Kayla (responsible for the beautiful designs inside these pages) and Theresa (there since day one of figuring out what this thing would be)- had both dreamed of starting a magazine since they were young. And here I wondered why they’d said yes so easily…
Holy cow.
You just never know what other dreams you’re inspiring- however far down the road- when you act on your own and invite others into it. So I’d like to remind you all: you’re never just dreaming for you. Keep going.
-Mark