2012 (Volume 24)

 

One of our themes this issue is about community: how we need it, how we feel adrift without it, how we long to be connected to it and how we sometimes lose it.

 

We saw our community come together during the Great Flood of the Summer of 2011. Under our Siouxland section we have two essays dealing with the Missouri River. Robert K Schneiders's title tells it all in, "No Hope for the Valley." He writes, "When the Great Flood of 2011 arrived in the wood and riprapped navigation channel, the Missouri quickly jumped out of its man-made banks and spread its dark waters far afield, inflicting costly damage to agricultural lands, suburban developments and infrastructure."

Jim Redmond in "Wide Missouri" points out that the flood created community, but he sadly warns us that the river will win despite the infrastructure of dams, reservoirs and channels. 

 

We have many more works in this year's issue, and we invite you to sit back with the magazine in hand, breathe in the smell of the ink, look at the art, read the text and enjoy all of the wonderful connections here.