from the publisher

june 21, 2001     

Dear readers,

Yay! We're back! You can find out a little of what we did during our spring vacation on our events page. We'll fill you in on the rest of our break as time goes on. For now, here's the first week's worth of conversation, stories, pictures, poems, and more for adult adolescence.

This week we talk to "This American Life" host Ira Glass on what it means to grow up. Caroline Berry examines the lifestyle of adolescent girls in her photo essay "Turning Twelve." Daria Brown reveals the comedy of a search for lasting love from adolescence to adulthood in her tale Dates—Not A Love Story. Poet Zoë Francesca shares thoughts on the fantasy world of the new economy in Dot Com Denouement. And Susan Terris, whose poem Palatino was much admired in our siblings issue, is back with Chickens Have No Myths.

Summer's here and all the bad movies are out, so we'll be sharing recommendations for good flicks to rent, along with books to read, that reflect the adult adolescent in you. And our daily quotes offer the sometimes constructive, destructive, and creative possibilities of grown-ups' continued immaturity. Speaking of grown-ups, a couple of months ago at our party in San Francisco, we surveyed some of them—mostly writers, editors, teachers, and the unemployed, aged 20 to 60—about what they want to be when they grow up, their first kiss, theme songs from their adolescence, and more. We'll post some of the results later this week.

We have added a new feature: "odd landings on the page." Although most readers go directly to our web address, others arrive after running a web search—searches that have included such intriguing search strings as "good party conversation topics" and "beautiful young women naked with tourettes." Visit odd landings for more examples of how a few travelers arrived on the page.

Oh, I almost forgot our big news. We have print versions of OtP available. That's right—you can purchase So Far On the Page, a selection of works from our first three issues, at St. Mark's Bookshop (31 Third Avenue) in New York for just $5.00. If you can't make it to Manhattan, you can send us a check for $6.00 (the extra dollar covers postage costs) with your name and address and we'll mail you a copy.

In the coming weeks, author Pam Houston takes on questions of maturity, men, and motherhood. We'll also have more poetry from Susan Terris. And take a look at our archives; all past issues are available by author, title, issue, and genre.

Enjoy, and happy summer,