The founding editors of Packingtown Review first met at their grad school orientation in the basement of Stevenson Hall at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Stevenson, a modernist vision from the Cold War past, is slated to be demolished in the near future, and replaced with a complex that better represents this flashy late-capitalist era. But Packingtown Review will stay here in the world's shadows, undisturbed by the boom-and-bust cycles.
For those of us who have been with the journal since the idea of it emerged in the heads of Tasha Fouts and Snežana Žabić, the only thing that we'll always clearly remember are the authors we've published. (Concerns with deadlines, commitments, and, back when we had a budget, fund raising are but vague outlines of past troubles.) For that reason, we bring you new and hitherto unpublished works by our contributors from the previous nine issues: from Rosmarie Waldrop and James Grinwis from our inaugural issue to Inga Lea Schmidt and Jean Wolff from our most recent offering.
This tenth-issue-ten-year-anniversary celebration of work and camaraderie is dedicated to the memory of our friend JoAnne Ruvoli (1968-2018). We miss her. We are determined to keep pushing.
Editors