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The first issue of Briarpatch Review had many more reasons to fail than to succeed. It was pretty thin on content. And some of the content was soon to be proven utterly dumb. (Freelandia). It was nowhere explained why a journal about alternative economics, directed to people who identify with the notion of “Briarpatch” life and work, should cost a whole dollar.
There are families interested in Briarpatch ideas who can feed themselves for a day on what a dollar can buy.
Briarpatch Review #1 was a walking contradiction of itself.
But at least we got it out! Before, there was no Review. Afterwards, there was one. We mailed copies to 5,000 people, free of charge. About 1,000 people responded with letters and money. Many people sent in more than the requested dollar. We received about $800 in all, enough to encourage Issue #2, if not, in fact, to pay for it. A mailing list was created. After a year, new energies have gathered, mainly in the form of present editors Annie, Michael, and Judi.
Clearly, the reason for the survival of Briapatch Review through at least this second issue is simply the power of the Briarpatch concept itself. That concept has still not been completely defined. New pieces of the definition continue to come in, to add to the original notions set forth last issue by Dick Raymond, Michael Phillips, and other writers in other publications. The idea has something to do with the growing refusal of increasing numbers of people to let all power over their lives, and livelihoods, pass into the hands of the government and other large corporations. Ingenuity is bustin’ out all over, in response to a real cultural need, and this Review is only one of the places where the people’s ingenuity is being described.
The present editors here asked me to correct my omission in Issue #1 and insert a note of explanation about the $1.00 price tag for a copy of this little journal. Obviously, the money that readers send is in the nature of a gift, and investment in a worthy idea that is even now finding concrete expression in the lives of thousands of people all over the country. The idea will survive without your dollar, so don’t feel guilty if you don’t send one in. But the point is to help the network, to encourage the inter-connectedness of us all, to help the rose bloom upon the briars as a source of inspiration to people who are trying hard, as well as a source of practical information and general help.
Peace,
Gurney Norman