fun with digital camera, feat. nostalgia

As I mentioned in my last post, late last year I stepped back from any sort of leadership role (or role in general, really) with High Altitude Poetry, which I started up with when it was reformed in 2002 (it was originally founded in 1989 by Stephen Buckley, and then reestablished when he returned to campus in '02).

It took until seeing the latest issue, with its kind dedication towards our 2002 - 2007 "generation", to realise that, yeah, it's been a long time, and quite a bit of work.

So I went to the bookshelf and pulled out my archive of HAP issues - something I hadn't yet done. Considering that we've published almost 10,000 copies since the zine started in 2004, it's quite possible that others out there have complete sets (23 issues and counting, plus a tribute issue for Stephen) - but at this point the only collections I know of are mine and the two at the libaries at SFU and the National Library in Ottawa.

So it was neat to finally lay them out and take a look at them all (and a picture).


Upon viewing the arrangement, four thoughts immediately came to me:

1. It's obvious when SFU upgraded its paper stock.
2. Same for when HAP moved from in-house cover art to submitted work.
3. Perhaps less obvious for most, but painfully obvious for me, are the issues for which I was left in charge of the cover - think "ugly", "Papyrus", and "Typewriter".
4. My living room has terrible lighting.

It's been a fun ride, and even though I'm now off of it, I look forward to all the great issues to come from the 2008 - 20?? crowd!

p.s. Bonus point if you can find my toe in the picture.