Friday, January 4, 2013

The Journal of Ordinary Thought Spring 2012



The Journal of Ordinary Thought
Spring 2012
$25 / 3 issues
Neighborhood Writing Alliance
1313 East 60th Street
Chicago IL 60637

This journal is obviously well funded and not the type of publication that I generally review.

The Journal of Ordinary Thought publishes reflections people make on their personal histories and everyday experiences. It is founded on the concept that that every person is a philosopher, expressing one's thoughts fosters creativity and change, and taking control of life requires people to think about the world and communicate their thoughts to others. 

This is a perfect-bound, Chicago-centric literary journal of poetry and prose organized loosely around the themes of “freedom” and “liberation”. The Journal of Ordinary Thought includes exquisite black and white illustrations from the L is for Liberation Collective. The writing within feels accessible and genuine, none of it forced or pretentious. The most powerful piece that stood out is “The Don’t Die Code” by Claire Bartlett, who writes “I’m just trying to keep you from getting killed.”  Helena Marie Carnes-Jeffries also hits deep pockets of childhood realities with her poem “I Was a Packaged Child”. It’s refreshing to read literature / philosophy by everyday folk instead of the workshopped writing by the pantheon of ivory tower academians who believe it is their role to carry the torch of proper literary merit for the rest of us earthlings.

I hope you understood that sentence. 

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