The Open Forum

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My first gig after moving to Mandan, North Dakota was self-publishing a small, free newspaper. It was originally conceived as a local arts and crafts sort of thing, but quickly morphed into an open forum (it was called The Heart River Open Forum) for poetry, short stories, essays, artwork, cartoons, and my monthly movie reviews.

Here I am in the basement of our first house in Mandan, carefully crafting an issue, pink shirt, balding head, and all. I wish I still had that Macintosh Quadra 605.

 


At the time, for me, the paper was mostly a way to feel like a neo-Roger Ebert. What I most fondly remember about it now is how excited the mostly Left-leaning people of Bismarck/Mandan were to have this cool bit of alternative media in their midst. My post box was regularly stuffed with submissions. This was during the mid-nineties. It was the Clinton years and it was North Dakota. Lots of people were hungry to have their voices heard.

My favorite contributor was Jon Twingley. He’d left a box of hand drawn postcards at the Green Earth CafĂ© (sadly no longer around) and I was so taken by them that I gave him a call that evening. I originally asked him to provide illustrations for my movie reviews like this one for Pulp Fiction:

 


Happily, I was soon smart enough to let him do anything he wanted. I remember laughing out loud when he gave me “Three Butts Smoking.” I promptly used it for my next issue’s cover.

 


Jon now works and lives in New York City. Give his work a look (it’s really quite phenomenal) on his website: https://www.twingley.com/

Read more about the Open Forum in my book This Dating Thing: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NGXZN34/


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