THOR'S DAY MAY 24, 2018 "EPITAPH: The End of THE RAVEN: Northwest Minnesota's Original Art, History & Humor Journal."

The last Raven issue and its accompanying postcard

    
It’s been grand these past twenty-four years though not without its frustration. These past couple issues are reminiscent of that, less I drift off into melancholy and erase the memories of the folding machine going crazy, glitches with the color laser printers, leaky toner cartridges, paper handling with its humidity and static electricity issues, all the ill-timed computer crashes we’ve had, the problems with new versions of QuarkXpress, and compatibility issues with MAC OS Lion. Jackie sometimes got so frustrated with graphic arts issues that she scrawled a large sign on the wall in the office that read:  I’M SO FRUSTRATED! WHY DOESN’T THIS WORK? THIS SUCKS. I HATE IT!

    We quit publishing once before, in 1998, when we took a year’s sabbatical. I was frustrated because we couldn’t produce the quality I thought we should be capable of doing. During that year off, I got an informal education in newspaper publication and word processing application. In 2000, I took out a loan and purchased our first color laser printer: an HP 8500, a couple used Mac computers, Photoshop and QuarkXpress software, an Olympus digital camera, a Martin Yale tabloid folding machine and the best 11”x17” paper  I could afford. Two years or so later, we applied for a 501(c)(3) non-profit status and formed a Board of Directors. Then, following through, we obtained a bulk mailing permit to save on postage costs.
 
   Over the following years we were awarded Legacy Fund Arts Grants through the Northwest Minnesota Arts Council, something I had long hoped we would achieve after all our hard work. With those grants we upgraded some of our equipment and increased our production of issues, as well as promoted the artwork of other artists across the state. I wish to express our thanks to         Director Mara Hanel and the NW Minnesota Arts Board for their support, patience, and encouragement.
 
    I wish to thank my wife, Jacqueline Helms-Reynolds, a retired professional graphic artist, who came aboard in 2003, to bring    The Raven up to its current high graphic standard. Jackie assumed the magnified roles of production, accounting, copy editor, and website manager (theravenjournal.com). She also designed and printed all the postcards from 2003, on, always being one to utilize student artwork when possible.
 
   A big thank you goes out to CatherineStenzel, our Contributing Editor, who elevated The Raven content with her four issue series, “Fierce Women of NW Minnesota.” Catherine’s energetic promotion of many student poets put their work in front of thousands of readers. Wonderful poems of her own also graced our pages.
 
A HUGE thank you goes to Citizens State Bank of Roseau for their encouraging feedback and generous financial support of our bulk mailing permits.
 
Thanks to all the many interesting characters and locations that  The Raven has introduced to us, we’ve enjoyed the flight.
 
Thanks to everyone who read and supported us in rural townships, in libraries, residences and public venues of fifty-six counties of Minnesota, in twenty-three states, and internationally as well!
 
Last, but not least, thank you to Joseph G. McDonnell, of Wannaska, who shared with me, his dream of creating a little rurally-published magazine he called, 
                                     THE RAVEN:  
                        Northwest Minnesota’s Original
                         Art, History & Humor Journal.
                                       1994-2018