Fall 2019 Edition Letter from the Editors

Sarah Rossey, Managing Editor of The Watershed Journal

     Welcome to the sixth edition of The Watershed Journal, an extremely local literary magazine representing storytellers, writers, artists, poets and photographers in our neck of the Pennsylvania Wilds. If you are from our area, we hope you enjoy familiar names and landscapes and discover new perspectives that might surprise you. If you live outside of our area, we are excited to introduce you to the talent, passion and culture blossoming in our region.

     As a nonprofit literary group, The Watershed Journal is actively working to engage the public and provide various opportunities for storytelling in all its forms. Our quarterly Workshops, monthly writer’s meetings, young writer’s groups and regular performances are essential aspects of our mission to empower and elevate the local writing community. 

     At the heart of it all is this publication you’re holding in your hands — a public testament to the voices and hearts passionate about our part of Northern Appalachia.

     We want to be entertaining and inspiring, and at times challenging, but above all we want to be an authentic reflection of our territory. Ours is an inclusive platform for misfits, career academicians, underdogs, dreamers, daily practitioners and everyone in between. Some of our submitters have been published numerous times, and some have never submitted their work before. 

     We hope you are enthralled and inspired by the wide variety of pieces included in this Fall 2019 Edition, as we have been during production. The time we spend lovingly pairing pieces and designing pages is very special to us and binds us even closer with our storytelling community.

     Each edition has taken on its own tone and character, and this new Fall Edition is unique in its own way. You may notice that a number of pieces in this magazine are about animal friends, both wild and domestic. We have been listening to our submitters and have decided as a team to donate 10% of our sales from the Fall Edition during this quarter to a local animal shelter. Our stories matter; they entertain us and influence us and help us understand our surroundings. But, as with all good stories, these voices should also spur us to action. 

     We hope you are heartened and emboldened by what you are about to read. Perhaps you are motivated to start a new project yourself, or finish an old one. If so, send us your stuff! You may find that there are holes in our representation and don’t find a voice that resonates with yours. If so, send us your stuff! We are constantly re-evaluating how we can better serve and enliven our community and love to hear from our readers (and gain more submitters!).