Special Edition Announced

April 15, 2000--The Paumanok Review is pleased to announce a call for submissions to its first special edition. The edition, due for publication in late fall or early winter, will feature essays and stories concerning significant historical events of the fading century.

The mission of this edition is to preserve in electronic format first-person narratives of people who shaped and shielded the world. This includes, but is not limited to, military or government service, political movements, major industrial changes, domestic transformations, and interesting or unusual occupations or anecdotes.

Essays, nonfiction articles, art and photographs will be considered. If demand is sufficient, a post office box will be opened to meet the needs of those unable to access a computer. The deadline for submissions if October 5, 2000. If you feel you have a story to tell, please do not hesitate to contact the editor with questions or comments. If you do not have a contribution but would like to help this cause, please encourage your friends, family members, and community veterans to participate.

Too often we look for the stories which fascinate, only to find that the storytellers are gone. Breath fades. But thanks to technology pioneered by some of the people we seek to honor, the voices can can be kept alive for generations to come.

TPR wins award for content and design

April 16, 2000--The Paumanok Review has been designated a "Silver Award" (four star) site by Banner Program Guide. The award is issued to sites which excel in content and presentation. The award can be viewed here.

TPR Branded 'Militant and Extremist'

March 20, 2000--Websense, Inc., U.S.-based Internet security company, has branded The Paumanok Review "Militant and Extremist." According to their definition, the label is consistent with a site which contains "information on militia operations, terrorist activity, war, riots, rebellion groups . . ." or which "advocates violence to overthrow government."

When questioned regarding the rating, Websense declined to comment. The company, formerly Netpartners Internet Solutions, calls itself "The Global Leader in Internet Filtering" and has over 5,000 corporate users including Hershey Foods Corporation, General Motors, IBM and Compaq Computer. Websense says it is involved with 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies.

The Paumanok Review is hosted by The Etext Archives, a free speech publications server with ties to the University of Michigan. In addition to literary magazines, Etext also contains personal zines, religious and political papers, and stories and plays uploaded by users. Etext is likewise classified as "Militant and Extremist". There has been no word on whether Websense is willing to index Geocities, Xoom orTripod in a similar manner based on information contained on user pages.

UPDATE: As of April 25, 2000 Websense has removed the Militant/Extreme designation and replaced it with "Arts & Humanities."

TPR #2 Literary E-zine

April 9, 2000--Users of infojump.com, a national newspaper and publications database, have ranked The Paumanok Review second out of a field of 364 online literary magazines.

The publications, which include such heavyweights as Ploughshares and PIF, are rated between one and five in terms of overall quality. Thusfar, TPR has yielded an average score of 4.12. The Paumanok Review has been as high as number 13 on the "Users Top 100", a list of the highest rated magazines of the more than 4,000 publications in 40 categories which infojump contains. Infojump also offers review and subscription services. Visit the site to rate your favorite--or not-so-favorite--publications.

Contributors Re-noted

Joy Hewitt Mann (current issue) has been notified that she has received this years Acorn-Rukeyser Award for the poem sequence "Grass". It will be published in chapbook form sometime this summer by UnMon Northland, the U.S. imprint of Unfinished Monument Press, a subsidiary of Mekler & Deahl, Publishers, Canada.

Daniel A. Olivas ("Eurt", Winter, 2000) reports a recent publication in Exquisite Corpse. In addition, one of his stories will be anthologized in a book coming out next year entitled Fantasmas: Supernatural Stories by Mexican-American Writers from Bilingual Review/Press. " I'll be along side some heavy hitters in the Latino literary community," he says. "Kathleen Alcala with write an introduction to the book. I'm very excited."

Tamara Vishkina (Poetry, Winter and Spring, 2000) has uncloaked the etymology of "paumanok." As several readers noticed, the word was borrowed from Walt Whitman's poetry, where "paumanok" features in such poems as "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" and "Starting from Paumanok." Ms. Vishkina has taken the research a step further: "Looks like Paumanok is Indian name for Long Island - it was spelled Paumanock or Paumanake or Paumanack and meant 'fish-shaped'." For more information, visit the Washington Post.

Promotional Movie Planned

A Quicktime movie highlighting some of TPR's contributors and accomplishments is planned for release with the Fall, 2000 edition. This one to two minute "commercial" will contain pictures and video of contributors and readers and voice files of contributors reading from their works. The effort will be part of a larger multimedia press kit used to promote TPR on the Internet, as well as a backdoor to the site.

Your help is needed to make sure this project meets TPR's standard of quality. If you are passionate about the magazine or the work of one of its contributors, of if you would like your work or image featured, please send your short excerpt to the editor. Especally needed are voice recordings of your thoughts about the magazine. Make sure your contribution is in a Macintosh-readable or Internet standard (MP3, MPEG, .WAV, JPEG, Quicktime, etc.) format and is digitally alterable. As always, contributors will revieve "galleys" of the project before it is released to the public in order that they may make corrections and suggest changes.

The Changing Face of TPR

Thanks to the efforts of interested contributors and readers,The Paumanok Review is growing. Changes to the design of this issue are apparent; repeat visitors will notice a wider interface, more attractive menu bar and comprehensive use of color.

What has not changed is the magazine's dedication to publishing and promoting the best in world literature and art. The contributors are the heart of TPR, and to thank them for their patience and work, classifed ads are now free to them for the life of the magazine. In addition, serial and repeat contributors receive one free banner ad. This policy is retroactive and designed to offer contributors a chance to promote books, shows and outside interests.

If you or your company is interested in advertising in or reviewing The Paumanok Review, the Press Pack is now online and ready to download in .pdf. This report contains full submission guidelines, advertising rates and policies, a statement by the editor and more.

Readers concerned with furthering TPR's presence in the literary community may be interested in the promotional banner and flyer available for download and display.

The editor wishes to thank everyone who has made the continuing success of the magazine possible. Suffice to say, your support has been humbling!