Living a better story
For the third time in two years, I read Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. If you remember the last time I blogged about the book, I was leaving for Iraq. I found a story to fight for.
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Walter Fisher’s Narrative Paradigm theory states that humans understand life as Story, that in life there are protagonists and antagonists, plot twists, inciting incidents, character arcs, and, most of all, conflict.
Donald Miller realizes this as he begins editing his memoir, Blue Like Jazz, to be made into a movie. He notices that everything that makes stories good, makes life good too.
So, in response, Don decides to write a better story for himself.
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I found my story last summer. I fought really, really, really hard to live it. It took four months of crying, praying, and arguing before I could get to Slemani, Iraq — but I got there.
But then, then I came home and I forgot about it.
I never forgot about the story — my time in Iraq or the time fighting for it — but I forgot why I should live a better story at all.
I got comfortable. I lived a normal college student’s life.
Now, I’m getting restless. I’m happy with my internship; I’m happy with my work with the Sojourn and my relationship with Nathan — those things that kept me distracted during the school year.
But, I want to live for something more. I want to want something.
I want to endure conflict for the good of a story.
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I wrote that about two weeks ago. Now, I’m pursuing a bigger story.
For almost two years I’ve been dreaming up a magazine, one that has a social conscious. I started dreaming it once my other dream—working for RELEVANT Magazine—died. I wanted to make a magazine that lived out what RELEVANT preached (because I believed that it wasn’t doing a good job).
I’ve matured since then. Ha, after a heart-to-heart with Mr. Cameron Strang himself, I’ve learned that RELEVANT is doing a lot of good for the world. It’s a voice for the voiceless. I know Cameron cares about social justice; I don’t doubt that anymore.
But, RELEVANT is still not my dream. There are still a lot of things I’d do differently if I ran the magazine … which is why I don’t want to run the magazine. Ha.
I want to create a literary magazine – one with beautifully written prose and poetry, something that inspires people not just through the message, but through the medium. But I don’t want it to publish only stuff that is well-written. Pick up a copy of Zoetrope: All-Story or The Hudson Review and you’ll get that. No, I want a magazine that says something worth saying.
So, if RELEVANT and All-Story had a baby, you’d get Paradigm.
I decided, too, that if I’m going to publish pieces that encourage people to change the world, I should try to change the world in the process. So, all of Paradigm’s profits go to the Preemptive Love Coalition, the organization I interned with in Slemani last summer. Plus, a feature story and an ad go to them as well. Free publicity for them and, hopefully, a lot of money as well.
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I should mention too that this is my senior project. If I need an excuse to start a magazine, this is it. I put in a hundred-plus hours, write a paper, make a portfolio, give a presentation – then I get a grade and a wonderful prototype for my magazine. Issue 0. This is my pre-issue; this is my planning issue. If all goes well, I’ll create another issue in a year, then work toward going quarterly.
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I need writers. Desperately. And artists. I’m talking to the people I know—mostly the people I go to school with—but I’m not sure that’ll be enough. I’m shooting for 10 written pieces, and about that much art as well. I want it to be diverse; I want contributors of different ages and backgrounds if possible.
If you know anyone, please link them to my site, paradigmlit.com or have them email me at paradigmlit@gmail.com.
You, my dear reader, are welcome to submit a query as well. In fact, PLEASE DO!
Lauren Deidra
June 21, 2011