Regrettable and heartbreaking the aesthetic frill and technological fancy of those websites whose editors are more eager to unwrap the latest version of Adobe Dreamweaver than sustaining upon the arduous task of pursuing and establishing industry relationships that are essential to attracting the best writers, artists, and intellectuals for online publication. Furthermore, the obstacles that nascent online literary journals face in their attempt to surface from the depths of obscurity, especially when they do so without the aid of grants or at least some form of support from an academic institution, are such that a significant portion of my time is spent scouring through a virtual graveyard of long defunct online literary start-ups. Although a few of these abandoned sites are clumsy visual throwbacks to an earlier era in which blocky HTML graphics prevailed, many of these sites are in fact expertly constructed; for all my advocacy of novel web design, the success of, and the quality to be found in, Blackbird: an online journal of literature and the arts clearly proves that good content can still thrive among flashier competitors.Blackbird is principally the product of the Department of English at Virginia Commonwealth University and the non-profit organization New Virginia Review, Inc. Additional editorial contributions include undergraduate and graduate students, community volunteers, and former alumni. It is because of this seemingly exhaustive willingness to collaborate that Blackbird has managed to cull an impressive list of literary and artistic talent. And I'm not one to flatter.
Although Blackbird's layout does not seek to thrill and stun, its six button navigational toolbar and attendant sidebar menu will never leave readers either wanting or confused: genre categories are distinctly visible, author bios are easily accessible, and a list of works published, either from a current issue or from the archives, is conveniently located regardless of the page viewers may happen to stumble upon. Works featured ranges from poetry, fiction, non-fiction, essays, and streaming audio and video submissions.
Given the popularity of documentary films, the growing trend of video essays among online literary journals is an obvious extension; video essays as a relatively new sub genre offer a wonderful blend of narrative and imagery whose range of innovative possibilities remain largely unexplored.
Take for example one of Blackbird's Spring 2010 feature contributors, John Bresland, whose video essay Mangoes was shot and edited almost entirely using an iPhone. Although Bresland expresses regret in not having utilized advanced video and editing equipment, the transitions, sequences, and narrative dubbing are perfectly suited to the overall tone and mood of his essay: an understated comedic exploration of the unintended consequences of modern conveniences upon the modern family, in which Bresland discusses his initial distaste, reluctance, and eventual acceptance of using a papoose to carry around his infant son.
In closing, Blackbird's published content is consistently strong; also check out Hal Crowther's essay In Defense of Straight-Chuters, in which he emphasizes the importance of confronting life in all its gruesome peril and import, and Dilruba Ahmed's poem Qawwali, a free versed implication of an unrequited form of Sufi prayer on behalf of the world's afflicted and downtrodden.
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