The New

Well, here we are at the beginning of Calvin's 2009 Interim. I am heading out tomorrow morning to spend a few weeks in the New England vicinity, and so Miranda will be heading up the newest big venture of Dialogue, Inc. This venture is a three-fold arts-and-literary mêlée to be released as a mini-series of triplet mini-issues. Each mini-issue will be filled with responses to an assignment, which are as follows:

Assignment #1 - Coloring Book and Activity Guide: What better time for something fun than interim? Take a few hours of free time, maybe with a friend or two, and come up with something that can lead others into merrymaking, recreation, leisure, or other forms of jollification. Try something conventional, like a picture for others to color (whether with crayons or something thoroughly more weird), or go completely off the map with instructions or suggestions for some crazy activity (preferably one that will not result in death, arrest, or expulsion from Calvin College). Homemade word finds or sudoku or mad libs, geocaches, rules for a card or ball game. Spark spark spark.

Assignment #2 - 6" x 6": This constraints here are purely spatial. Whatever you can fit into a six-inch by six-inch square qualifies. If you don't fill the space, think creatively about what it means to have negative space, a margin, a blank, etc. in your work.

Assignment #3 - The Truth: Think photographs and non-fiction, only expanded. What is supposed to be true these days, and how is this represented? What about facts? What are some facts? what are some types of facts? There is room here for all sorts of conventionally non-artistic or un-literary material. Charts, graphs, syllogisms, statistical models, formulas and equations. What does the truth have to do with form, style, context, and with presentation? How are you going to convince us editors and our readers that something is true?