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“What are you gonna do about it?” Jaekle wrote back. “If you want this journal, it’s yours.” “Despite or because of my total lack of experience in editing and publishing, I said yes,” Barstow would later write. So began his term as editor and publisher of Pilgrimage. With wife Marcia contributing her skills as business manager to the venture, the Barstows were able to sustain Pilgrimage for 25 years—quite an accomplishment in an of itself. But Pilgrimage was more than a literary journal. Over the years, it provided a home for new and established writers whose soulful reflections along the way helped establish a hospitable and vibrant community in print. Once described by Robert Bly as “one of the best journals in the country,” Pilgrimage served a loyal audience of readers, writers, seekers, and thinkers. “It definitely belongs in the rucksack of pilgrims, adventurers, and those contemplating a...journey beyond the outskirts of the Average,” wrote Sam Keen. In the fall of 2002, tucked away in the classifieds of Poets and Writers Magazine, I saw Dave’s ad seeking an editor/publisher to take over: “Pilgrimage is available at no cost to anyone who commits to continuing in the tradition of personal reflective writing.” I was intrigued, having had an interest not only in autobiographical writing, but in the notion of pilgrimage, and in the work of editing and publishing. So we sent e-mails back and forth for a while. A month later, on a teaching trip back to Indiana, I had the chance to visit with Dave and Marcia at their mountain home down in North Carolina. We settled into a conversation that rambled through our various interests and backgrounds, exploring ideas about writing and publishing, and venturing into the practical realm of producing a small journal. We followed the twists and turn of good talk into a convivial spaghetti dinner and a good bottle of wine. The prospect of carrying on the work that Dave and Marcia had so ably sustained over the years seemed even more likely after the time we spent together that day. A few months later, knowing that I could count on Dave and Marcia for their advice and expertise, and believing that there was a niche for this small magazine and a role for me to play in producing it, we made all the necessary arrangements for Pilgrimage to head west across the Smokies, across the Mississippi and the Great Plains, and on toward the Continental Divide. In the summer of 2003, Pilgrimage found a new home on the flanks of the Sangre de Cristo Range in south central Colorado. This place and this region will shed a little southwestern light into the territory that this publication has explored in the past. But my hope too is that Pilgrimage will continue to create a widespread community in print. And that it will continue to serve an eclectic fellowship of readers, writers, poets, naturalists, activists, contemplatives, seekers, adventurers and other kindred spirits whose images, stories, and reflections you will find on these pages. |
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To read articles from the early years of Pilgrimage or to order the collection, "The Best of Pilgrimage" from this era, please click here. |
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for more information about the current press, including subscription information, please contact
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Peter Anderson