Yesterday's Magazette

Each issue was aimed to carry you back to a happier time, a happier place. 

Remember Mom in the kitchen cooking that fabulous holiday meal? Or, Dad taking the entire family for a Sunday ride in his new car? Or, Sis getting ready for her prom date? Your first car? Your first job? Your favorite holiday memory? Remember neighbors helping neighbors? YM readers remembered and they shared their stories with me and the world. 

Since the very beginning, Yesterday's Magazette has been about one thing: SHARING MEMORIES. For four decades YM has helped readers recapture that down-home honesty and goodness of the average American citizen with regularly printed issues. Nothing fancy … just plain folks who wanted to relate their own life experiences. 

Yesterday's Magazette's motto has always been "Everyone Has A Yesterday" and I still believe everyone, regardless of age, has a cherished memory worth publishing. And, thankfully, YM has preserved thousands of these memories for posterity. 

This has been a noble endeavor and I thank each and every YM reader who has contributed to this worthy cause. I hope all of you will continue to share your memories, if not within these pages then in another publication or in a book of your own. Future generations will thank you and be forever in your debt. And your life, or at least a small part of it, will live on for all eternity.

Now, I have decided to suspend regular quarterly printed issues of YM in favor of one annual edition. Thus, the next printed issue is scheduled for January 2013. Initially, I had planned to terminate YM completely, but as I have more memories I still wish to share (and I'm certain you have memories as well) I opted for this annual change. 

The web version's "Current Issue" will also now be shown as yearly instead of quarterly. However, I will include an "Updates" link on this home page where new stories, viewpoints, etc. will be listed on a regular basis. By taking this course, I leave the door open for you to continue to share your memories with me and with a wide and loyal audience. Then, in December, I will choose the ten best new stories that I receive from February 1 to December 1 and our judges will help me pick one to be our "YM Best Memory of The Year"and the author will receive a $50 prize, plus publication in our printed magazine. This will begin with our 2013 issue in January.

After more than 40 years of producing magazines and newspapers and meeting deadlines on a weekly, monthly, bi-monthly and quarterly schedule, I guess it is time for me to slow down a little and try to catch up on my own writing, art, music, and maybe even improve my golf game. (Scratch that last item. That would be an attempt in futility.)

Anyway, my nostalgic love affair with producing Yesterday's Magazette has truly been a long and glorious ride for me. Of course, my deepest gratitude goes out to my talented contributing editors, Madonna Dries Christensen, Marshall J. Cook, and Carrillee Collins Burke, as well as to the thousands who have shared their lives with me and YM's legion of loyal readers.

I hope this new change meets with your approval. In some ways, it is better because now you can submit your submissions any time between February 1 and December 1 and, if accepted, you can view your work by clicking the "Updates" link above and see your name in print in a matter of days rather than having to wait three months or more. And, of course, there is also now the $50 annual prize to consider. So keep sending those memories!

Enjoy this "Current Issue" of 2012 and remember to come back often to read our new "Updates."

Well, that's it for now. Take care, and don't forget to be kind to one another this year.