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ON THE VERGE of completing its fifth issue, CrossRoads: A Journal of Southern Culture, edited and published by Ole Miss graduate students with the support of the Center and other campus groups, continues its dedication to providing a forum for interdisciplinary scholarship on the South. In its short history the biannual journal has managed to carve out a niche in the competitive world of publications by taking a broad-based approach to cultural studies. It hopes to continue its success in contributing to the study and understanding of the South.
Ted Olson, a doctoral student in English and the journal s guru, wanted to create a publication focusing on the South but from as many perspectives as possible. He felt that there was plenty of room for a journal that took a consciously interdisciplinary and untraditional approach: Things that are not jounalistically or academically fashionable have an important place in cultural studies. We re one of the few journals that will include poetry or take a chance with memoirs.
One strategy CrossRoads has used to help set it apart has been thematic structure. Each issue is loosely organized around one theme. Previous issues have dealt with Southern singers and storytellers, race and ethnicity, religion, and the Southern sense of place.
The upcoming issue focuses on gender identity in the South and maintains the journal s multifaceted approach. It will contain two short stories, 12 pages of poetry, including Walter McDonald s evocation of his experience in Vietnam, an oral history of a homosexual in post-World War II Birmingham, a memoir by David Huddle, and a photo essay by Marilyn Nance on an extended African American family in Birmingham. The issue will also involve scholarly articles, including a comparison of gender identity in the works of George Washington Cable and Kate Chopin, a study of elderly African Americans in the work of Ernest Gaines, and an examination of the uses of gender in the work of William Faulkner.
Thus far, CrossRoads has met with much success, earning praise from the likes of sociologist John Shelton Reed and novelist Lee Smith. Charles Wilson, professor of Southern Studies and History and faculty supervisor of the journal, praises the publication s approach: CrossRoads has established a distinct identity, drawing together fiction, nonfiction, and sharp observation. But developing the journal has not been easy, according to Olson: Because it s been a graduate student publication with only a handful of volunteer workers, keeping it going has been hard. Our emphasis has had to be on editorial content and fund-raising. Olson hopes to increase the subscriber base. He believes that readers will not be disappointed: It s sometimes rigorous but always rewarding reading.
For additional information, write CrossRoads, P.O. Box 726, University, MS 38677
Bland Whitley
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Raj Betapudi