Issue the Twenty-first: The Jitters
by Zabet Stewart

I've never slept well. Never. I can remember being about 5 years old and getting up after my parents had gone to bed so I could read all night. I was probably the only 10 year old who would end up cleaning her room from sheer boredom at 3am. In college, my friends devised a scale of sleep-deprivation for me so they could figure out how best to interact with me on a daily basis. Even my ex-husband and I agree that mutual sleep-deprivation was a large factor in our decision-making process.

To get me through the day, I have embraced caffeine with a love that is probably wrong in the eyes of most major Deities and at least 12 states, should the FDA ever rescind its ruling on it. Caffeine draws the world into sharp focus for me and allows me to concentrate in a way that I suspect means my jokes about having ADD are more true than I'd like to admit. And in this issue we celebrate the caffeine high, that twitchy miracle of brain chemistry, mostly via coffee (my personal favorite vehicle for caffeine), but also with tea and wool. (Yes, wool!)

And now that I have your attention, there is some news I'd like to share. The time has come, the editrix said, to talk of many things.

As you have probably been able to tell by my increasing inability to get the 'zine in order in a timely manner (which was always challenged, but now is bordering on the ridonkulous—yes, I said ridonkulous and I meant it), having two jobs is finally catching up with me. It's time for The AntiCraft to take a hiatus.

However, don't despair. We aren't going away completely. The forums will remain open, the Facebook page will remain active, you might see us vending at a craft show, and if we're feeling very cheeky, we might post a surprise project here and there. The point of this is to allow the staff to recharge (and reproduce, as some of them are wont to do) so that we can come back better than ever. Personally, I'm hoping to get laid off in this terrible economy so that I can turn The AntiCraft into a full-time job and some kind of business. If I don't, I'm working on a plan to be able to quit the soul-sucking Day Job and turn to art and The AntiCraft for solace and the occasional greenbacks.

I want to take a moment here to recognize the work of the Staff, who have very generously donated their time and effort to the cause since 2008. I knew I was never going to be able to really replace Renée, and I was, quite frankly, scared out of my wits to bring new people into this. Ones I met on the Internet, no less! (You know those people could be serial killers, right?!?) But Anthony, Carin, Dicey, and Rebecca quickly became more than just a good work team. And when my friends Raellyn and Janis hopped on board, I think I officially had the best time at a meeting, ever. This thing absolutely would not have survived without their support, creativity, dedication, and good humor.

We'll close out this run of The AntiCraft in Imbolc 2011, when we give this space over to some of our favorite artists for a gallery-style virtual show of self-portraits. Re-launch is scheduled, tentatively, for October of 2012. Anyone who wants to light candles, think good thoughts, send good vibes, or pray for us to come out of our chrysalis as some kind of venomous moth-superhero is more than welcome. We'll see you sooner than you think.

Thank you all for being part of quite possibly the strangest and most wondrous five years of my life.

All my love,
.:Zabet