Today we’d like to introduce you to Christine Rice.
Christine, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Around 2008, I went to a Story Week editorial panel at Columbia College (Story Week, which is no longer funded by CCC, was this amazing festival of writing organized by the CCC Fiction Writing Department). Anyway, at that panel, one of the more experienced print literary journal editors scoffed at online literary magazines and asked the audience, “I mean, who reads fiction online?” Everyone in the audience – predominantly students age 18-21 – raised their hand.
At that point, I had been editing our Department’s student literary magazine, Hair Trigger, for about eight years and I thought to myself, yeah, I could start an online magazine. So that’s what I did. Since then we have published over 600 short stories, essays, interviews, pieces of poetry, graphic comics, and novel excerpts. In 2017, we published our first print journal and are committed to publishing two editions per year.
In October 2017, I left Columbia College Chicago to launch the social justice writing workshop and publishing nonprofit Hypertext Magazine & Studio.
Before 2008, I had been teaching, of course, but also freelance writing. My feature stories were published in the Chicago Tribune and Detroit’s Metro Times, among many other publications. I have also published dozens of short stories and essays. My novel-in-stories, Swarm Theory, was published in 2016.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Nothing I do could be categorized as ‘smooth’ so, no, it has definitely not been a smooth road! I’m a first-generation on one side, second-generation American on the other side. My grandparents and parents were shopkeepers, business people, and line workers – which meant that no one in my family wrote or edited or taught or were in the nonprofit sector – so I didn’t grow up with creative role models. I finally found professional role models when I started my masters at Columbia College Chicago.
I then launched Hypertextmag.com, an online literary magazine. What did I know about the ins and outs of WordPress? About building a website? About running a magazine? Absolutely nothing. But I slogged through with help from a lot of people along the way.
And backing up a bit…in 2001, I finished a novel and landed a big New York agent. A few days after she started sending my manuscript around, 9/11 happened. My novel was about a Lebanese-American family and, at that time, in New York and even in Los Angeles, no one wanted to read about my Lebanese-American characters. No publisher would pick it up. This setback is so minor in comparison to the horror of that day and what individuals went through during that time but it is notable in my timeline as a writer. It took me a long time to send work out after that. I kept writing but I simply couldn’t send work out. It took me about ten years to start sending my fictional work out again.
Please tell us about Hypertextmag.com and Hypertext Magazine & Studio.
I founded the social justice nonprofit Hypertext Magazine & Studio (HMS) in 2017. HMS is a social justice storytelling nonprofit – led by teachers, writers, & publishers – that teaches people to lift their voice, to tell and write their stories. We teach writing and storytelling techniques to community members directly impacted by violence, people who are rebuilding their lives after being incarcerated, recovering from substance use disorders, or any community whose collective voice has been marginalized.
At HMS, we believe that creating art helps us understand our personal journeys and our world. As writers and teachers, we also believe in sharing our time, energy, and skills with community members whose stories have been silenced for too long. These ‘storytelling’ skills translate directly to ‘hard’ skills including resume, cover letter, and email writing.
Because the Chicago nonprofit lit scene is so vibrant – with so many kick-ass youth writing and storytelling nonprofits and ‘slam’ events – HMS focuses on addressing the literacy needs of Chicago’s adult community. We’re just getting started but have already been teaching 15-20 community members who were formerly incarcerated. In October, we will be teaching writing to two additional programs including a veterans group and a group of people recovering from substance use disorders. By the end of 2019, we are aiming to teach writing and storytelling skills to nearly 100 adults in the Chicago area.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to start over, I would have told my younger self to be more fearless, to embrace failure, to listen to my gut. I would have told myself to not wait for approval but, rather, to start things on my own. Those are the things I’ve learned over the years though so, really, I wouldn’t do anything differently. Trial and error. Monumental failure. Moderate success. You learn from all of it.
Pricing:
- We need individual donations to keep our doors open. Any amount – no matter how small – helps.
- DONATE HERE: www.hypertextmagazinestudio.org
- We do not discriminate on our clients’ ability to pay for our services.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3024 N. Ashland Avenue, #577023, Chicago, IL 60657
- Website: www.hypertextmagazinestudio.org AND www.hypertextmag.com
- Phone: 7737327423
- Email: crice@hypertextmag.com
- Instagram: Twitter: @ChrisMaulRice
- Facebook: Twitter: @hypertextmag
- Twitter: FB: @hypertextmag
Image Credit:
PHoto credit for my pic goes to Joe Mazza, Brave Lux. Photo credit to Nat Soti for this YouTube Video and remaining uploaded shots: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=19&v=GCbk427B2O0
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
