Popular Culture Review
job, I’ve been taking on more and more responsibilities, eventually becoming a
medical database manager and head of our IT department (albeit a department of
one). I’ve always been a tech geek, but I finally took the next major step and
built my own computer. Along the way I also discovered that I have gluten
intolerance which severely damaged my health for a time; because of that. I’m
also on my way to taking a more active role in the Celiac Disease community.
Amie has been equally busy. Since she started with PC/?, she has had three
children (aged 6, 4, and 8 months); while pregnant with her first, she was also
taking care of two of her nephews. She became a volunteer lactation counselor
and became intensely involved in the local pregnancy/birthing community,
helping the current generation of mothers rediscover the birthing and mothering
skills of their great-grandmothers’ generation.
I remember very well when Amie and I first started working on PCR back
in October 2003: we received a Word document of the previous issue . . . and
that’s it: no templates, no style sheet, no instructions of any kind. Previously the
printer had done all the formatting, but we were determined to bring PCR into
the digital age. Suddenly we had articles to edit, a template to create, and a
deadline. That first issue was a bit of a struggle, but now articles are transferred
via the net (no more submissions via paper or disks! Yes, disks. . . remember
those?), and PCR even has a web presence now.
In addition, the entirety of the circulation list was kept on a disk in a
program so ancient, no one had a copy of the software: I had to start rebuilding
the database from scratch. It’s now kept in an Excel file and backed up on three
hard drives (along with each edition of PCR from the Winter 2004 issue
onward). Meanwhile, to satisfy my own curiosity, I collected all back issues of
the journal and created an index of all articles ever printed in PCR (the index
was published as part of the Winter 2009 issue, Vol. 20, No. 1).
For her part, Amie says: my PCR work started with
handling/facilitating/managing the transition from longtime editor Juli Barry and
included copyediting, formatting, and project management; AKA “text
wrangling and prettifying.” I learned along the way how to transform all those
bits and pieces we received into one file, one cohesive journal ready to be
printed (whew). It has been an intense learning experience, and I am so pleased
that Felicia asked me to come on board years ago. Her trust in me has been
extraordinary, and I hope that I have justified her faith and exceeded her
expectations. I will miss the days of struggling to edit around a baby sleeping on
my chest, or deftly formatting while little hands attempt to make their mark on
the keyboard too. Now that I consider it, that might explain some of the errors
we have had in the past seven years.
Without PCR on my plate. I’ll have the time to renew my dedication to
educating my children at home as well co