"Untitled, 2008"
12" x 9", silver gelatin print, 2008.

Eugene Kuo Photography

I made this photograph in Shanghai in 2008. In preparation for next year's Expo, the city was in the throes of the type of architectural upheaval that now appears almost commonplace in China. Excitement was in the air, and people encourged me to visit the Expo center to see scale models of how Shanghai will look when the construction is complete. This image was made in a more historic area of the city. The juxtaposition of the modern (western) mannequins and the older (eastern) three-wheeled cart seem indiciative of Shanghai's past. The future is uncertain, and so the composition marginalizes these elements�which straddle the uncertain states of being either stored or discarded�by placing emphasis on the empty space before and between them.

Issue 45 meets the world with "Alleyway, China," the photography of Eugene Kuo on its cover. Eugene is a graphic designer and photographer living in New York. He first picked up a camera, he says, on a trip to Paris when a friend asked him to bring back photographs in lieu of souvenirs. He's been traveling and bringing back photographs ever since. That on our cover, shot in either Beijing or Shanghai, tells a story in light and shade and textures and shapes, just as The Cortland Review strives again for an Issue of eclectic poetry and varied voices, those already known and those brand new to publishing. Flash Player is your vehicle to those voices and if it's not already downloaded on your computer, you can get it free.

The Cortland Review fiction and poetry editors, Elizabeth Cornell, Natalie Baszile, Jennifer Wallace, Anna Catone, and Christian Gullette; its managing editor, Amy MacLennan, and its Web manager, Greg Nicholl, deserve high praise for their continued dedication to the labor of love this is.

NOTE: If you are interested in being a hero to The Cortland Review, we are looking for a volunteer to convert all our old audio files from Adobe's Real Player to Flash Player.

Remember, too, that you can be a hero by purchasing any amazon.com book title via a TCR link. Each book title mentioned in our pages and in our contributors' bios is linked directly to amazon.com. We appreciate the support we get through your book purchases.


Cheers,
Ginger Murchison
Editor