We tell stories.

Mind Sprocket gives voice to simple and honest perspectives. We publish thoughts and experiences on our world. We tell stories.

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• George W. Bush was inaugurated for the first time as Commander-in-Chief of the United States.
• Broadband Internet was twice as expensive, twice as unreliable, and twice as slow.
• The Baltimore Ravens won the Super Bowl.
• 2,986 American citizens were killed by al-Qaeda terrorists on September 11.
• The Iraq war began.
• Apple announced the now-legendary iPod.
• “The Fellowship of the Ring,” the first of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, was released.
• Five years ago, the world was a completely different place.

Five years ago

Five years ago, adolescent Edward J. Atkinson stared at the family computer with his posterior comfortably placed in a clunky swivel chair, mesmerized by what he had just learned. He had accidentally stumbled upon the powerful knowledge that he could create entire websites with a working knowledge of HTML, a simple computer language, and a chunk of free time. The empowering thought that he could create from nothing something, bring dead pixels to life, have a little online corner to call his own – this was overwhelming. It wasn’t long before he was sitting in that same swivel chair several hours a night, saturating his mind with the intricacies of HTML and eventually moving on to newer, more advanced languages. These endeavors soon translated into Edward’s first website: a website with the aesthetics of a steamy pile of garbage, but a creation he was proud of nonetheless. Hey, everybody loves their first child, no matter how ugly. And thus, two world-changing entities were born into the world: a nerd and his website.

For the next three years, Edward engaged in a plethora of volunteer web projects, trying to gain some real-world experience. In the back of his dark blonde head, he was beginning to form ideas. Grand ideas, huge ideas, world-changing ideas. Ideas that kept him constantly excited about the incredible social revolution we call “the Internet”. The sort of ideas that keep you awake at night, covers kicked to the floor with your eyes fixed on the void of sky through the window, mind deep in thought, sprockets spinning.

Two years ago

Edward, clearly fond of his British name, launched in 2004 The Edward Website (also known as TEW), a multi-personality website which published a hodgepodge of whatever Edward felt like. The Edward Website went through a series of redesigns and redirections with little plan or purpose of any sort until December of the same year. The direction eventually evolved into a semblance of a magazine, publishing articles on a variety of topics. Boatloads of Edward’s time and effort were spent editing articles, answering emails by the tonne, coding new features, working on each successive design, and nonstop recruiting of writers.

The new design (at least number 5) was launched with green and orange as the predominant colors, a color scheme that many visitors praised. Those visitors apparently enjoyed the content too, since the website grew to 20,000-30,000 visitors every month, a number that left the editor and writers proud of their endeavor.

But this just wasn’t it. Edward knew something wasn’t right.

Philosophy, passion, and a little history

Since I was five years old, thrusting and stabbing at the swarming hordes of enemies while I courageously stood my ground, glaring through my plastic space warrior visor-helmet, I have dreamed in only the most lofty of ways. I was never just a space warrior. I was a noble, selfless, and lowly Private fending off two-hundred men closing in on me, leaving no passage for my retreat. As if I would have even considered retreat. I would fight tooth and nail, alone in my trials, in the thickest parts of the battle and ultimately, every afternoon, end up sacrificing my life for the good of mankind. I would die fighting, not so much to save the world, but because I believed in myself and knew that it was the right thing to do.

In the same way, I’ve never wanted to create the next Amazon.com or New Yorker Magazine. I’ve never wanted to make loads of money off my projects or be famous and popular. I’ve never wanted success in the cultural sense of the word. I’ve been called a naïve philanthropist in the past, and that I have a poor business sense for not making money off my efforts; I’ve been told that I’m really just not American in my approach.

Maybe I am a naïve philanthropist. I strongly believe that many things should not be motivated by money but rather for the betterment of oneself and mankind. And I already know I’m not American (I’m Canadian!). But it’s not really about any of those.

I edit, design, and publish Mind Sprocket because it is what I love to do, and it is my dream. That’s all there is to it.

Only the deepest gratitude

During the early days of TEW, a good friend of mine introduced me to Anna Luther, a professional flutist and grammarian extraordinaire. Anna began writing for the website in April of 2004, publishing several controversial essays that sparked some heated, but constructive and informative, debates. One month later, Lindsey Anderson, a prolific pianist and writer came on board, employing her prodigious talents composing creative articles in her unique style that became well known for leaving the reader with a deeper understanding of themselves.

Anna and Lindsey wrote for TEW during its year-long existence and have continued their dedication through to Mind Sprocket, each now assuming the role of Associate Editor. Without their enthusiasm, hard work, skill, and most importantly their constant support, Mind Sprocket probably wouldn’t be launching for another year. I have only the deepest gratitude for them.

After all those years of plans fermenting in the recesses of my mind with a few failed attempts along the way, the idea of a literary magazine slowly evolved. With the help of Anna and Lindsey, the ideas were focused, articulated, and today, realized.

A seasoned look

During the initial attempts at designing Mind Sprocket, I approached it as a natural development of TEW. It made sense, from that direction, to retain bits and pieces of the old design to try and create a sense of continuity. But the more I tried, the less it felt right. And then in a beam of light with choirs of angels singing around my swivel chair, it dawned on me that while TEW may have been a precursor to Mind Sprocket, it was really nothing more than that.

So I went back to my large whiteboard hanging on the wall and tackled it from a new angle, treating Mind Sprocket as what it really is: an entirely new and different project. And ideas gushed forth in a torrent that my all-star team of a steady hand, black marker, and large whiteboard just couldn’t keep up with. I had struck thought-process gold.

Eventually, I settled on the themes you see now: a calming and earth-tone color scheme; sophistication without snobbery; book-like textures with worn edges; a limited number of ornate elements; and typography modeled after early-American engrosser style (specifically the handwriting of Timothy Matlack, the man who engrossed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution). Mind Sprocket is a magazine written by bookworms who crave dusty back-of-the-mall bookstores and tall mugs of dark-roasted coffee, and those who deeply understand that you cannot hope to please anybody or write anything to be proud of unless you first write for yourself. As Jane Yolen, the author of the estimable writing guide Take Joy, once said: “I cannot hope to please all of them with my writing and still stay honest to my own personal truths.” Mind Sprocket is written by the sort of authors who write stories because they’re just as interested in figuring out the ending as you are. I did my best to reflect all this in the design, and while my expectations were lofty, I hope I’ve had some margin of success. I anticipate small changes and tweaks in the coming weeks, but for now I am more than pleased enough to have this displayed to the world.

An illustrative approach

Of all the features in Mind Sprocket, I am excited most about the illustrations. Through the combined talents of Chicago-based artist Anatole Upart and my brother Luke Atkinson from South Carolina, every article will be accompanied by an illustration, enhancing the written text through visual representation. The illustrations are all with a limited color palette, and rendered in pencil sketch, watercolor, acrylic, or India ink. Through their skill, Anatole and Luke are helping Mind Sprocket bring life to authors’ words.

The wonderful future

Today marks the launching of a literary magazine, a dream I never expected to be realized. Now that we’ve finally reached the launch date, I’m excited, jubilant, and nervous to a startling degree.

But as nervous as I am, I also retain a sense of calm. After all this time of work and play and staring into space and wondering all along if my dreams would just stay dreams, we’re here. Where the cogs are spinning.

Illustration by Luke Atkinson.

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Topics

• Pithy Tales
• Accounts & Glimpses
• Verse
• On Writing