It feels like the end of an era. Last Saturday I spent the evening with Dave Widgington and co. at his beautiful bed and breakfast to celebrate Cumulus Press’ ten years of independent publishing. It was a great evening, with booze and conversation flowing freely, many friends and family members in attendance, two brilliant spoken word performances from Kalmunity Collective members, and a delicious cake adorned with the Cumulus logo in baby blue icing sugar.
The lively yet intimate event also signaled the end of Cumulus Press… Dave has decided to leave the publishing world behind and jump into a career of film making. And though I’m personally saddened by the loss of such a brilliant press, which dealt primarily in my own top two interests of politics and poetry (and recently, comix as well!), I wish him all the best and know that we’ll be seeing much more from him in the near future.
In some ways, Cumulus’ trajectory paralleled my own time spent here in Montreal. After we first met, Dave and I, alongside a bunch of other shit disturbers, collaborated on the launch of Counter Productive, a title celebrating the anniversary of the anti-FTAA demonstrations in Quebec City. The launch took place at a beautifully dilapidated anarchist punk bar and was more of a 3-day activist networking conference / temporary public education center / art vernissage than a book launch. Dave mentioned on Saturday how Counter Productive catalysed Cumulus’ identity as a political publisher. It gave him a mandate and a direction to work towards and a niche to work in. I’d have to say that that event did much the same thing for me. We worked closely together for several years afterwards on various culture jamming projects, putting to practice our ideas on ‘communications activism’. Ideas that eventually culminated into another Cumulus title, Autonomous Media.
Soon after, I left Montreal to pursue my MA in the Netherlands. That same year, Dave, as part of Archive Montreal had founded Expozine. Upon returning to Montreal in 2005, issue seven of Four Minutes to Midnight was awarded the very first Expozine award for Best English language zine. And most recently, I wrote a chapter introduction for one of Dave’s most ambitious titles, Picture This! where I described my own experience in politically engaged design practice. A practice that emerged in no small part out of my collaborations with Cumulus.
As Cumulus Press closes its doors after 10 years of radical cultural production, I’m both proud and extremely honoured to have played a small part in its history. Many thanks Dave…
Its been a long winter and spring has finally broken in Montreal. Tonight, I sat outside of of the Social Club for the first time this year. John had just beautifully performed his poetry at the Arts Cafe and we enjoyed a beer/coffee under a sliver of moon. While I walked the long walk home from the Mile End, it really didn’t seem that long anymore.
In honour of the transition in Dave’s career and the changes that spring should bring, I wanted to repost one of my favourite poems we’ve published in our pages. From issue seven…
changing the season
Shawnda Wilsonsleep becomes
hope
demain
ticks time to wrapping
inevitable
reminders not to squander
your shooting stars
paranoid dark eye’d try’s
at being the sun
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thanks alot Kevin. It is not sad that Cumulus is winding down. It is happy that it had a decade’s long life. thanks for being part of it.
davie
Comment by dave 04.26.08 @ 7:19 pmLeave a comment
