Published in 17.1
Ricepaper Magazine
PO Box 74174, Hillcrest RPO
Vancouver, B.C.
V5V 5C8
Dear Editor,
Years ago, I actually enjoyed picking up Ricepaper magazine and reading it from cover to cover. Then something happened. For whatever reason, your magazine shrunk in size, and along with it, interesting content disappeared; it too shrunk in relevance. Although a valiant effort has been made over the past few years, the magazine is just so damn difficult to read in your tiny booklet format. My old, tired eyes hurt when I pick up your rag. Go back to the original 8″ by 11″ size format.
As a good, opinionated Canadian, I have a lot of suggestions to share. Actually, they’re more of the complaining sort. I hear that Ricepaper mag has been around for more than a decade and a half. Ricepaper… become something that’s more relevant. Show us material that can capture our interest. Give us something that’s thought provoking and fresh. Feature some of the bright new artists out there—the YouTubers, the rap artists, the graphic novelists, the cultural bagmen. Maybe a “Dear Asian Abby” advice column.
Ricepaper, you folks have the ability to help define the Asian Canadian cultural community. But if your rag continues to be bland, you’re only going to last until your next funding grant.
David Wong
Former Ricepaper staff and contributor
P.S. And then there’s your bland website…
Editorial Board’s Response:
We listened to you, David. We also listened to our friends, our volunteers, the patrons drinking coffee in the café below our office, and everyone we could get our grimy hands on.
What you hold in your hands is our answer to everything you said, which is to say that we left nothing untouched. This issue looks, reads, and feels different from every issue that’s come before it.
But we’re not done yet. Asian Canadian arts and culture—whatever that means—is about to get more awesome by the quarter.
Please let us know what you think. Write to us at editor@ricepapermagazine.ca or PO Box 74174, Hillcrest RPO,Vancouver, B.C. V5V 5C8. Letters may be edited for length, clarity, and awesomeness, and may be published in any medium.
Subscribe to Ricepaper, to get your quarterly fix of Asian Canadian cultural awesomeness.