Answering the needs of the times
One of the questions I most often found myself answering while working at Jesuit Publications was how I came to be involved. The short answer is that I was propositioned by a Jesuit at a pub. Truly. And like most propositions in pubs, one rarely knows just what one is agreeing to in saying ‘yes’. But perhaps this is just as well. While I had no idea of precisely what lay in store for me, I equally could never have predicted how much I’d learn, how many great people I would meet and work beside, or just how fastidious I would become over the placement of a comma.
The experience of working at Jesuit Publications, and on Eureka Street, was one that was both rich and unpredictable. The magazine was all-consuming in terms of time and energy, but equally incredibly satisfying.
I wonder about the move to publishing Eureka Street online. Publishing is always a gamble, both in what it seeks to do and in terms of the actual process. That’s why I found it so addictive. One can never predict just how well an image will work in print, how surprisingly the colours of a cover will leap from the page, or how a sensitive layout can turn a worthy but weighty piece into an effortless read.
Then there is the interactive component of publishing, ranging from fine and considered responses by readers to articles, to the gleeful discovery by an eagle-eyed subscriber of the typo on page 17 that six rounds of proofing missed.
There is something solid and reliable about a printed page. It is a commitment to the reader and to history. Once back from press, there is no running away from the work you’ve created.
Eureka Street was created to answer the needs of the times. The need for an informed, independent, intelligent and considered forum for public debate remains. And if a new format is required, then again I say ‘yes’, even though I’m not sure what that means for its future. It has been carried by a loyal and supportive readership, and the generosity of its many talented contributors.
Eureka Street has always punched above its weight. I hope it continues to do so.
Marcelle Mogg
Editor, 2003–2005
Making tea and conversation
Around the time I joined Eureka Street I was reading The Decline of the Tea Lady, a delightful book by Jenny Stewart (who also writes in this final