Parcel Magazine
The Year of Radical Thinking
by Brandon Parks
On a cloudless, clear day in late February, I reached the deadline to complete this project. It had been nearly six months since I began in earnest to create a print magazine. Before that, two years thinking about creating a print magazine. This last year, I made the decision to devote myself entirely to writing. That I was now a writer, no matter how comical or awkward that seemed. This decision was a complete one-hundred-and-eighty degree turn from the direction I had previously taken, which was to apply to jobs, work internships, and focus solely on my career development; anything to get me in the door somewhere, anywhere.
Unlike my friends working as graphic designers, cinematographers, photographers, marketers, musicians, interior designers, craftsmen, engineers, business owners, and salesmen and women, I was unable to envisage where my skills, interests, and passions could fit. Despite landing many interviews, I continued to hit a wall because I had nothing to show for. I had not yet put my interest into practice, and thus had no way to convince others that I could do the job. Now that I was a writer, at least in my mind, each new experience, person, place, music, book, film, or conversation I had became material for inquiry. The first question that I needed to answer was a simple one: How did anyone go about doing the thing they most wished to do?
They began. Surrounded by a community of people working in various disciplines, I sought the answer to my question in their intent. What motivated their decision making? How did they address their self-doubt? What did the realized version of their dream look like? And most importantly, How were they going to get there? The individuals featured in this magazine exhibit a singular degree of intention: an insatiable desire to create the world they envision for themselves. And through the consistent exercise of their skills, interests, and devotion, they continue to build a community in which to engage, celebrate, and inspire. Through this magazine, I hope to bring attention to these individuals who did not ask for it, to share these communities that inspire me, and to celebrate what happens when we commit to our most radical of dreams.