Above and below: some “outtakes” from 3191 Quarterly Issue No. 14. Really, just moments from my life (almost all on film) that I sent MAV, but didn’t quite find a place in the issue.
I have been thinking a fair amount about change this June. My daughter is graduating this week from the school that she has attended for the past nine years and heading off to high school in the fall. Other small changes with work and life and family are afoot, and, of course, the coming summer season and its light gives us such a sense of change here in the Northwest (the days are so long and light-filled here that I feel somewhat of an obligation to be busy from 5:30 am to 10 at night).
I am thinking, too, of the changes that have happened since MAV and I began collaborating seven years ago. Changes to the online community, social media, and how people connect, changes in our own personal lives, and changes in what we share and offer as part of 3191 Miles Apart. When we began producing 3191 Quarterly three years ago, there were very few small publications like it; it felt exciting and fresh and completely different. It was a way to sustain our connection—with you and with each other, as well as fund in a small way what we do here every week without relying on advertisers or sponsors. Connection and authenticity have always been our goal at 3191 Miles Apart; it is truly a labor of love. Everything we do is produced, photographed, written, designed, and illustrated almost entirely by just the two of us.
Of course, the climate and offerings of small lifestyle publications have changed in the ensuing years which is exciting, but challenging. MAV and I both love print. We so appreciate a return to something that we can hold and carry and are excited by new ideas in design. That said, what we have created can feel lost in this surge. We never wanted to create a lifestyle magazine. We wanted to share moments, not manufacture them. We are engaged in the work of telling our own stories because that is what we feel qualified to do, but we realize, too, that relying on our own stories and experiences keeps the 3191 world rather small. We know there are so many other stories to be told, other, more vibrant, tables to show, and we encourage you all to seek and support truly new, or less often heard, voices. We hope, too, that you will find meaning, nostalgia, inspiration, or beauty in our small MAV+ SCB world.
With all this in mind, MAV and I made some changes to 3191 Quarterly this year, and we hope they resonate with you. We thought of our first collaboration, A Year of Mornings, and how much joy we got out of simply seeing our photographs of everyday moments together. We decided we wanted this year to be focused on the photography, most of it culled from the film cameras we both carry around with us every day. The photographs themselves would lead us to the stories we wanted to tell and the recipes and projects we wanted to share. It has been liberating for us! I am particularly taken with Issue No. 14 which we just released in the shop. It is quiet and tender, and, I think, quite true to our home and work lives. The second change we made was a subtle change to the design that allowed us to lower the price quite a bit (each issue is $14, or buy both for $26) while still proudly printing in the USA.
Finally, I can’t talk about 3191 Quarterly without thanking our subscribers, many of whom have been with us from day one. You guys rock. We so appreciate your faith and support and hope you are enjoying the little extras we’ve been sending to your inbox this year.
xo, SCB
ps: Years one and two of 3191Q are available as digital downloads in the shop. Year three coming soon!
