The second item that makes 2River so good is its editor. What follows is a short interview, conducted via email, with Richard Long, 2River’s editor and producer. I wanted to ask him questions regarding this enterprise because I was curious how he got started and what sustains him in this work.

C.G.:  How and why did you first conceive of 2River? What was the impetus, in other words?

R. Long:  I was teaching at Daemen College in Buffalo, New York. I wanted to start a poetry journal. I asked the Dean for a few hundred dollars, but he said the money wasn't available. At the time, the college was connecting to the internet and I had already been involved with computers and writing, so I saw the opportunity to start the poetry journal on the web. I like to think that all I asked for was a few hundred dollars, and the college ended up spending tens of thousands of dollars.

I had always enjoyed publishing poetry. I write poems, too, but I have more confidence in my ability to take the poems of others and put them together in a way that makes them easy to read. Maybe that comes from a desire to help others, to put others in the , but I'm also putting myself in the light. How it shines on everyone is up to me. Presentation influences content, at least the perception of content. A good presentation can enhance something of lesser quality, a bad presentation can do the opposite. I realize I'm holding 2River up to the light. I think I do that well.

C.G.:  What rewards, intangible and tangible, have you received from your work with 2River?

R. Long:  Sometimes contributors to 2River send me hard copies of their publications, some of which have been beautifully constructed, hand-made limited editions, wonderful to hold and beautiful to look at and read. Also, 2River has helped my work, not so much in career advancement, but more along the lines of learning how to use technology to enhance learning.

The intangible rewards have been immense. I feel as if I'm contributing to the literary life all around us. I feel as if I'm a member of a literary community that, without the internet, would be inaccessible. Even more important is the trust I sense people have in 2River. On the one hand, I'm still amazed writers will send me their work. I respect and admire writers who send parts of their lives to a stranger. But I also think these writers have spent some time reading 2River. I think the site conveys a sense of trust.

C.G.:  Is there anything you'd do different or change if you had to/could do it over again? What are your plans for the magazine’s future?

R. Long: An online journal is always changing. The look of 2River is not the original look. Hopefully the look has gotten better. The more you do something, the better you do it, the more you learn about how to do it. 2River began, for instance, as The 2River View. I first conceived of the site as a journal. Later I realized it was more than a journal. It was a site. A site is more than a journal. A site has other items, too. For instance, 2River has a chapbook series, there's art, there's a very little used forum, and so on.

In other words, 2River will always be changing, at least within the site. The design, the layout, what people initially see when they come to the site, needs consistency. It needs a brand so that people know where they are. But beneath the visual workings of the site, I hope the content continues to change.