I find it comforting that I
announce the end of RAD DAD magazine on Dia de Los Muertos, a day we honor and
celebrate what has passed on, what we’ve lost, what we want to remember.
So it seems fitting RAD DAD should
end this way on this day; there’s a symmetry I find reassuring because I also
have a secret: RAD DAD was never meant to be just a zine or book or even magazine;
it was a plea, a promise, a confrontation, a commitment, an action.
We went on for ten years, released
27 issues, organized countless readings and workshops and meetings. We raised
over 9000 dollars and I want to sincerely thanks every person that has
supported RAD DAD: the writers, the people who offered up their most vulnerable
stories, shared their fears, their mistakes, the wisdom, painful and intense,
earned from loving fearlessly and openly, from understanding that revolutions
truly do begin and perhaps end with how we create our families.
You all taught us well.
You can still purchase the final
issue of RAD DAD for 2014 here as well as back issues and other paraphernalia.
I end with something I wrote about
my father who passed away. It’s from RAD DAD 12.
"On his last day
alive, my father was feeling good enough to go to the library to get some books
for his stay in the hospice. An hour later when he found us, he had a librarian
with him holding a box of 27 books, most of them romantic novels. I now have
someone to blame for my obsession with romantic comedies. 27 books for a man
who had less than a month to live. I laughed and said: papa, how ‘bout like one or two?
My father said:
chale, mijo, I can’t decide. They all
look good. And plus you never know.
You just never know.
Needless to
say, we checked out every fucking book in the box and stacked them by his bed
that afternoon.
However, he
never got a chance to read any of them because he died that night while I was
flying home to gather my children. When I told the story to my daughters, they
asked me, in their infinite wisdom, if I knew the titles of the books. I
realized I didn’t and immediately picked up the phone and called my brother and
asked him to write out all the titles.
Perhaps one day, I’ll read them."
Perhaps one day RAD DAD will be
back. Perhaps someone else will start something new that we can support.
Perhaps we’ll meet in the streets, kids in tow, ready to help make the world a
better place.
Because you never know.
You just never know.
Tomas
If you are not a subscriber for the
2014 year, there is still time to purchase either (or both) the summer issue
out now and the upcoming final issue out in December at RAD DAD.
