August Wilson Journal V o l . 1 | S p r i n g 2 0 1 9 I S S N 2 5 7 7 - 7 4 3 2 ( o n l i n e ) D O I 1 0 . 5 1 9 5 / a w j . 2 0 1 9 . 4 8 a u g u s t w i l s o n . p i t t . e d u 1 Sherlock, Watson, Wilson, and the Adventure of the MDWs By David L. Anderson Professor of English, Butler County Community College, Retired Our goal is to make this journal a major voice in promoting the legacy of August Wilson − David Anderson Abstract A welcome to the inaugural edition of the August Wilson Journal, written by the managing editor. Keywords August Wilson Journal, University of Pittsburgh, Sandra Shannon, Constanza Romero, Michael Downing Congratulations to all of you pioneers whose research, judgments, and insights have been published in this, the one and only inaugural issue of August Wilson Journal. Feel free to take your share (“with advantages”) of credit for whatever success AWJ achieves. You have taken the chance of entrusting your work to a new journal, one unencumbered by reputation. We hope that when you see your work here alongside that of other members of the Wilson scholarly and theatrical community, you will be pleased with your choice. We are very proud of this issue. Our goal is to make this journal a major voice in promoting the legacy of August Wilson. If you have listened to Sandra Shannon’s interview with Constanza Romero, August's widow and Director of the August Wilson Estate, you already know that even in our inaugural issue, we are doing things that print journals typically do not do. The production of that interview involved four people in different parts of the country, two speaking and two recording, as well as technologies that we were both varied and new to us. Before, during, and after the interview Michael “Sherlock” Downing and yours truly, the digitally befuddled Dr. Watson, were called on by Destiny to confront and solve numerous MDWs (Mysteries of the Digital World). We intend to continue moving beyond the text-only approach to include audio, video, photos, and any other media that can be brought to bear regardless of the MDWs we may encounter along the way. Especially satisfying was the variety of contributors—both literary and theatrical. On these screens you will meet nationally recognized writers, established and new Wilson scholars, directors, actors, theater critics, and people who knew Wilson intimately. In addition, we are devoted to coaching young scholars into publication, including independent scholars and young writers from underserved communities who might have important things to say and important new ways of saying them. David Anderson A U G U S T W I L S O N J O U R N A L V o l . 1 | S p r i n g 2 0 1 9 a u g u s t w i l s o n . p i t t . e d u D O I 1 0 . 5 1 9 5 / a w j . 2 0 1 9 . 4 8 I S S N 2 5 7 7 - 7 4 3 2 ( o n l i n e ) 2 Thanks to our peer reviewers for both their time and diligence in reviewing submissions; thanks especially for your challenging remarks and insights. Special thanks go to those reviewers (You know who you are!) who specialized in rapid turnaround times. As the editor and I quickly learned as submissions arrived, peer review would encompass more than just the critical genres of thesis- and question-driven original essays. We were occasionally dismayed that some great submissions were rejected, but we soon came to understand the causes. First we were glad to learn that the system was working as intended and material that was not yet mature had been rejected by our reviewers. Second, as the variety of the critical genres represented in this issue reveals, not all submissions could be properly evaluated by a single evaluation form. We responded by creating new evaluation forms, which fortunately did not turn out to be the most difficult of the MDWs we investigated. This helped to accommodate the nuances of the various submissions and went a long way toward streamlining the evaluation process. Thanks to those who agreed to be section editors when we realized how much content the various sections would include. Many thanks go to the University of Pittsburgh Library System, which provided us with financial support; encouragement; and knowledgeable, patient, and user-friendly digital adventure guides: Timothy S. Deliyannides, Director of the Office of Scholarly Communication and Publishing and Head of Information Technology; Vanessa Gabler, Electronic Publications Manager; and Kari Johnson, Communications Support Specialist. They introduced us to the universe of online, open access, peer-reviewed journals and helped us to investigate and solve the MDWs we would confront along the way. Thanks to all of the readers of our inaugural issue. Our hope is that you register as readers. “Readers” are really “subscribers,” not “peer reviewers.” Subscriptions are free and “open access.” No salesperson will call. We were advised, in hindsight quite properly, that the first issue should appear in its completed form. Our plan is to use “rolling publication” for future issues. Subscribers will be informed whenever any new material is added prior to full publication of the completed versions of those issues—another service not typical of print journals. If you like what you find here, please tell your friends in the worlds of literature and theater about us. We already have submissions in our dropboxes for our second issue, and peer reviewers are evaluating them. You may have waited a long time to see this issue, but notifications regarding posted content for Issue 2 will follow hard upon the appearance of Issue 1. Thanks most of all to Editor Michael Downing, who has been my friend for more than 30 years. In this, our greatest adventure together, I am honored to play the role of his comic sidekick. August Wilson Journal was his vision and he carried the heaviest load, showing his characteristic grace under pressure. Author Bio Dr. David Anderson is Professor of English (retired) at Butler County Community College. He is a native Pittsburgher and has studied the life and works of August Wilson for the past three decades. Articles in this journal are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. This journal is published by the University Library System of the University of Pittsburgh as part of its D-Scribe Digital Publishing Program and is cosponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Press. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/� http://www.library.pitt.edu/� http://www.pitt.edu/� http://www.library.pitt.edu/d-scribe-digital-collections� http://upress.pitt.edu/� http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/� Sherlock, Watson, Wilson, and the Adventure of the MDWs Abstract Keywords Author Bio