We welcome Issy Josephine as a new intern journalist for Harbinger Magazine. Issy loves the vintage psych-folk genre in its many shades, including the likes of David Bixby, Linda Perhacs, Vashti, Bunyan, Robert Lester Folsom, and too many others to list here. She also loves to write poetry, some of which has recently been published in Arizona’s The Blue Guitar under the title ‘Observations of the Unnatural World’, a collection of 6 poems carrying a theme of humans seemingly living unnaturally with their natural environment. Likewise, she also has a passion for photographing some of these lonesome human-made urban landscapes in the form of abandoned buildings and other places that we should expect human habitation under normal circumstances.
The unforgiving desert heat of Arizona offers ample subject matter for this medium, as some of its old buildings appear ghostly in their absence of people who have chosen to either go indoors or to escape entirely the intense summer heat of Tucson, where Issy is currently a journalism major at the University of Arizona. But, that’s not to say that she is without people to receive inspiration from for her writing, as Tucson is constantly visited by interesting cats traveling the highways, stopping to bask in Tucson’s lovely winters and charming culture. And, many of these travelers have a good story to tell. Issy connects with these folks and is audience to their stories, many of which feature in her writing.
Before moving to Arizona in 2020, Issy had been in Colorado for several years, before which time she had spent her early years in the Boston area. She comes from a biker family and grew up playing jazz music, having learned to play guitar, saxophone, clarinet, bassoon, piano, and singing. Lately, her song-writing has been mainly on guitar and voice, as she loves to sing. She expects to graduate from her journalism program in a couple of years, with her eyes set on getting professionally involved in art journalism. She has a keen eye for noticing the apparent differences between the way that humans and the rest of the animal kingdom choose to relate to the world, noticing that humans are very complex creatures and often choose a different path than what Mother Nature might prefer. Her use of this paradox as a muse in her art is appreciated and we certainly are glad to have her aboard our ship here at Harbinger Magazine. Look forward to her writing soon to appear here!
-Dean Merrell, Journalist Harbinger Magazine
Dave Bixby 