Letter from the Editor.

As writers and artists, we often find ourselves tangled in a veil of observation, inadvertently separating ourselves from experiencing the moment we are living as we reframe it in our heads, toying with ways we will translate it. Over time, we may discover a semi-permanent fog settling in between us and our lives. It is a challenge for artists. Agreed.

We have a new challenge for you.

Go outside. Is it still humid and cloying? Are you finally catching and clinging to briefly brisk days? When was the last time you threw your head back, rolled your shoulders loosely behind you, and took a deep breath?

Do it today. And take some little people with you. And, yes, a camera. You are an artist, after all, and our challenge is for you to find the place between joyfully refreshing experience and storytelling.

Story Bleed Magazine is partnering with our sponsor GoGo squeeZ in celebration of World Wide Day of Play this Saturday, September 24. We invite you to join us for a blogging carnival sharing nostalgic stories of play and how you play with your children today (or better yet, this Saturday!). GoGo squeeZ is a squeezable applesauce on-the-go company devoted to making it easier for kids & families to be a little healthier and happier. In keeping with GoGo sqeeZ’s philosphy, we are going to keep our challenge uncomplicated and largely unstructured:

#GoGoDayOfPlay Challenge:

In celebration of World Wide Day of Play, GoGo squeeZ is asking our community to join the GoGo Gang by uploading a photo of your kids at play. When the GoGo Gang is 100,000 members strong, GoGo squeeZ will team up with Action for Healthy Kids to renovate a play space in an under-served community. We want you to help us make these these playground renovations a reality!

Story Bleed invites you to support this effort and join our carnival via one or more of the following:

Definitely:

• • join the GoGo Gang by Liking GoGo squeeZ on Facebook and upload a photo of your kids at play
  (this is key to meeting our playground goals!)

• • share a link to your nostalgic story of play and photo posted on your blog
  (be sure to link back to our #GoGoDayOfPlay writing challenge/ blog carnival!)
• • share a link to a photo posted on Instagram or your favorite photo app (TwitPic, yfrog, Mobypicture, etc) and shared on twitter with the hashtag #GoGoDayOfPlay
  (the actual link you share will be to the specific tweet)

I plan to take an Instagram photo, hashtag it with #GoGoDayOfPlay, and then write a quick blurb on my personal blog about our stories of play featuring my Instagram photo. And I’ll probably add both links to the carnival. Because that? That is the circular creative world we live in!