Victory!

If AWP 2007 proved one thing, it is this: nobody puts Barrelhouse in a corner.

Or, well, sometimes people put Barrelhouse in a corner, but eventually -- by the third day or so -- Barrelhouse will rise up through its collective fog of hangover and move its shit to a better, more prominent location. A location buzzing with the energy of a middle-school Model UN, or Gifted and Talented Camp. A location where if the Barrelhouse editors bitch about their non-inclusion in the One Story Litmag Air Hockey Challenge -- perhaps even threatening to flip the table in the middle of the Agni-Tin House final -- Hannah Tinti might actually, possibly, hear them, though she will certainly pretend that she hasn't.

A location in which everyone is just dying to tell Barrelhouse of all their latest greatnesses, be they Nonfictional Memories of My Grandmother or Strangely Titled Novelettes or Various Subjects We Don't Understand Involving the Word Hermeneutics.

Also: we gave away a shitload of toys. Including little army men. Including little Communist workers. Including Animals and Creatures You Will Find While Camping. Including fake plastic cellular phones with lumpy third-world batteries but no apparent need for battery power, whose plastic screens were completely and totally lenticular. Which means, as everyone knows, "of or relating to a lens," or "biconvex, convexo-convex," or "resembling the seed of a lentil in form; lentil-shaped."

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the table and said hello. It was nice to meet some of our past contributors and many adoring fans face to face. Thanks, especially, to the Super Sexy Poets who helped generated much-needed Barrelhouse buzz while we were still trapped in the Loser Corner (AWP Lesson Learned #47: Bring hot chicks). Also, a special thanks to the fine folks from A Smartish Pace, who threw pretty much the best party we've ever been to in a half-disassembled Travelodge.