Treehouse

compiled by Rachel Bondurant

If you read his blog – and really, if you aren’t already doing that, you should be – then you know that Johannes Lichtman is leaving Treehouse. You can hear it from him in his own words, or (and) you can hear about it from me.

Johannes has been our “coordinator” or, more fondly, “mother goose” since before a literary magazine was even a mere suggestion in a classroom in North Carolina. He collected a small group of his former students and introduced us to one another. Coming up with launching an online literary magazine was unquestionably a collective idea and a group effort, and it took some remarkably talented people to get us where we are today. But there is also no question that we wouldn’t be here had it not been for Johannes setting aside a block of time for us every two weeks because he thought we were the talented ones.

He’s going off to do his own thing, which probably involves several different things and inevitable success in each of them. So he’s kicking us out of the nest, as it were. And we’re very flattered that he believes in us to carry Treehouse on our own now. But it bears mentioning that the lessons he’s taught us, both in class and those weekly meetings, are a tremendous contributor to our ability to do this thing we love. So we’re flattered to have that level of confidence from a mentor, but more than that, we’re honored to have had his guidance for as long as he, well, put up with us. And we’re grateful, so grateful, for what he’s done for us.

I’d better wrap this up before someone starts singing “To Sir, With Love.” In short, we’re a group of lucky bastards for having known Johannes – who, by the way, should be commended for somehow convincing a bunch of silly undergrads to show up (mostly) on time for something on which we weren’t being graded. Guy’s got a gift. But we’re glad he did, because we’re all the better for it. It’s been a privilege, J. Do big things, man. We’ll be watching.