Creations Magazine

Talking Our Walk

The year was 1987. Ronald Reagan was president, gas was 89¢ a gallon, and a postage stamp was 24¢. I was running my first Natural Food shop out of a tiny hole in the wall in Astoria, Queens, and I married my first wife. (Andrea came into my life about 15 years later).

In 1987, two organizations were founded that would wonderfully alter my life—and become two of my favorite passions: The Men’s Senior Baseball League (MSBL), a haven (heaven) for those of us who still want to play hardball, was formed. Now playing in my eighth season, I’m on three teams and having more fun than when I was a kid. I think the “age-appreciation factor” has something to do with that.

And 30 years ago, a forward thinker from Long Island named Vijay Director launched CREATIONS MAGAZINE — and this changed everything! As I’ve mentioned in these pages, Andrea & I had been long-time readers; I distributed Creations Magazine through my health food shops and later advertised my vegan eatery here as well. One April day in 2005, I saw the “Magazine for Sale” ad in this mag and made the call. That was 13 very lucky years ago.

So we asked, “how do we mark the occasion of our 30th Anniversary?” We didn’t want to simply turn this into a self “pat on the back” kind of exercise. Stephen Cope, who contributed the article, Soul Friends, contends that we are universally wired for vital human connection. And this is what we believe ultimately resonates with our readership. This magazine continually brings Andrea and me relationships and experiences that we never could have imagined. So we honor our readers, the advertisers who provide the financial support to make this publication possible, and all the locations where Creations is distributed—AND Bill and Clem who make all their appointed rounds, getting the mag to these locations. A special thank you is in order to Ray Pesonen; recently “retired” from Creations after 20-plus years of service. To acknowledge all, we’ve included a sampling of unsolicited comments that we’ve received over the last couple of years.

We also feel it imperative to bring to the fore (actually the front cover), all the folks who you don’t see, but who conscientiously lend their caring and their talents to creating each issue. Three of our staffers have a longer tenure with CREATIONS MAGAZINE than Andrea and me: Our Associate Publisher, Lainie Covington, is quite simply our MVP. She is both the foundation and finish of every final page.

Ginger Graziano designs our pages, creating a far more enjoyable reading experience. Both Lainie and Ginger are based in North Carolina.

Jan Guarino is an original—literally. She has designed every cover for every issue— all 30 years worth. She also lends her original watercolors to our Poetry page and does our ad design as well. Jan is a Long Island neighbor.

New York City based Media Reviewer, Mark Maxwell Abushady is a photographer, designer, and singer/performer. His experience and insight produce unsurpassed Music and Film reviews.

Cecilia Sullivan joined Creations one issue after we did. She delivers the magazine, and just as importantly, lots of goodwill to Suffolk County, LI.

Erica Settino started helping out with various office tasks over 6 years ago. Now our Editor-at-large (Expanding the Circle column), she is our favorite local Vegan / Animal-Rights Activist.

As our Web presence grows, so does the importance of our Web Designer. Camera-shy Denise DiGiovanna (not pictured on the cover) posts and maintains all of our web content.

Social Media wiz Gena Januseski is the rookie of our team. For the past two years, she has been posting our FB content, and blasting new articles weekly. Combining the efforts of Denise and Gena, our web visits have doubled over the past 7 months to over 42,000 per month! Gena works from South Carolina.

To all of our Creations family, our heartfelt appreciation and affection,
Neil and Andrea

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