The team of enthusiasts behind the site has several things in common. All of us have had our share of life’s lumps: problems with children, parents, spouses, health, jobs, money and so on. In fact, it seems like everyone we know has the same kind of problems! Each of us has had to do some serious soul-searching to keep making sense of why we are here. All of us have been inspired by good fiction, poetry and music in our quest; we have all found that our lives have been greatly enriched by great works of psychology and philosophy. All of us had difficulty finding those works in the flood of offerings available today. And finally, despite our different ethnic and religious backgrounds, all of us are inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s beautiful poem “If”. In this poem, we feel that what strains inside us has been expressed. You might even call people like us ‘practicing’ idealists. This is what led to creation of ALL THINGS IFtm, a site for people who have been inspired to adopt the ideals of this poem.
Michael (Misha) Shengaout is the Managing Editor of All Things If. Kipling’s poem “If” has always held a special place in his heart, helping him throughout whatever tests life would offer. He was born in the former Soviet Union, moving to the United States in 1990; he can recite this poem both in Russian and English. Other than his work with “All Things If”, he is busy with his family (three kids), his rock band (Six Elements) and his music label (Tower of Harmony). He also has a day job as a software developer!
Susan Hawkins is the senior editor of All Things If. She’s a writer, video producer and the happiest person you’ll ever meet. According to Susan’s belief system, we’re here for three reasons—to be happy, to learn and uplift one another. If we learn the right stuff, we’ll be happy. If we lift one another up, we’ll all be happy! All Things If, like Kipling’s poem, brings its readers the best of human thought, with no agenda other than to point those of us thirsty for a happy, fulfilled, meaningful life in the right direction. She’s right at home here!
Sue Bertram is an Associate Editor of All Things If, as well as a website content writer. She was drawn to the job at All Things If by a life-long love of and association with the poem. She heard her grandfather recite it often from memory and has passed it on to her children. Sue believes the poem holds out a beautiful ideal for which to strive in living out the God-given potential that resides in us all, though she understands it’s not necessarily a “God-thing” for everyone. Here, she feels happy to have found colleagues who, while diverse in their ideologies, believe in the possibility of living up to the expectations of a courageous ideal.
Our Site and Its Mission
ALL THINGS IFtm is a literary magazine specifically focused on the ideals and the spirit of Kipling’s poem “If”, offering resources to help you live up to those ideals and spirit:
- Fiction, poetry and music reviews to help inspire and guide you on this quest
- Editorials, articles and reviews of books that assist you in overcoming obstacles along the way
The mission of our project is to provide you with other voices that spur you along in your pursuit: short fiction, interviews, reviews of books and music, articles on psychology and philosophy, thoughts on family and relationships, life stories, and a forum for like-minded people. We hope that ALL THINGS IFtm will help all of us to live up to the wonderful ideals expressed in this poem.
Here is the list of magazine issues. We hope you like our site and look forward to hearing from you.
How to keep track of ALL THINGS IFtm
The best way to keep track of our blog is via Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. We will be posting headers and excerpts of the posts. We plan to post magazine issues on a monthly basis on 15th of each month. If you register with us, you can have discussions with authors and editors, make suggestions for articles, and submit your stories in the Forum section.
Thank you for spreading the word about “If” and the meaningful ideals it stands for!
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