Wake

A couple of day ago someone showed me the website of a new literary magazine called Wake.  They are associated with GVSU, and they're looking to publish works about the Great Lakes.  Since MSU is right smack dab in the middle of several lakes, I thought some of my readers might like the link.   
I actually heard about this literary magazine about a year and a half ago, when they were first starting.  I happened across a bookmark from them, promoting their about-to-start journal. 
There's not much on the website, but I did find this little piece about an "Okie" who identifies with being from the Midwest.  It's an interesting piece.  I've never thought of Oklahoma as Midwest, or, as this author comments, from the Southwest.  I've always thought of it as Great Plains sort of place, which may or may not be right.   I once knew someone from Oklahoma , but he defined the place as Southern, which, again, totally not what I thought. 
Maybe I need to go to this Oklahoma.  Just because it seems to be a place in-between or at the very least, unidentifiable in some way.  And that's the sort of place that would be interesting to me. 

Lit Mag Research

I've been doing research on literary magazines, because, as most of you know, I'm trying to get myself published so I can qualify as a "real" writer.  (Though I already tell people I'm a poet with a capital P.)
One of the sad things is that most literary journals aren't taking unsolicited manuscripts at this time of the year.  Those include:
Alaska Quarterly Review
American Literary Review
The Antioch Review
Arts and Letters: Journal of Contemporary Culture
River Styx 
Bellingham Review
Brevity
The Columbia Review
Then there are the journals that I can't publish with, because I don't meet their qualifications.  One of the big disqualifications is that I am no longer an undergraduate or I don't go to a certain school.  These include:
The Allegheny Review
Echoes
Yale Literary Magazine 
Or my favorite disqualification: no unsolicited manuscripts.  I'm looking at you,
American Poet
Contemporary American Voices
What frustrates me the most about all of this is that the entire point of having a literary magazine is to try and publish people before they get famous, that way you can brag that you published so-and-so before they got it big.  I mean, maybe if I'm lucky I'll get an invitation from people like this, but so far, it's very frustrating.  
Finally, I have a short list of places I can send to immediately:
American Quarterly
Bellowing Ark
Ascent
Atlanta Review
Land Grant College Review
Beliot Poetry Journal
Black Warrior Review
Birmingham Poetry Review
The Capilano Review
This is actually not such a short list, and I know I shouldn't be complaining, but I feel like I've done a ton of work for not very much payoff.  Though, I've worked in history, I know that's basically how research always goes.