Covers of the Internet magazine Dreams Alive. From left: Spring, Summer, Fall and Christmas 2001, and the current issue, Winter 2002.

A year's worth of Dreams
Internet magazine published in Hazleton, observes its 1st birthday

A gardener in Beaver Meadows, a surrealist from Florida and a young father from Missouri are among the creative people drawn to an Internet magazine produced in Hazleton.

Dreams Alive observed its first anniversary this month with the publication of the Winter 2002 issue.

The magazine is the latest computer foray of David Nelmes, a Hazleton man who has designed Web Pages for businesses and tried to start an online shopping site in the Internet's earlier days.

Nelmes said Dreams Alive began as a Web site where homeowners sent him pictures of rooms and he e-mailed them computer-generated views of how the rooms would look when redecorated.

"You get to see the whole room before pay to (re)do it," Nelmes said.

Visitors to Dreams Alive still can arrange for Nelmes to do virtual redecorations, but that business isn't sufficient to be his full-time job.

To attract more people to the Web site, which is www.designingonline.com/dreamsalive/ , Nelmes started the magazine featuring tips on home decoration, gardening, food and fine arts.

About 15,000 Internet users visit monthly to read the magazine, enlist help in redecorating, create their own greeting cards or shop at the site's boutique.

Nelmes wants to at least quadruple that to make a profit.

"That's our goal," he said.

Producing the magazine costs $300 to $500 a month for Web site hosting fees and other expenses.

The real cost of production would be about $5,000 if the staff and contributors received pay.

Even without pay, writers and artists send in their work from across the country to the magazine that appears five times a year with winter, spring, summer, fall and Christmas editions.

In the Winter 2002 issue, Yves Lanthier, a French Canadian artist living in Florida, showcases some of his award-winning, surrealist art.

Tony Ray Weaver describes - in an article that will continue in the next issue - the angst that he felt when his wife told him that she was pregnant.

Regular contributors Kathleen Peters writes about home design, Savannah Skye encloses a poem and Shirley Ciculya lists her gardening resolutions for the new year.

"Shirley is from Beaver Meadows. She has the most magnificent garden at her house," Nelmes said.

Ciculya, the administrative director of the magazine, also makes ceramics that are for sale at a boutique that is part of the Web site. In the current issue, her recipes and pictures of tiramisu and red velvet cake appear in the Recipe Exchange.

The current issue of Dreams Alive, when printed, fills 60 pages.

In other issues, Nelmes plans to offer a section for children and add features to expand to 80 pages and enlarge readership as well.

Lately, the number of visitors to the magazine increases 10 percent per month.

"We're doing something good. I believe for us to get ahead, our object is to help you get ahead. In doing so, we will get ahead, but we help you first," he said.