New boom in campus publications offers array of opportunity for student writing

The Voice no longer only alternative for prose

Got an opinion? Get a magazine.

This fall, five new productions are seeking submissions: art, poetry, prose, lyrics, essays, commentary - if you did it, they want it.

"This is my way of being an agent for change," said senior Richard Santiago, editor of Tha Cypher. Tha Cypher will include "a lot of different things, in a wider context than Oberlin. We've got submissions from Atlanta, New York City, Michigan, all over."

The theme of a legacy was common among these editors, as was a common desire to fill in the gaps where the current campus publications leave off.

"After thinking about the composition of Oberlin and the sectarian belief systems, I wanted to leave something of myself behind," said senior Justin Page, editor of The Skinny. "I believe that there are qualities we all share: the experience of life as a human."

Senior Kirti Baranwal, who is working on The Collective, might disagree. The Collective is a "forum for political and personal concerns and experiences of people of color," and will only be accepting submissions from people of color.

"We want it to be more focused on coalition building . . . a place where people from different communities within people of color can voice their concerns in one place because those concerns are in every community interms of class issues, race issues, sexuality, experiences on campus," said Baranwal.

And college sophomore David Grigg, who will be publishing No Mo' Frontin this fall, just opened up submissions to the whole campus, although he had previously only solicited them from the black community.

"My problems are mostly within the black community," said Grigg, "but there are other problems. Maybe this will give us a chance to understand each other, but it will also add more diversity to the magazine."

Established magazines on campus have noticed the trend. The Plum Creek Review is now called Enchiridion, which is a greek word meaning, "little book that fits in your hand."

"We have developed this reputation as snooty and elitist," said senior Alyssa Theodore, who is the editor this year. "I don't think we've done a good job reaching out to all communities. We mostly represent white women, and we're concerned about that."

Just as the Plum Creek's name change signifies greater stirrings beneath the surface, many of these rising editors expressed concern about the politics of publications.

"I had submitted something to Nommo, but they told me to change it, they said it was too raunchy, too raw, too vulgar. But I wanted to write for the black community, and I felt I had a right," said Grigg. "That's why it's called No Mo' Frontin, because Nommo fronted on my article."

"People come here and pay 30,000 dollars a year to be activists," said Santiago,"but we have to think about larger problems than just what's on this campus."

Page agreed that Oberlin needs to reach out to communities outside its own. "You don't need to have an Oberlin degree to have wisdom," he said. For The Skinny, he hopes to arm reporters with tape recorders and send them out into different communities to ask the same questions of all different kinds of people.

"There are universal themes of hope and fear. I want to get quotes from students, faculty, elementary school students, seniors at Kendal, workers in the plant." Page said he might want them to answer questions like, if fear were a color, what color would it be, and how do you know you are in love.

Editors talked about reaching out to writers who don't feel comfortable with the established publications on campus. "We wanted an alternative to the written forums on campus in terms of people who write for those forums and the views that are expressed there generally," said Baranwal.

"A lot of people have self-consciousness about publishing, they think, will I be judged," said Santiago. "I believe a lot of people here want to contribute . . . but sometimes people get intimidated by the very articulate writing, sometimes people think that's not on their level."

"No Mo' Frontin has given me power," said Grigg. "If you tell 'em how you feel with violence and agression, they listen. It's unfortunate it has to be that way. So now I have this power voice for people who want to say stuff but don't have the voice, for people who feel it, but don't have the courage to say it."

None of the magazines expressed a desire to supplant any of the current campus publications.

"I don't want to compete," said Santiago. "I think all publications want people to submit all kinds of stuff, but I work for the Voice and it's like pulling teeth to get submissions. I want a place where there are no restrictions or boundaries, which limit emotional expression."

"Instead of focusing on a specific identity, we wanted to give it more of a political gist and have it as a space where coalition building is taking place within writing as well," said Baranwal. "It's not to take away from the other magazines on campus that people of color put out but to add to it, and to provide more space."

Theodore hopes that Enchiridion can survive amidst the new changes in the publishing environment. "Our charter says we hae two functions, one is to publish a magazine but the other is to foster literary awareness on campus," she said. "If we aren't being a student service, we aren't doing our job."