West Chester University’s English Club is continuing their efforts to create a network of this school’s creative students by releasing their annual literary magazine, Literati.
In each issue, students are given the opportunity to broadcast their poetic, storytelling, and artistic voices as their works get put to print and sold in the spring semester.
As a member of the executive board of the English Club, I am proud to say that we hope that the undiscovered artists at West Chester University utilize us both for motivation to produce more artwork and to give students a chance to see something they created be published.
Whether it be poetry, short stories, photography, or any other sort of artwork, we want to be the ones to help each student get the opportunity to show to their friends the creative feats that they have accomplished.
Since I became a staff writer for The Quad, I know what it means to have something you write be published and read by a variety of people.
The satisfaction that your creation has spread from person to person and that these individuals have liked what you wrote enough to share it is rewarding in its own right. What is even more special about submitting something unprompted and creative to print is that your work is not shaped by another’s standards or experiences.
Instead, it is shaping, molding, and visualizing your opinions, perspectives, and feelings. This is why art is so powerful. It is an outlet that helps us transfer a bit of our true selves to the public eye.
The semester is slowly coming to an end, with finals week preventing a lot of us from seeing the glorious horizon that is a five week-long winter break.
However, it is important that before we leave, we ensure that we fulfill what many of us came to WCU: Become a more complete version of ourselves. College is for allowing us to grow as we see the viewpoints of our peers.
It is for making mistakes to better our judgment. It serves to expand our knowledge about our fields of choice. But most importantly, it is about allowing us to solidify our identities.
For the creative writer or photographer, this does not happen unless we take the time to sit down, create, listen to critiques, and perfect our craft, that in return, strengthens our artistic persona.
If you would like to submit any piece, or multiple pieces, if you are so inclined, please email Literati’s Chief Editor Veronica Mattaboni at literati.WCU@gmail.com and include your full name, WCU email account, and student rank (freshman, sophomore, etc.)
Everything must be submitted as word documents, and any photographic submissions must already be in black and white.
Halle Nelson is a second-year student majoring in communication studies with minors in English literature and deaf studies. She can be reached at HN824858@wcupa.edu.