2008 Woodie Awards
Literary magazines offer best of student art
Issue date: 5/1/08
One of these other publications is Hopkins's newest lit mag, Thoroughfare.
Thoroughfare boasts the title of being the first digital literary magazine at Hopkins. Two years ago six friends decided to embrace the wonders of the digital age and use it to publish their work. Senior and Thoroughfare co-editor Jessica Begans was one of those six pioneers.
"We all wrote fiction, all sought out similar values in writing and all agreed on the vision of what our magazine would look like," she said of the ideas of Thoroughfare's founders.
That vision has come to fruition thanks in large part to a grant from the Digital Media Center that allows the magazine to publish both online and on CDs. This approach brings the idea of the literary magazine into the 21st century, Begans said, because it "enables us to showcase film, music and art alongside the classic literary magazine fare of fiction and poetry."
This year's Thoroughfare team included the addition of several underclassmen. Though their contributions have diversified the content, Begans is the first to admit that collaboration can be a tough obstacle.
"Some of them have different ideas about what makes good fiction and poetry than do the old editors, but we managed to agree on which pieces should go in the magazine," she said.
The work that did end up in the spring edition is a broad, varied sample of the artistic talent at Hopkins. Much of the material is fiction written by Witness Theater participants, a natural transition for these writers. "Obviously a lot of good writers at Hopkins flock to the theater!" Begans said of the contributors.
Music also makes up a portion of the selections in the issue. Senior Liz Eldridge and juniors Adam Lempel and Amit Routh each offered original recordings about such wide-ranging and bizarre topics as country singers, cults and "teeny musicians."
The final product of their hard work is about to hit campus, and the staff is excited to share it with Hopkins. The Web site will be ready for viewing next week, and hardcopies will be widely available on campus. In addition, Thoroughfare is throwing an official launch party at Minás Gallery and Boutique in Hampden.
Look for the spring issues of both Zeniada and Thoroughfare on campus next week and online at http://www.jhu.edu/zeniada and http://webhost5.nts.jhu.edu/thoroughfare.
Thoroughfare boasts the title of being the first digital literary magazine at Hopkins. Two years ago six friends decided to embrace the wonders of the digital age and use it to publish their work. Senior and Thoroughfare co-editor Jessica Begans was one of those six pioneers.
"We all wrote fiction, all sought out similar values in writing and all agreed on the vision of what our magazine would look like," she said of the ideas of Thoroughfare's founders.
That vision has come to fruition thanks in large part to a grant from the Digital Media Center that allows the magazine to publish both online and on CDs. This approach brings the idea of the literary magazine into the 21st century, Begans said, because it "enables us to showcase film, music and art alongside the classic literary magazine fare of fiction and poetry."
This year's Thoroughfare team included the addition of several underclassmen. Though their contributions have diversified the content, Begans is the first to admit that collaboration can be a tough obstacle.
"Some of them have different ideas about what makes good fiction and poetry than do the old editors, but we managed to agree on which pieces should go in the magazine," she said.
The work that did end up in the spring edition is a broad, varied sample of the artistic talent at Hopkins. Much of the material is fiction written by Witness Theater participants, a natural transition for these writers. "Obviously a lot of good writers at Hopkins flock to the theater!" Begans said of the contributors.
Music also makes up a portion of the selections in the issue. Senior Liz Eldridge and juniors Adam Lempel and Amit Routh each offered original recordings about such wide-ranging and bizarre topics as country singers, cults and "teeny musicians."
The final product of their hard work is about to hit campus, and the staff is excited to share it with Hopkins. The Web site will be ready for viewing next week, and hardcopies will be widely available on campus. In addition, Thoroughfare is throwing an official launch party at Minás Gallery and Boutique in Hampden.
Look for the spring issues of both Zeniada and Thoroughfare on campus next week and online at http://www.jhu.edu/zeniada and http://webhost5.nts.jhu.edu/thoroughfare.
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