91短视频 senior Naomi Scoville says it鈥檚 an honor to be entrusted with people鈥檚 鈥渂abies鈥濃�� their literary and artistic offspring, in this case. As a two-time editor of 91短视频鈥檚 literary and visual arts journal, , Scoville collects poetry, short fiction pieces, photographs and illustrations from students for each year鈥檚 issue and works with other staff members to decide what to include.
鈥淲e appreciate each and every person who submits pieces to us,鈥� says Scoville, an and double major from Cuba, New York, with minors in and . 鈥淚t takes a lot of courage to send your creations into the light of day.鈥�
That light will shine on this year鈥檚 edition on April 19, when The Phoenix rolls out its 2016 issue at a release party in the Common Grounds Coffee House at 7 p.m. It continues a legacy of six decades for the publication, which first appeared in 1958.
Scoville hopes the journal will move to biannual publication starting in 2016-2017, with fall and spring issues. A new class will give students one semester hour of credit for 40 hours of work on the journal.
鈥淲orking with The Phoenix has been a learning process,鈥� Scoville says. 鈥淟ast year I came into the position of editor without any previous experience working on a literary arts journal. I had to learn on the job and learn quickly. It was challenging at times, but this year, I was able to take all of my knowledge from last year and put it toward making the publication process flow more smoothly and efficiently.鈥�
The Phoenix advisor , an associate professor in the , says Scoville has brought many gifts to the position.
鈥淣aomi brings a rare combination of tenacity and patience,鈥� Seidel says. 鈥淪he鈥檚 tenacious in reaching out to the people involved, emailing, doing what she needs to do to set submission and production deadlines, organizing the work, matching people to the tasks that need to be done鈥攁ll that. But she鈥檚 also patient with people and patient when things don鈥檛 go exactly according to plan.
鈥淭here鈥檚 always more to be done to get The Phoenix to press than any one person can do,鈥� he adds. 鈥淪o the main editor has to be good at delegating and coordinating efforts among the staff. Naomi is good at both of those things.鈥�
Seidel says many of the students who have worked on the journal in recent years have brought good ideas for additions and improvements, such as including music and video in an online version, making it multilingual, including some longer pieces and organizing issues around a timely theme. He hopes the shift to a larger staff working together for two full semesters may help some of the ideas become reality.
Those possibilities are exciting, Scoville says.
鈥淚 wanted to be part of something that celebrates creativity in all its forms,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e are constantly striving to improve the quality of The Phoenix, to make it better and more visible on campus, and it鈥檚 been fun to brainstorm ways of doing that.鈥�
In addition to Scoville, members of this year鈥檚 Phoenix staff include Lauren Eckenroad, layout and design; Lauren Sauder, finance manager; Carissa Luginbill, visual editor; Bethannie Parks, literary editor; Kevin Treichel and Amber Davis, general staff.