September 30, 2009

September in Review

Well, Scribe-fans, we've made it through our first month of activity for the 2009-2010 school year. And what a busy month it's been!

Week 1 (9/14 - 9/18) - The Brainstorming Week
We spent our time talking about things we can do to raise the Independent Scribe's profile on campus. We have good working relationships with several writers, and want to attract and foster new talent. Some ideas so far:
  • Advertising in other URI media outlets.
  • T-shirts for the group - plus, a new, permanent logo!
  • New contest idea to highlight some of the stellar poets we've met.
  • We have several contacts in the English department - can we expand our communications into other departments? Art, Theater, Journalism, the honors program, etc.
Week 2 (9/21 - 9/25) - The Review Process Begins!
Now that we've made connections with students through First Night and the Student Organization Fair, the submissions have been coming in. We began our first round of reviews, with several prose pieces and a healthy dose of poetry.

Our prose submissions this week:
  • Obscurity
  • I Love God
  • da Vinci Mirror Tricks
  • The Crypt of Clive Owen/Necropolis
  • Terminating a Community and Society Ill
  • Bump in the Road
Our poetry submissions this week:
  • Dimensions of the Mind
  • Quiet Dreams
  • Crawl
  • Black Coffee
  • Rug Burn
  • Dream of Fantasy
  • What You Need
  • Paper Mache Plans
  • Four Loves
  • Be My Noose
  • Matza
Week 3 (9/28 - 10/2) - More Submissions!
After an excellent week of review, new Scribe members are well on their way to becoming proficient editors, thanks to our highly knowledgeable editor-in-chief, Kate.

Our Monday submissions were critical essays, an important part of our publication since we encourage engagement with texts not just as creators, but as readers. We learn about exciting new perspectives from the work we receive, and cannot wait to pass it on to our readers.

(We've also been celebrating Banned Book Week.)

Our critical essay queue for this week:
  • Thoreau's Sublime Wreckage in Cape Cod
  • Brown's Use of Volatile in The Coquette
  • Soul-Sickness, the Ocean, and All Things Remote in Melville's Moby-Dick and Jewitt's Country of the Pointed Firs
Today, our final meeting for the month of September, brings us back to poetry. On the menu for this afternoon:
  • House of Hosts
  • The Untitled Rehab One
  • The Untitled Prose
  • Death in Magneticism
  • The Untitled One about the Cemetery
If any of the above submissions are yours, you can expect our feedback in the near future. We will accept re-submitted, revised material for further consideration - we're always happy to work with writers to get a piece ready for print.

What's next for the Independent Scribe? October will certainly be busy, as our deadline for all submissions is Friday the 16th at 4 PM. That still gives you plenty of time to send us your material - and there's still time to enter our contest!

Special thanks to all of our returning members for, well, returning! And to our new members for checking us out (and liking us enough to stay).

Additional thanks to Marisa, our treasurer/secretary for her prompt minutes; to Kate, for her wealth of knowledge and ability to embrace our new, younger members; to Bryan, for teaching us what "surpirse" means (don't ask).

We hope to continue receiving submissions from everyone, and look forward to working with you for the remainder of the semester.

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