New writing course leads to revised publications

by Mike Butler perspectives editor

At first glance COM 320 looks like just another creative writing course offered by the college. But the class known as ''Writing for Publication: Creative Writing" is more than a class; it's a revamping of the Cabrini literary magazine as well as the yearbook.

The class, taught by Dr. Seth Frechie, professor of English, takes i~ cue from the Loquitur's Journalism classes in that the students are responsible for the production and publishing of the literary magazine, now known as Woodcrest, in a classroom setting.

'The class will be devoted primarily to the establishment of the theme for the fall issue, kind of an overarching editorial agenda," said Dr. Frechie. He added that the students will be responsible for the publication schedule, layout and most of its content. This differs from the literary magazine practicum, headed by English professor Dr. Charlie McCormick, which will be responsible for advertising, fund raising and developing a Cabrini Day program based on what the literary magazine does. But both the practicum and the class will work closely together to produce the literary magazine for release early next semester.

In the spring, the class will be offered again but it will be focused on the production of the Cabrini College yearbook, also entitled Woodcrest. This time around, Dr. McCormick will teach the class and Dr. Frechie will teach the practicum. Both publications will have similar themes as Dr. Frechie refers to them as "brother-sister publications," an important reason why both publications share the same name.

For the last few years, the literary magazine and the yearbook had fallen on hard times. The yearbook was two years behind in terms of publishing and the literary magazine was " a club of one" according to Dr. Frechie. Both publications were faced with a severe lack of student interest. So at the end of the 2000 Spring semester, Dr. Frechie, Dr. McCormick and the head of the Communications department, Dr. Jerry Zurek, had a series of discussions concerning Cryptic and Woodcrest, which is where the idea to have a class similar to Journalism for both the literary magazine and the yearbook was formulated. To revive student interest and to better use the funds allocated to the publications, it was decided that both publications would have a com- mon theme and would also be redesigned ''for a more sophisticated look." The yearbook will be receiving the bigger revamping as Dr. McCormick is looking "to get away from the traditional yearbook sense" as well as being "more in-depth." Also, Dr. McCormick hopes to intertwine the photography classes that Cabrini offers into the yearbook's production, much like how the photography courses work with the Loquitur.

When asked about whether or not the alumni would be upset about changing the name of the literary magazine, Dr. Frechie said "It is my impression that Cryptic had fallen on such hard times that alumni would be happy to see it reincarnated and reinvigorated." He also added that ''the Cryptic name was not indicative of what (he and Dr. McCorrruck) set up to

accomplish.

According to Dr. Freebie, the Writing for Publication classes will give students "a chance to invest more significantly into the publications." They also get students involved in ''the overview and planning (that) doesn't happen outside the classroom." So far the current Writing for Publication class regarding the literary magazine has formulated ideas around the common Woodcrest theme for this year, the heart, and have also worked out a schedule for writing and publishing. The students are now beginning the process of writing material for the Woodcrest literary magazine. Woodcrest will also be calling out to receive original works from writers outside the class like they always have. Information on how to submit material will be made available later in the semester.