History of the Chameleon

by August Tirone

Norwich University has provided students with an opportunity to publish creative works for publication since the mid 19th century. The first publication at Norwich was The University Regulator. Founded in 1853 by The Regulators, a secret society on campus, the student paper published content that stemmed from the mission of The Regulators: “Justice to whom Justice is due.” The Regulators believed that Norwich cadets and faculty should be held to a higher standard and made those standards known in the publication. This paper died out shortly after The Regulators disbanded and the last issue was in 1856. Another short-lived paper was The University Owl, found in 1854. The University Owl and The Regulator were often in disagreement with each other. The University Owl folded in 1856 after releasing only two issues (one in 1854 and one in 1856). The Reveille, established in 1860, was the first university newspaper and published pieces about the Corps of Cadets, campus and academic news, events on campus, short stories, and advertisements. During The Reveille’s first five years, it was published regularly, but after 1865, it published intermittently until 1882 when publication picked up again. The Reveille was published regularly until

1923 when it folded. Not until 1951 did Norwich again have a regular school publication, The Magnum. The Magnum leaned more toward a literary journal and focused on publishing short stories, comedy pieces, poetry, literary reviews, and some sports content. It also was known for its illustrations. It stopped publishing in 1953. In 1960, two literary journals appeared on campus. One, The Iconoclast, was a literary anthology compiled by students until 1961. The Norwich University Archives only has two issues of The Iconoclast. The other literary journal to appear in 1960 was the Chameleon. The Chameleon has been around for over sixty years, making it the longest-running literary publication in Norwich’s history. During its life, the Chameleon has gone through many iterations relating to its content because of the progressions in American culture over the same time. The 1960s were a turbulent time for the United States, and the Chameleon published student poems and short stories, the subject of which often focused on war, loss, and family. These themes continued to be popular through the end of the 1960s, but as public opinion began to shift on a variety of topics, including the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement, and feminism, so too did the types of pieces published in the Chameleon. As this transition continued through the 1970s, new topics began to appear towards the end of the decade as American culture and social movements continued to evolve. During the 1980s, more controversial topics began to appear in the stories and poems. As American culture continued to transform, sex and drug use were common topics in Chameleon publications. In addition to this, the fallout from the Vietnam War and topics related to racial issues were also commonplace. Subject matter related to the personal experiences of rooks and cadets also saw an increase during this time as these students submitted journals and stories they had written during their time at Norwich. The 1990s and the early 2000s continued to see progression in content that appeared in the Chameleon with a trend toward darker content that focused on the invasions and ensuing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with poems and short stories dealing with women’s rights, racism, domestic abuse, and the social fallout from loss, alcoholism, and violence. During this period, the journal grew thinner, often being no more than thirty pages. In 2012, the Chameleon reshaped itself. First, the design of the journal transitioned from using saddle stitching (where the journal is held together with staples from the outside to the centermost page) to perfect bound (where the pages are glued at the spine). The Chameleon embraced graphic design elements to make the journal more colorful and artistic. The Chameleon also created four new prizes: the Robert Halleck Poetry Prize, the Allan Nason Prize, the Chameleon Prose Prize, and the Be You, Be True (LGBTQIA+) Prize. Content during this period continued to focus on loss, love, war, and Corps life, but it was also influenced by society’s evolution as topics that dealt with people of color and the LGBTQIA+ community became more prominent.