2 minute read
Direction coming in June
Student editors and writers compose a yearly magazine
Tracy Hernandez/ Roundup
For more than 50 years, Pierce College has produced a student-run magazine.
Direction Magazine, which offers numerous opportunties for students to have their works published, has been composing poems, short stories and photography since 1959.
Maria Bates, professor of English for seven years, teaches the English 32 class, which is the course that automatically puts students on staff.
“I think it’s getting more elaborate,” Bates said. “We get about 2,000 submissions and only 25 to 40 works get selected.”
There are standards for the poems and stories to be published.
“We call people when they score high and if they meet the standards,” said Bates. “But [if they] lack on something we try to help them.”
Stories need to be well written and have proper grammar. Poems need to consist of imagery, rhymes schemes, etc.
“We also publish [in] different languages,” said Bates. “We look for quality work, original [work], and all kinds of representation.”
This semester, the magazine had enough money to create a DVD for the students.
Some of the conetents of the DVD contains works from students who dance or have created films.
This class meets once a week in English building 1206 on Mondays and sometimes they meet in the Computer Lab.
The students also take several fieldtrips throughout the semester and go to places like printing houses.
The trips allow them to try and get sponsored.
Eva Murray, liberal studies major, is the Art Editor for the magazine.
“We have three different sections: we have publicity, editing, and art,” said Murray, 25. They get a lot of their funding from the Associated Students Organization (ASO).
In addition to the ASO, the students create bake sales and orginize an open mic night to raise awarness to their magazine and earn more funding.
“This magazine comes out at the end of the semester in June and it is available in the Student Store for $5,” said Rebecca Rabitoy, 21-year-old English major and editor. “But get it soon because it sells quickly.”
