Hannah Kiester
Students unveiled the 2018 edition of Cantilevers in Danforth Chapel on Thursday with a reading from the issue.
Cantilevers is a fine arts journal produced by FSC students and is compiled of original submissions of poetry, prose, and art submitted by student and faculty contributors.
In the fall of this year and last year, students emailed their submissions to the editorial board. They were then printed out and reviewed by student editors.
Each year, Cantilevers also invites a featured artist to contribute either written or visual work for the journal. For this edition, assistant professor of mathematics Dr. Aaron Valdivia contributed visual art.
“The most phenomenal thing about Canti is that it provides a platform for new voices,” Managing Editor Jim McKenna said. “It encourages the community to see that the arts are still very much present on campus.”
Cantilevers is not just for majors in the humanities. Students from all disciplines are encouraged to send in their work during the submission period each year.
Names are omitted from submissions when they are read by the editorial board in order to
keep the selective process as objective as possible and review the works based on their merit alone.
McKenna encourages students to read Cantilevers for the same reason that one reads at all.
He believes that reading the voices of fellow college students is particularly beneficial because students can resonate with shared experiences more than something they might read in an anthology for class.
McKenna also stressed the importance of having a publication like Cantilevers produced and
distributed on a college campus.
One of the main goals of Cantilevers when producing their issues each year is the affirmation to student writers and artists that their work is important and has meaning.
“Artists, especially today, are under so much scrutiny,” McKenna said, “so writers and artists must persist in themselves and fight for their voices to be heard.”
At the event, student authors who had their pieces featured in the journal were invited to read their submissions for attendees.
Cantilevers staff also provided ice cream and coffee, and the event counted as Fine Arts Passport credit. Copies of Cantilevers were also distributed, but copies will also be available in the Christoverson Humanities Building.
When asked what advice he has for aspiring writers and artists, McKenna said, “Just write.
Write for you, don’t worry about getting approval. And submit that work to Cantilevers.”
For those who did not attend the Cantilevers unveiling, copies of the journal will be available in Christoverson and at Cantilevers’ upcoming collaboration event with Sigma Tau Delta, the English honor society on campus.
Sigma Tau Delta and Cantilevers will collaboratively host an open mic night after Spring Break.
Those who had their work accepted to Cantilevers but could not attend the unveiling will be
invited to read their work at this event, which is also open to any student who has not submitted to Cantilevers but has original poetry or prose that they want to share with their peers.
Open Mic Night will count for Passport credit. More information on the date and time of the event will be made available soon.
For more information on the open mic night with Cantilevers and Sigma Tau Delta, follow @fscsigmataudelta on Instagram.
