Collecting artwork, editing stories and debating font sizes all while eating pizza. For the small group of students in the Literary Magazine this is nothing unusual. They are a peculiar mix of students, ranging from outgoing to calm and everything in between, which makes them perfect for concocting a literary magazine.  

The MDN Literary Magazine is made for the students, by the students, so students who want to showcase their writing and artwork have the chance. Students submitted artwork and writing last semester, which were then evaluated and scored. The submissions that passed the grading scale were then put in the magazine.

Senior Briana McGovern said, “We get to see sides of students that a lot of people don’t see, like in their writing and artwork.”

The magazine is a melting pot of literary works. Some are poems, shorts stories essays and personal statements; each ranging from various topics like first tattoos, fighting obesity and making friends. The artwork features paintings, sketches and photographs

The hardest part of making a magazine is choosing the content and the length of the publication. When it comes to actually designing layouts, club members put in long hours after school, at lunch, and even take their work home. 

Junior Lindsay McLean said, “Making each page interesting is tough.”

“Retyping the longer stories is tough sometimes,” Senior Kourtney Wallace

I takes weeks to sort through all the submission and artwork, organize into score categories, retype them and scan them onto the computer. During this whole hectic process, submissions are re-evaluated and voted on again. This allows for more pieces to be put in the magazine and gives more student the chance to be published.

Stephanie Torres said, “Sometimes pieces are very well written but they just don’t make it in.”

Members like the fact that the club is a free society, where everything is voted on and no single person is in charge. This lets every member express their ideas and opinion on how the final product should turn out. Members like to be creative when it comes to the construction of the magazine.

Junior Monica Soeun said, “Being able to make a magazine is cool.” 

Once all the creative style differences are decided upon and the pages are fixed, a hard copy of the final product is closely edited. This precaution is made to make sure all the pages are correct and look good before the magazine is sent to the printing company. While waiting for the magazine to get back, members prepare to advertise for magazine sells.

Senior Kourtney Wallace said, “The money from sales goes to a good cause, like the Blue Roof Clinic.”

The Blue Roof Clinic is a non-profit, state-of-the-art  healthcare facility in South Africa built for the treatment of HIV/AIDS.  The Blue Roof Clinic provides a wide range of programs for their patients, like free anti-retrovial treatment, nutritional support, home based care and psycho-social support, just to name a few.

This year’s issue will include some immensely interesting pieces of artwork, loads of humorous stories and more color pages. The magazine should be out sometime in May.