By Emily Pawlowski | Echo
For 57 years, Taylor students have shared a platform for their writing and art.
This week, that tradition continues with the official release of the 2019 edition of "Parnassus."
This year's theme was "Unvarnished," and students were encouraged to create pieces centered around that idea. Submitted works included poetry, prose, short stories, photography and illustrations.
Assistant professor of English Aaron Housholder hopes that the pieces will provide more than just an aesthetic experience for students.
"Even if it sounds cheesy, I hope it is a bonding point for people at Taylor to get together and say 'look, this is us, this is what we made together' and I hope there's a sense of belonging that comes with that," Housholder said.
Students submitted their pieces in Oct. 2018, after which the "Parnassus" team picked which to publish and organized the journal. On Thursday, Feb. 28, the publication was handed out and for the first time many could hold their finished work in their hands.
For some, this was the first time a work of theirs was published. For others, this is just the latest piece to be shared. Either way, according to senior editor-in-chief Grace Seeman, it was a unique experience.
"It's one thing to put up your art on your Instagram page or something, and another thing to hold it in a journal in your hands with art from a bunch of other people," Seeman said.
Junior Joy Gardner experienced that feeling for the first time. She had two poems published: "Sunday, 9:54 a.m." and "fourteen months." After hearing encouragement in class to get her work out there, she decided to have confidence in her gift and to submit her work.
Another writer, senior Sarah Davis, also submitted a poem, as well as a piece of creative nonfiction. For her, involvement with "Parnassus" began before she even knew the Taylor English department.
"Reading an issue of 'Parnassus' was one of my first impressions of Taylor's English department," Davis said. "There were such striking, thought-provoking, and well-crafted pieces, and I knew on reading them that I wanted to be part of this community of people who care about beauty and truth."
Davis wanted to remind students that even those outside the English and writing majors could submit their work. She encouraged those interested to send in their pieces to the journal in Oct. 2019.
For those who did not pick up a copy of "Unvarnished" at the release party, free journals are available in the English office. The "Parnassus" team invites anybody interested to pick up their own copy.
"Even if you don't have anything in it, even if you don't want to have anything in it, it's still, we still want you to have it, we still want you to dialogue with what the artists on campus are thinking about," Seeman said.
