By Leila May ’22, guest writer
The Facebook cover photo of the English Department features a parade of students — experienced and fresh-faced editors are clutching copies of the 2018 edition of Green Blotter. Somehow, we are four years later.
Though graduations, retirements, and pandemics occupied in this time, there remains a core group of editors–Kayleigh Johnson, Lauren Swisher, Lauren Walters, Leila May and Marah Hoffman– who are now saying their final goodbyes to the magazine.
Green Blotter is Lebanon Valley College’s literary magazine, where international submissions of prose, poetry and art are selected for publication. Since 1933, the magazine has been a fixture at the college, as well as a hub of collaboration and camaraderie. To these senior editors, a wealth of skills also came with the position.
The perceptive and apt art editor Lauren Swisher highlights the importance of these concrete experiences.
“It helped me figure out what I really wanted to do with my degree/major while equipping me with transferrable skills,” Swisher said. “I can apply my experiences working with the other editors, reading, and reviewing submissions just about anywhere.”
Not only has the editing position offered such amusement, but also tangible experience to place on a resume. The gravitational pull of the organization seems to lure excited and storied people to its meetings. Lauren Walters, the fiction editor with a sharp eye for narrative and pleasing prose, remembers the desire in her first year to be a part of the editorial staff at Green Blotter.
“I remember walking into the first meeting full of all these smiling upperclassmen, and I just thought, I need to be a part of this,” Walters said.
Throughout the academic year, editors, assisted by their reader boards, sort through copious amounts of submissions from across the globe, culminating in an early morning layout. Sloshing through coffee and bagels, selected pages are spread across the floor and meticulously switched until the flow of the edition is successive. Brilliant design editor Kayleigh Johnson then works around the clock to deftly organize the pieces into suitable formats and create an overall pleasing visual experience.
A final launch party presents the physical magazine and features readings from selected authors and poets. This year’s launch featured an announcement of the editorial note, an opening piece surging with sentimentality for years of friendship, teamwork in late night Zoom meetings, and sunlight streaming through Sunday morning layouts with fresh cinnamon rolls wafting through the room. The marriage of friendship and literature is a common trope—with book clubs and dedications scribbled on many a front cover—but for these editors, it became a reality.
Almost all Green Blotter members attended the 2022 AWP Conference in Philadelphia, where exposure to other literary magazines, a community of writers, and panels on creative praxis reinvigorated their writing life. But even more importantly, these students shared memories of stark friendship in a big city:
“Never had we seen so many writers in one space,” Marah Hoffman, senior co-poetry editor, said. “At the end of the day, my cheeks hurt in a way they hadn’t in a long time. It was the ache of too much smiling.”
The creativity and passion of Green Blotter stems from its members, including the wit and tenacity of its reader boards, those who support and read the magazine, and all the senior editors who hope to share the same warmth found in classrooms, Zoom calls and townhouses where we met and found a community of love.
The editors would also like to thank the delightful presence and aid of their mentors, Sally Clark and Dr. Holly Wendt, who offered such kindness and grace.
To any students looking for a close-knit group of literary appreciation, please reach out to Dr. Holly M. Wendt or the fantastic managing editor, Gillian Wenhold. You can find the latest 2022 issue of Green Blotter on our website at http://wordpress.lvc.edu/wordpress/greenblotter/.