Dialogue – Calvin’s literary and art magazine – celebrated the publication of its spring issue at a well-attended release party hosted in the Fish House last Thursday.
The event featured readings from writers published in the magazine, as well as a presentation of accepted art and photography. The event was concluded with a performance by the student band Liance.
“This issue is the outcome of so many long hours of work,” said Meg Schmidt, Dialogue editor-in-chief. “I’m so proud to be adding my work to a long and powerful tradition of print on Calvin’s campus.”
This semester’s issue feature 19 pieces of student writing and over 20 pieces of student art — photography, paintings, drawings, sculpture and ceramics.
The creation of Dialogue magazine starts at the beginning of the semester with class visits and advertising for submissions. After the submission period ends, a blind jury of students evaluates and scores each piece.
The entries with the highest average score make it into the magazine. Often, the prose and poetry jurors review more than 200 pages of writing submissions, and Visual Arts Guild gives up an evening to jury art submissions.
The magazine allows students to showcase and get feedback on their work.
“Dialogue gives me an opportunity to share my work in a tangible way with a larger community. It’s a beautiful magazine made and read by people who truly care about it,” said Erin Koster, a junior English major.
Caitlin Smits, a junior studio art and art history major said, “I submit my work to Dialogue because it provides me with opportunities to get my artwork out of the realm of the art department.”
Dialogue’s layout and editorial team actually assembles the magazine, working to present the pieces in a visually appealing way and create a fluid order of pieces in the work as a whole.
Layout Editor Kendra Kamp talks about this process in her editor’s note, saying that “finding the place where each piece fits perfectly into Dialogue is demanding with high reward, forcing you to look at the art and writing with renewed perspective every time.”
Dialogue has been in print since 1971, and every issue archives the creative work on the part of artists and editors. However, this issue marks the end of a particularly difficult production process.
Earlier this semester, the college considered creating an online-only presence for the magazine and cutting the Dialogue print budget. The proposal was in response to several student organization budget cuts, but was met with protests from the art and English departments.
Schmidt and the Dialogue staff also responded by gathering over 600 signatures and many letters of support from alumni, professors and students expressing concern and support for the magazine.
The release party not only celebrated the new magazine, but also celebrated the acceptance of a proposal to keep Dialogue’s print budget intact for the next school year. However the staff will be searching for additional funds from alumni and other sources.
Schmidt said about the cuts, “During a time where many humanities students feel vulnerable and unprotected, Calvin couldn’t send a better message to their students than fighting to preserve Dialogue in print.”
