“Write On, Downtown,” a journal of student writing and other creative works at the Downtown Phoenix campus, celebrated its eight annual volume with a luncheon on Friday to share the achievements of the editorial staff, interns and contributors.
Barbara Lafford, the faculty head in the languages and cultures department at ASU’s School of Letters and Sciences, welcomed a group of about 70 people to the A.E. England Building on the Downtown Phoenix campus.
“(I’m) proud of the work that has been carried out by the faculty editors,” Lafford said. The interns that have worked on this specific journal “have shared so much of themselves,” she said.
The journal is published once a year in the spring. The first publication of this project was in spring 2007 and it has flourished ever since.
Five years ago, the ASU Women & Philanthropy foundation gave “Write On, Downtown” a grant of $4,500 that gave the ability to jump-start the journal.
This journal contains a “deep level of soul-searching” not common in college students today, according to Lafford. She said the stories contain emotion and intensity as students wrote about the truths they experience in everyday life.
Carissa Cunningham, the author of “Beautiful Flowing Problems: An Interpretation of the ‘Water is Life’ Mural,” said she was “very honored to be put in this journal.”
“I come from a family of writers, not always recognized ones, but recognition is not what makes a good writer,” Cunningham said. “A good writer is a good thinker. I come from a family of thinkers.”
The theme of this journal is the different times of day, according to “Write On, Downtown” Co-Editor-in-Chief Rosemarie Dombrowski. It contains pieces explaining what the day holds to these writers in the morning, the afternoon and nighttime. Dombrowski said it was about “the process of creation that takes place throughout the day.”
This issue had over 250 submissions, Dombrowski said, ranging from “the creative to the critical, narrative to the experimental.”
“(The) editorial team strives to select pieces that have a powerful story to tell and that represent a variety of different genres,” Dombrowski said.
The contributors have been able to “craft a narrative through the arrangement of the photographs, the narratives and the poems,” Dombrowski said.
Haley Madden, the author of “High School Dance,” “Be Nobody’s Darling” and “The Blue Room,” said it was an honor to be published in this journal.
“I have never had my poetry published so this is really exciting,” Madden said. “(Writing) used to be almost a form of expression for me, almost a diary, but now it’s a challenge for me and I try to create different worlds and I hope people like it.”
Kaitlin Kroum, author of “The Rocky Horror Culture Show,” said she enjoyed the project because it took her outside of her comfort zone.
“(It was) my favorite project to do this year because I immersed myself in something that I didn’t know existed,” Kroum said.
Adam Waltz of the editorial staff closed the luncheon with some final remarks on the uniqueness of “Write On, Downtown.”
“We all come from different backgrounds and it’s amazing what you can find cover to cover and it’s a great read,” Waltz said. “It’s something that you really can’t find anywhere else.”
Contact the reporter at klwater1@asu.edu
