UMass Boston Alumni Magazine - Fall/Winter 2008-2009 - (Page 18)

To learn more, visit Lux http://www.honors.umb.edu LUX VoLUMe 2 • issUe 1 • FaLL 2007 UMass Boston stUdent Magazine Chord http://www.asamst.umb.edu/chord/home/archives The Mass Media www.umassmedia.com Fellowships and Study Abroad front cover Student Research Travel: Nantucket Field Station Iceland Philippines Artist Profile: Shunsuke Mizumoto Rebuilding Rwanda Advanced Wrtiting Courses at UMass Boston • LUX Fall 2007 Issue • The Watermark www.watermark.umb.edu The Breakwater Review www.breakwaterreview.com AMAZiNG SToRiES Initially Tsui considered recasting Lux as a politics magazine. “But then,” she says, “I thought that so many people at UMass Boston have these amazing stories—why don’t we know more about them?” She instead opted to sweep Lux’s spotlight wide out over the entire UMass Boston community, to include among its staff, contributors, audience, and subjects not only students from throughout the university, but also faculty, staff, and alumni. In addition to student and alumni profiles, there have been stories on such topics as micro-finance in the Middle East, cloning, hamburgers, and the Simpsons—each with a distinctive, keenly researched angle. The staff now counts some fourteen students, serving as editors, photographers, designers, and marketers. As for their typical production schedule, Danckert says, “We give over the first month of the semester to writing; the editing phase, with about three drafts back and forth between the authors and our editorial staff, begins in the second month; and then finally we reach the layout and design stage for the last month or so.” Though their final issue is well behind them and they graduated with BAs this May (economics for Tsui, history for Danckert) they still slip into the present tense as they speak of Lux’s production. “I’m so attached to it—I’m not ready to let it go,” says Danckert. And while Srikanth has always allowed Lux’s editors to handle everything about the magazine, she confesses to “bugging Anna and Kate about appointing their successors with care,” to keep the quality and integrity of the magazine at the level to which they brought it. Staff editors Andrew Clark and Lilly O’Flaherty were chosen—with great confidence—to take the reins in fall 2008. “I think at this point we’ve set a standard for how UMass Boston students and the community are represented, how they learn about one another,” says Tsui. And Donna Neal places Lux in a broader context. “It’s one of very few under-graduate research publications in the country. It really has a lot of potential.” “It’s a definite intellectual dialogue,” Danckert says of the Lux she and Tsui have produced. But, of course, it’s just one more among many in the inspired conversations provoked by each of the university’s student-run publications—each a unique element of the UMass Boston community’s style, mind, and passion. WoRLDS of ExPERiMENTATioN Such as relative newcomer Chord, proclaimed a “multiAmerica magazine” on its cover, which has published four issues. Chord showcases art and literary writings by students for whom English is not the primary language—though all are encouraged to contribute. It was born of a class project in the Asian American Studies Program. “We encourage people who tend to be neglected by publishers—such as ESL students—to speak up in their voices,” says founder and editor Yasuhito Yamamoto. “Chord is for anyone who wants to submit their works and also for anyone who wants to read. We want to show that every work has its audience even if the work is not written in ‘standard English.’” “Our students and faculty in Asian American studies love Chord, both for what it is and for what it represents,” says Peter Kiang, advisor to the journal and director of the Asian American Studies Program. Another publishing venture in the works is the Breakwater Review, an online literary journal run by students in the new master of fine arts creative writing program. As part of his graduate assistantship, MFA student Gregory Stenta researched how to go about setting up a journal, and plans with co-editors Lily Rabinoff-Goldman and Michele Harris to have a basic website developed by February ’09. “This is different because it will publish on-campus and off-campus writers—writers from anywhere,” explains journal advisor and professor Joyce Peseroff. “I think it will make more people aware of UMass Boston and show how great our writing programs are.” While Srikanth’s official association lies with Lux, she admires the students behind all student-run publications on campus. “It’s amazing that they all choose to do this work. It shows there’s a real sense of investment in this institution and a real desire to express themselves and to connect with their peers. It shows great heart, as well as quality of mind.” 18 n UMass Boston http://www.honors.umb.edu http://www.asamst.umb.edu/chord/Home/Archives http://www.umassmedia.com http://www.watermark.umb.edu http://www.breakwaterreview.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of UMass Boston Alumni Magazine - Fall/Winter 2008-2009

UMass Boston Alumni Magazine - Fall/Winter 2008-2009 Contents UNews Oh, the Places They've Gone! "One of Those Rare Leaders" Acknowledging History, Renewing a Commonwealth Heart and Mind Indelible Images About Alumni Investing in UMass Boston A Generous Friend Alumni Calendar

UMass Boston Alumni Magazine - Fall/Winter 2008-2009

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