Season 10 begins for YAWP!
YAWP! gives students a professional outlet to publish the best of their creative work.
At Bethel College, the spring semester brings a vital opportunity for students and alumni alike because the on-campus, student-run literary magazine opens their email doors to submissions.
The YAWP! name comes from the Walt Whitman poem “Song of Myself.” The magazine is constructed as a class for students as well as an SGA-funded Registered Student Organization (RSO).
“The students who put the magazine together work hard,” said English professor and YAWP! faculty advisor, Siobhán Scarry. “The practicum course, which runs each spring, gives credence to the editorial work and community-building our students do to create the magazine.”
Scarry was the driving force for the creation of a literary magazine in 2014 when she started her Bethel career as an Associate Professor of English. Since then, YAWP! has published nine print issues.
“Creating the magazine was collaborative, fun, and filled with student input and leadership – the same qualities that mark our magazine’s production process ten years later,” said Scarry.
As a practicum course, YAWP! offers a unique opportunity for students to experience Bethel’s “knowledge is not enough” focus, which seeks to prepare students for the workforce with hands-on experience.
“I have learned how to effectively present ideas to people thanks to a lot of trial and error,” said sophomore editorial staff member Frank Driscoll from Peoria, IL. “I also have had the opportunity of sending rejection emails and learning how to politely say no to someone who was vulnerable by sending in their work, [which] is not an easy task.”
As a literary magazine, YAWP! offers a chance for all students to share their art, visual or written or even just share their voice. Previous issues have included anything from fiction to pottery to personal essays. They also make submission fun by running contests, events, and hosting a launch party at the end of April.
“Our little magazine shines a light on the thoughts, feelings, and issues that concern our students here at Bethel College,” said Scarry. “Students who might feel alone in what they are going through often see themselves reflected in some way in the art and writing published in YAWP!”
Submissions for YAWP! are open now and can be sent to yawp@bethelks.edu. All Bethel students and alumni are eligible to submit poems, fiction, personal essays, and visual art between now and March 18.