Kristen Bailey
Published: August 23, 2005
Despite the odds against them, PJC’s Literary Round Table has successfully published their first issue of the literary magazine ISSUE.
The magazine showcases a variety of works including literary short stories, fiction, poetry, art, a play, photos and paintings.
“It has short fiction, poetry, art, there’s even a short one act play. All the work is from PJC students,” said Caroline Dreyer, the Literary Round Table’s faculty adviser.
Establishing the Literary Round Table with the intention of publishing this magazine, the students and editors of the magazine had to begin from scratch. When the idea first originated, the club wasn’t able to publish the magazine.
“The magazine cost was approximately $4,000 for 500 copies. When we started up, we only had $300. Realistically, we couldn’t do what we wanted to do with the magazine,” Dreyer said.
The idea came about three years ago but members didn’t have the means to print it, according to ISSUE’s editor-in-chief and layout designer Marzia Accardo.
“We couldn’t put enough color pages because we didn’t have enough money. Five hundred magazines with four color pages plus the front and back covers; we wanted to have more color pages total,” she said.
The students in the club struggled to make this dream a reality as well.
“Everyone in the Literary Round Table would vote on it. The LRT chose the works. The purpose of the round table is to foster creativity and help the students become better writers,” Dreyer said.
The selection was not always a painless one.
“It was very hard and long to put together. It was not an easy job.
“You have to agree to disagree. However, nobody opposed this,” Accardo said.
All those involved with ISSUE are thrilled with the end result.
“We’re really proud. We were really excited when we were able to open the boxes and see the fruit of our misery,” Accardo said.
In addition to completing a goal, ISSUE opens doors for PJC students, and the college as a whole.
“It allows PJC to compete in Florida’s Community College Press Association Magazine competition. It gives the college and the students something to be proud of,”Dreyer said.
Members plan to celebrate the magazine with a reception in September, unveiling ISSUE to faculty and students, and those involved already look forward to the next one.
In the future the magazine will involve a broader spectrum of people, according to Accardo.
Dreyer agrees.
“Most of the submissions are from the Literary Round Table. In the future we’d like more submissions from people outside the LRT. This is a magazine for st