excerpt

The following is an excerpt from one of the articles that Julia wrote for the magazine:

"...For one tree, a single tree out of all the thousands, the tension of the contradictory silence was too much to bear. Music had to be made. With decisive intentions, the tree lifted its branches high, to the zenith of the clash; higher, the apex of the storm. Sure enough, the lightning responded, flying to the tree tips and coursing through the veins right down the roots in a display of sparks so dazzling that the entire storm stopped to gaze. Then, once again, there was silence, as the night and the forest looked down upon the wreckage of that bold tree, now shattered and splintered in the foliage. The stillness was offensive, and the fate of the tree was tragic. To die for sound and lay to rest with silence as an epithet.

The wind could not allow such a thing. Softly, it blew into the night. Hushed, it sang against the stars. Louder, it sang; stronger, it blew. Then it rushed, it flowed among the trees and hurried to the fallen one. It rippled as it passed, and breathed a new life into the cracked branches. It was then that a sound emerged; it was then that the strumming began. The strumming that echoed in the forest and filled every crevice of silence with a note. ..."

-julia wohlers

thoughts?:)

submissions

Thanks to those of you who submitted their articles yesterday - I read through most of them and there are some really good things :)
I'm putting some excerpts on the blog today... make sure you have a look, so maybe we can get the comments-thing going too:) It's very constructive and fun at the same time!

Also, I want to remind you that all of you retain the copyrights to your works and are free to sign them with your pen name/alias.
Anonymous submitions do not retain any copyrights and therefore might be used in whatever way the newspaper team decides.

For those of you that still need to give me their articles - please hurry up; you're delaying the putting together of the whole magazine...

If you have any further questions, contact me at: ana_jakimoska@yahoo.com

p.s. can anyone give me hazal's e-mail? Her name was on the n.c. sign-up sheet but she didn't attend the meetings and I haven't heard a word from her; I need to know if she still wants to be a part of the team.

news

Just a quick note to tell you that we've started working on the first issue of our magazine; we already have half of the texts (as for the others - hurry up, the deadline is tomorrow, 30 0ctober)

This first issue of COVER is planned to come out during the second week of November.
Feel free to tell us your thoughts on the magazine and/or the blog at any time via the comments section available after each post...

Check in soon for more details and short previews of the articles!:)

Reminders:

Sorry to be a pest, but I thought a number of things needed to be addressed at this time -

1. NOVA's annual College Fair - October 22nd, 11:00am to 2:00pm. Check it out; you might be able to meet the representatives of the schools that you have been interested in, and learn more about the application process and the likes (scholarship deadlines!).

2. A Writing contest on the lurk for those talented folk amongst you who happened to be interested in creative writing. Here are the basics:

Howard Nemerov Creative Writing Awards http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~english/writing/writingaward.htm

Sponsored by Washington University in St. Louis This competition is open to juniors and seniors currently enrolled in high school. Three prizes of $250 each will be awarded both in fiction and in poetry. Students may send a single entry in each genre (one poem and/or one short story or novel chapter). All entries must be typed, with the student's name, home address, telephone number, social security number, high school name and address, and the genre (poetry or fiction) of the work on the first page.

Entries must be postmarked by March 15, 2006.

Awards will be announced May 15, 2006. Please keep a copy, as entries cannot be returned. This competition will be judged by faculty in the Writing Program at Washington University, including fiction writers Kathryn Davis and Kellie Wells, and poets Mary Jo Bang and Carl Phillips.

Send entries to: The Howard Nemerov Creative Writing Awards Washington University Campus Box 1122 One Brookings Dr. St. Louis, MO 63130-4899

3. More writing news: I contacted Betsy Franco, and made further enquires about the posting down below, and she told me that at the moment she's working on a collection of poems by guys, love poems that is. So, Aleksandar, Georgi, do email your work to her (but before you do, please let someone proof-read it!)


Calls for Submissions: Poetry and Fiction
www.betsyfranco.com
E-mail: francobe@aol.com

Author Betsy Franco is looking for teen writers aged 12 to 18 with strong writing skills. She's putting together some anthologies of teen writing and needs submissions of poetry and fiction. I suspect quite a few of our regular readers (and especially our contributors) will be interested in submitting. Read on for the details.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
SUBMIT TO: Author Betsy Franco at francobe@aol.com

PROJECTS

I am currently looking for very strong teen writers (ages 12-18) for three collections:
love poems written by teenagers (romantic love and love of self)
a poetry anthology by poets with diverse backgrounds ("diverse" is defined broadly) poems and stories (less than 2,000 words) of all kinds, including edgy poems/stories, for a third collection

DUE DATE: The love poetry book is the most pressing. I would like to receive submissions by October 21, 2005.

MY BACKGROUND I am an established children's book author. See www.betsyfranco.com. My teenage anthologies include You Hear Me?, poems and writing by teenage boys (Candlewick Press, 2000); Things I Have to Tell You, poems and writing by teenage girls (Candlewick Press, 2001); Night Is Gone, Day Is Still Coming, stories and poems by American Indian teens and young adults (Candlewick, 2003). These collections have been recognized on the American Library Association's list of Best Books for Young Adults and on the New York Public Library list of Books for the Teen Age.

TOPICS
In general, I am interested in poetry and stories that are personal in nature, but I'm very open. If you have any doubts about whether your work will fit my collections, just send them. The range of poetry and stories I'm looking for is very broad. The only genre I don't publish is non-fiction stories. Please send two poems at a time and one story at a time.

THINGS TO CONSIDER

If your writing makes it into a trade book, you will be paid a fee for your work. Everyone will receive a free copy of the book, whether the book is trade or educational. You will keep all rights to your work (copyright, etc.).
You can sign your poem or story with your full name, your first name, a pen name, or "Anonymous."

I will need written permission from you. I will also need written permission from your parents if you are 17 years old or younger. I will send the permission forms. If you have any questions, please contact Betsy Franco at francobe@aol.com.

4. APPLICATIONS: If you are considering the UK for your furture academic destination, you need to start downloading and printing out the UCAS application (all UK universities go through the UCAS general office), since deadline is December 15th.

www.ucas.ac.uk

5. Well, next time for something else...