Scott Welkos
Contributor
When one considers McDaniel College’s 4 media groups, Contrast may not be the first one in mind. However, along with the McDaniel Free Press, Terror TV, and WMCR, the school’s literary magazine provides a different kind of outlet for students to express themselves.
Once a year, in the spring, the students of Contrast collaborate to create their product: a collection of poetry, short stories and artwork to be printed and distributed across campus. Ed Lasher, co-editor of the publication, explained that the magazine serves as a means to “cultivate and maintain a creative community of writers and artists of all sorts.”
Prior to the release, the staff and contributors meet biweekly to discuss ideas. This takes place in the Library’s Richwine room, which Lasher describes as a “real groovy room with a lot of private collection books.”
From here, submissions are reviewed by Kate Dobson, Contrast’s faculty advisor and English professor, as well as the editorial board, which is comprised of members of Contrast who have demonstrated an interest in decision making.
Once the editorial board has decided on which submissions to use, the pieces are sent to the printer, and from there are ready to be distributed to the school. Stacks of the magazine can always be found in Decker as well as the English office. Additionally, Lasher said that he and other members place copies in several common areas across campus.
In an attempt to cultivate interest and increased submissions, Contrast recently held a contest in which winning submissions were awarded a cash prize. The theme was ‘America, however, Lasher explained that it was simply a “starting point, but nothing that would demand too much from the writers.”
The winning submission came from Matt Bisenius, class of 2011, in the form of a disjointed poem about road kill. Bisenius received a cash prize of $100, and two runners up each received $20.
For those interested in becoming a part of McDaniel’s literary magazine, the group holds meetings every other Thursday at 8:30 pm in the Richwine Room on Hoover Library’s third floor. Contrast can be contacted at contrastlitmag@gmail.com.
Winning poem of Fall 2010
Rites of Spring
by: Matt Bisenius
Memorial Day is always the worst for road kill. The weather has been nice for enough weekends in a row that the animals think they can cross eight lanes of traffic on I-84. By Tuesday morning when the DOT workers come off their long weekend and move the mangled deer carcasses, they will have swelled up, fat on gases, and maggots will have eaten a large hole through the side resting on the bed of asphalt.
“Raccoon.” Emma is in the backseat cheerfully identifying the different species “sleeping” across the fog line.
