"They'll Come If We Have an Open Bar.."

Big news of the week: Polaris is officially having a release party on May 11, 2010 at 7:30 pm. It's going to be held in the Fame Center in Ada and the winners of the magazine contests will hopefully be reading their pieces. Other people can read as well if they'd like. Food should be around, although we will not have an open bar ;c) Sorry Fred. Props to Lydia on this for being an organizational guru.

Other cool stuff: Alan, Dr. Cowles, Brian, Andrew, and possibly other people went to the AWP conference. We were one of the few undergraduate journals present and we seemed to get some fairly good feedback from other publications who were there. Minus Alan's freakout that Heathrow airport was going to explode while they were there, the trip seemed to be a lot of fun and went off without a hitch. Way to be Alan, way to be ;c)

Besides that, the group has decided to sent the magazine away to an organization who will provide critiques on the publication which could come in useful for next year. I'm kind of excited to see what they have to say. Hopefully they're good comments. Ha.

And I'll leave you with this song. I discovered it during work today, it's called Suspension by Mae. It's probably my new favorite song-- not that THAT matters very much, but hey here ya go. Just listen, there's really no video because all the music videos wouldn't let me embed it. Peace!

Fred Becomes a Stripper...

First things first: submissions are in! Thanks to everyone who submitted, and this very minute our editors are putting the finishing touches on deciding which pieces will be placed in Polaris. Obviously, only the very best ;c) ha.
We had a great response to our call for submissions. It looks like the e-mailing of posters all over the place, the open mic nights, and the readings really paid off. Fred and Jeff are working on the design right now, and we’re hoping to have a release party in a month or so 
Last meeting, Andrew and Brian ran through a list of what we had accomplished (and not accomplished) over this year, in which I got roasted for not keeping up with this blog, and rightly so, haha. We also discovered that:
1)We did a lot more with publicity this year than we have done in the past
2)Our Polaris t-shirts and chapbooks look and are awesome
3)Somewhere within the course of this year, Fred became a stripper. It’s true. It
was in the minutes from a random meeting this year. Risqué…
Cheers for a great year!
I’m going to leave you all with this video—hopefully you’re a fan of Ok Go. Even if you’re not, this is sweet.
Til next week, peace.

Anatomy of a Fish pt XXIV

Oh this isn't being updated! So much surprises!

We're getting a steady stream of submissions. We're a little light on art submissions though :-(.

So far the submissions we've been getting in all other genres have been really fun to read. Some really interesting voices out there.

We printed posters and are in the process of hanging them up. We also have conducted one open-mic night, and a series of guerilla advertising campaigns. Our next campaign is in development and intended to be our last grand push for submissions before the deadline, which, again, is February 22nd.

above is a picture Fred drew on my Writer's Chronicle today during the meeting. Stoned duck?

Love your neighbor, sons.

A haiku I wrote when kept awake late last night, consoling myself with the thought of the note I'd leave on my neighbors' back porch:

I stole your wind chimes
because they were obnoxious.
I'm sorry. -Brian

Cranes, Planes, and Literary Magazines

So most of ONU is now on a lovely Thanksgiving break. I personally plan to gorge myself with turkey, corn, and pie. Said gorging will more than likely result in me having to be rolled into the next Polaris meeting. However, things have been going splendidly over the last few weeks for our little magazine, and progress is finally feeling like it's underway.

One of the main things we've been focusing on in the last few meetings is how to get the word out about Polaris. We've come to realize that in order to have people submit, they actually have to know about this. So promotional ideas have been flooding the meetings, and the following are just a few.

Promotional Ideas:
1) Using paper clips and string, hang paper planes with our website on them in academic buildings
2) Fold paper cranes with the website on them and leave them on tables in the library
3) Spam the campus mailboxes with fliers
4) Redecorate dorm hallways with Polaris fliers
5) Stick in random places around campus "Hello, my name is www.polaris.org" nametags
6) Rearrange the letters on the Heterick Library to read "Heretic Library"
7) Run an ad in The Northern Review (the campus newspaper) for Polaris
8) Create chapbooks and sell them
9) Using a contact in the PRSSA(student-run publicity organization) to help promote the magazine.
10) Slapping up masking tape and playing cards with the website and fun comments written on them

Not to shabby of ideas, in my opinion.. although number six would just be plain awesome rather than particularly promotional. Ha. Feel free to comment with any other ideas you may have.

The chapbook idea is really interesting. Each one of the members of Polaris is going to create a chapbook-- a tiny book which we will physical make and then put our own writings in-- and then sell it to the campus population and anyone else who wants to buy. It serves the dual purpose of not only getting our website and magazine name and information out there, but also gives the reader a glimpse of how WE write, and what some of the editors may be looking for in submissions. Very, very chill.

Also, we DO have a Facebook group now (exciting) so you can find us on that now as well. Oh Facebook... haha.

Fun Word of the Week: Boon.
Boon- something to be thankful for, blessing; benefit.

I also think I have an entertaining picture on my phone somewhere of our white board from a few weeks ago. Hmm, I'll have to dig for that.

But that's what's been going on inside Polaris for the last few meetings. Let us know if you have any thoughts or ideas :)

And that's a wrap.

Anis

Polaris?

If you're reading this, the odds are that you have NO IDEA what on Earth "Polaris" is, what its function is, or why you should care. So let me enlighten you. Polaris is (if you haven't guessed from the blog title) an undergraduate journal of the arts and literature. Which basically means, we take all the creative awesome stuff you write, draw, paint, take pictures of, etc., and decide which ones we think are "the best of the best" if you will, and publish them into one fairly epic magazine.
But who are we? I suppose that’s a fair question.
We are twelve students from Ohio Northern University, dedicated to bringing YOU the best magazine we can. Or something like that. There is, however, a lot more to each of us individually. So I thought, that just maybe, you’d like a bit of a glimpse into “us”.

"Us"

Andrew - Co-editor. Andrew Merecicky, senior creative writing major, does not hail from Brothers, Oregon where he did not publish his first two books of poetry, The Wind and Whether: Annals Is a Funny Word and The F*ck is Poetry. After graduating high school, he did not spend a year traveling through cities on the coast of the Mediterranean before not spending two years working alongside migrant workers picking strawberries in southern California. His work has not appeared in Paris Review, Threepenny Review, TriQuarterly, Witness, Missouri Review,Kenyon Review, Five Points, Doubletake, Iowa Review, Crazy Horse, and Black Warrior Review. He does not currently reside in Buffalo, New York with his two dogs, Sanford and Son.

Brian -- Co-editor. Brian did not grow up along the solemn coast of Maine, the son of a librarian and a longshoreman. Before not attending Brown University, he did not spend a year digging irrigation systems in the underdeveloped hillsides of Nepal. He has not been published in Tin Roof, Western
Humanities Review, The Capilano Review or Jet. Brian has received no influence whatever from James Joyce, Hemmingway and Walt Witman. He is not planning to begin his master's in Russian literature at Boston College next fall. Neither has he been married to his lovely wife, Saleema, for two years, who is not pregnant with their first child.

Fred-- Art Editor. He would like to be known as "the fastest man in the world." Is he athletic? No, not really. But the "fastest man in the world nonetheless." Go figure. He can do handstands. Fred is single.









Alan- Fiction editor. Can be seen around campus riding a red bicycle with long pink streamers. He writes music reviews for the Northern Review and wants to marry Lydia. But Lydia thinks he's yucky. At time of post: someone stole the pink streamers off his bike.











Jeff- Design editor. Jeff was the original batman. He also hails from a place.










Khaty- Poetry editor. Was found in a basket along the Cuyahoga river. She is also descended of Finnish royalty. She enjoys breakfast alright, but her absolute favorite meal of the day is dinner! Her research includes the efficacy of auryn as a means to pass beyond the Cosmic Microwave Background and stop the Nothing. Also seahorses. Also see: Horses.











Kathleen- Non-fiction editor. She went to Wales.











Lydia- Promotional director. She actually thinks Alan is quite cute, but just wants him to think she thinks he's yucky. Sometimes she stands close to him at recess hoping he will accidently bump into her, although she isn't quite sure why she wants this to happen. She just know it makes her feel fuzzy inside. They will probably get married. She has a dog named Gary Busey.








James- Webmaster. If James could change one thing about the world it would be free Black Jack Tacos all the time. He also owns his own childcare/debt settlement scam firm. He spends his weekends sending you those e-mails from Nigeria about a great opportunity if you can just lend him three thousand dollars now, you could make millions in a month!! He is an overall trustworthy guy except for this. We might say that James had been the original drummer for 98 degrees. It may also have been a drum machine. He has eight photos on his Facebook page. He also says "hi."

Caitlin- Professional phone number stalker. Caitlin McCann likes writing poetry and reading long books on the beach. Looking for a muse that is stable and likes variety. Must be adaptable to many genres.


Carolyn- Official blogger and random-stuff do-er. This would be me. The most important things to know are probably the following: 1) I love popcorn. 2) My favorite pair of shoes? My puppy dog slippers. Don't knock slippers, they're amazing. And 3) A Tale of Two Cities stirs my soul deeply. That. Is all ;c)

So there you go. A glimpse into the names behind Polaris. Over the last few meetings, we've been focusing on getting our name out-- trying to get ads placed in strategic places, etc. You know. Most exciting accomplishment of last meeting: *drum roll* We now have a website! www.polarismag.org is up and running.

Victory.

And that's a wrap.