After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, St. Joe’s literary magazine, Crimson and Gray, published again this semester.
The magazine, which has featured the creative prose, poetry and photography of St. Joe’s undergraduates for 20 years, did not have an active staff during 2020 and 2021.
In an effort to make up for lost time and re-establish some momentum, editors spent five months working not only on this year’s edition of the magazine but the 2021 edition as well.
Callie Crouch ’23, co-editor of the magazine, said the editors’ first job was to publish the 2021 magazine, which was never finished.
“Last semester we really started getting together and we had to release the 2021 edition because it never actually went out, so we had to release that first,” Crouch said. “And then this semester, we started really working on the 2022 edition.”
Editors received over 200 submissions for the 2022 edition, which made for plenty of work, according to Maya Jacyszyn ’22, co-editor of Crimson and Gray.
“I remember one meeting we were there for over three hours with the close-knit staff,” Jacyszyn said.
The 2022 edition includes 47 works of poetry and prose and 34 photographs, with 40 total students contributing.
Since neither of the co-editors had prior experience as magazine editors, they were assisted by April Lindner, Ph.D., professor of English, and Krista Rossi ’17, a St. Joe’s alumnus.
Lindner worked as the faculty advisor for Crimson and Gray in the early 2000s and took over the role again last fall.
“I’m really just there for the most part as moral support and to answer questions as they arrive,” Lindner said. “And I’ve proofread each edition before it goes to print. But really the choices of the work that gets included, the art and the fiction and poetry, is really in the hands of the editorial staff.”
Daniel Barry ’23, who published poetry in the 2022 edition of the magazine, said he appreciates what the craft of poetry teaches the writer.
“The great thing about poetry is that you learn a lot about yourself and people don’t usually have access to that self knowledge,” Barry said.
The team hosted a release party for magazine staff on May 12 to commemorate the publication of the latest issue. Copies of the magazine are available on tables in the Merion Hall Atrium and in the English department in Merion Hall.
