By Angela Le Quieu , Staff Reporter | Angela Le Quieu
The Leonardo is the CNM student based literary magazine that gives students the opportunity to showcase their creative skills and talents, said Hope Hart-Petrie English major and one of the editors for the magazine.
On Friday, April 11 at 11a.m., this year’s Leonardo release party has been planned to be located at the Student Resource Center, first floor library outside the cafe, which will include a poetry reading and music from student authors who have been published in this year’s magazine, Hart- Petrie said.
“The whole idea is to validate the arts and validate that side of ourselves that’s reaching for that kind of expression,” Hart- Petrie said.
The event will also be the main distribution shot for the magazine, which is free to CNM students, said English instructor, Dr. Patrick Houlihan, who is the faculty advisor for Leonardo.
The magazine features art work and writing that was submitted throughout the year up until early in the spring term to Houlihan, and then is selected by volunteer editorial staff, Houlihan said.
In this edition, the editors were able to solicit not just poetry but also short stories, as well as a wide range of art from the CNM art department for the magazine, Hart-Petrie said.
“We really want to encourage people with all their different artistic backgrounds and skills to take this opportunity to showcase their work,” Hart- Petrie said.
The title of this year’s addition “Who I am and Where I’ve Been” is the same as the title of the cover art, which Hart-Petrie said reflects the content of the magazine that seems to have a theme of identity and experience.
Works range from traditional drawing and painting, to mosaics and photography, poems in both Spanish and English, short stories, and computer graphic art, Hart- Petrie said.
“We have a huge diverse culture in here and it reflects the student body at this school and I am really pleased with the finished product,” Hart- Petrie said.
One of the many differences with the magazine this year is that the literary magazine will be online, as well as in print, Hart-Petrie said.
The various pieces of writing and art work chosen for publication had previously been based on votes from the editors, and due to the subjective nature of those votes, some quality work did not make it in, but the online edition allowed for the editors to put some of that work in, Hart-Petrie said.
Houlihan said that offering the publication online has allowed editors to include more works than they were able to put into the printed edition which is limited on space.
Student activities fees pay for the publication of the magazine; although the small budget covers only basics, such as ink and paper, this year they should be able to print more copies than they have been able to in the past, Houlihan said.
“Print edition is paper and ink; it’s the money that limits its size, also at a certain level how much you can staple, it’s really crazy that it becomes a limit but it is—we are going to have the first online edition, and I think that allows them to include some works that physically won’t fit,” Houlihan said.
This year the event at the SRC will also be filmed again, as it has been in the past and it should be available on the CNM website, cnm.edu, as well as the online version of the Leonardo, Hart-Petrie said.
“This is here for us, and we also subtitled the magazine ‘A Celebration of the Arts,’ because the arts get so neglected and yet the arts are such an enrichment of our lives,” Hart-Petrie said.
Hart-Petrie said that her experience working on the Leonardo literary magazine has been a rewarding one, and that for her going to CNM is not just about her degree, but for life enrichment, and it has given her a chance to retool some of her skills for the current job market.
For students who cannot make it to the event on April 11, copies of Leonardo will be available in the CHSS office on the fourth floor of Max Salazar Hall, on Main campus or through creative writing instructors throughout other campuses, Houlihan said.
Students who cannot make it to Main campus, or who wish to submit work for consideration in the next edition of the Leonardo literary magazine, may contact Dr. Houlihan by email at houlihan@cnm.edu, he said.
“The most important thing we can say about the Leonardo is for people to submit (work),” Hart- Petrie said.
