3April 1, 2012

NEWSThe AonianThe Aonian can be described in many different ways: innovative, award-­winning, the

work that lies beside The Atlantic on a coffee

table in the Murphy House.

“Hendrix College’s literary and visual arts

magazine, student-­run and student-­published,

with all student work.”

The Aonian received award-­winning

status at the 2011 Southern Literary Festival,

where it won second place among literary

journals. In the 2012 Southern Literary Festival,

Editor-­in-­Chief Hanna Al-­Jibouri said

of these achievements, “Winning second place,

we were all so excited;; we didn’t really see it

coming. That title gave us that push to be like

‘Hey, we are a serious publication, and the work

we are doing and the time we are putting into

this is worthwhile.”

The staff recently found out about the

“That was the best news we could have heard,”

said Al-­Jibouri.

The accolades the journal has received

are a testament both to the staff of the Aonian,

and to the community it represents.

The Aonian staff has workshops with Hendrix

faculty in the fall. The workshops are split up in

the same genres that are present in the journal:

photography, visual arts, poetry, and prose/

hybrids.

“A lot of times people come in with the

interest of being on staff but only know about

one genre. We want the staff members to feel

comfortable enough with every single medium

that they know their opinion is important,” Al-­

Jibouri said.

The staff has had workshops with

Hope Coulter, Ty Jaeger, Melissa Gill, Maxine

Payne, as well as other professors on campus

with experience in the various art forms

represented by the journal.

“Melissa Gill taught the visual arts

workshop and she taught us something really

great, like visual art is a focal point, and that we

should ask, ‘Where does your eye go from the

focal point? Where does it travel?’” Al-­Jibouri

said. “So we would think about what Melissa

taught us and apply it in meetings.”

The staff begins their regular meetings

at the beginning of the spring semester. Staff

members are sent a package of writing they are

expected to have read before the meeting, and

they then spend three hours going through the

pieces.

The goal is to “retain a respectful and

kind environment for the art, while also holding

it to the high standard that we are used to,” said

Al-­Jibouri. The staff votes for each piece chosen

for the journal by a hand-­raise vote of yes or no;;

majority wins.

After the pieces are chosen for

publication in the journal, they are sent to

outside judges, not Hendrix staff, who pick

each genre. These judges offer an unbiased

perspective on the pieces, and the pieces are

sent to them anonymously.

“We try to keep the judges in a sort

of local realm. That’s nice to keep that sort of

community vibe that we go for,” said Al-­Jibouri.

There is a judge for each genre represented in

the Aonian. The judges give critiques and write

letters to the writers and artists.

“They’re really great, I love that

give the students feedback,” said Al-­Jibouri.

All of the winners of this contest read or present

their art at the release party in the spring, when

this year’s literary journal will be unveiled.

this magazine is something that deserves

to be published. These artists deserve that

recognition,” said Al-­Jibouri. “The quality of

the work is what makes it stand out.”

Dr. Ty Jaeger, the advisor for the

Aonian, said of the publication, “In the last

few years the Aonian has consistently been a

pretty amazing magazine. There’s a really high

standard now. I think that in some way it’s a

testament to Hendrix, to our commitment, as

a community, to the arts. The magazine is not

simply creative writing, it is also visual arts, and

there’s a lot that goes into it. We have to credit

the entire art department, we have to credit the

entire English department, all of the editors and

screeners—the magazine physically represents

the creativity of the Hendrix community.”

“I think it really does show how much

creative writing and arts at Hendrix has grown

over the past few years,” said Al-­Jibouri. “It is

the students who are producing and putting in

such wonderful material. If the work wasn’t half

as good, the Aonian wouldn’t have won.”

Both Al-­Jibouri and Jaeger encourage

interested students to be on the Aonian staff.

“There are no requirements. We want anyone

who has an interest to feel free and welcome to

apply,” said Al-­Jibouri.

“Students who apply should be really

interested in talking about art and literature,

and they have to have the courage to say that

one piece is better than another piece—a sort of

aesthetic courage, if you will,” said Jaeger.

“The staff members learn how to have

conversations about literature and art. Which is

something,” Jaeger added. “It is an element of

being a cultured person, to be able to talk about

art objects that we encounter in our lives.”

The release party for this year’s Aonian

is Thursday, April 26 at 4:30 p.m. in the Murphy

House. There will be snacks and refreshments.

Come in and pick up your free copy!

By Kim Lane, Managing Editor

Hendrix’s Local Lit-Mag