A Letter to My Year as a Student Editor

Dearest Year,

You were a challenge. You often lacked oxford commas, which I found annoying, bothersome, and emotionally painful. You presented me with many formatting issues. I will still never understand why anyone chooses to center justify anything. Your crown jewel was the day the internet and, consequentially, Submittable broke. It seemed like you never wanted me to be productive. Between your typos and tight deadlines, I felt like I was going to lose my mind.

However, I would not wish you away for anything in the world. You made me stronger. I learned from you that a semicolon is just a period with a fancy high heel. I learned that anything and everything can be funny with just a pinch of sleep deprivation. You presented me with many trials and I am all the better for them. You made this journal grow into something bigger than anyone could have ever wished for. I would not have survived you without the amazing team that works so hard to put New Plains Review together. We came (to class). We saw (all the comma errors). We conquered (the final draft).

via GIPHY

Werewolves: Poem by and Interview with David Aristi

by
Seth Copeland, Publishing Editor
Sydney Vance, Senior Poetry Editor

Werewolf Viejo
By David Aristi

Gold been beaten outta me by
Every passing year, lo que queda
Funciona despacio — what’s left
Works slowly.
The beastly things
I miss, but in war, South Central, or in Juarez
Juárez La Jodida
Or think Aleppo, those goat & sheep sins would be laughable
Today

Confieso porque me he vuelto demasiado viejo para presidió
I confess because I just turned too old for hoosegow:
I’d need Viagra for the Moon now: I can bathe for hours in
Her boob milk light and still remain
A pure old man standing in the night,
Tan Viejo que hecha de menos odiar su bastón
So old that he misses hating his walking stick.
I’ve been known to bring dead pigeons
To the doormat of the widow
To express my affections, but leaving room for doubt, for kicks.
Till one day on Christmas I show up with a feather in my hat

READ MORE…

SP 17 Update

New Plains Review has come a long way over the past thirty years, and we continue to implement and expand ideas to further enhance not only our journal, but the overall artistic community. I am quickly closing in on my 1-year anniversary of bring Editor-in-Chief for the journal, and I cannot help but to reflect on the previous 2 years as an Associate Editor. Our online presence has grown more in the last 9 months than it had the previous decade, and with the launch of our website, it will continue to grow and become a more prominent publishing group. It is on the backs of contributors and our editors which makes this possible.

We look forward to launching our Online Exclusives segment at the end of the month. Some of the contributors will also be in our print edition. Several of our contributors are from around the world. We will have all forms of creative works from short films to music to visual art, which we’ll be able to share in full color. (I am definitely advocating and pressuring my Executive Editor to start printing in color, but the budget isn’t in our favor at the moment–I will save my rant of Oklahoma education budget cuts for now).

Saying we are excited is an understatement, and yes, I realize that saying something is an understatement is a cliché, but that’s all I can think of at the moment as I’m also fighting the urge to rant, as stated previously.

Not pictured: Alyssa, who is taking the picture, Michelle, Shay, and A.J.

Nevertheless, we are just past our halfway mark for the semester and everyone has been hard at work. I want to take a moment and thank a few of our senior editors, as they make my job easier than it should or could be. First and foremost, Taylor Cradduck and Courtney Cullins, our Managing Editors, have made New Plains their baby and Taylor quite possibly has found the most typos and errors (some to many are my fault).  Unfortunately, this is Taylor’s, and possibly Courtney’s, last few months with us. They will be off to bigger and better things, saving the world one typo at a time.

Secondly, but certainly not second, the all-encompassing Media Team: Alyssa Compton (Director of Public Relations) and Kellyn Eaddy (Senior Blog Editor and Social Media Specialist), along with their team, Anna Dore and Andi Ullrich. This group has done so much over the past few months and they do it with a smile, with the additional workload of being full-time students hovering over them. This group of go-getters are constantly at their round table making sure everything is posted and edited, and they deal with my neurotic leadership from time-to-time when things get intense and deadlines seem to be tomorrow.

Seth Copeland, our Publishing Editor, is new to our staff, but his experience running his own journal, Jazz Cigarettehas helped to streamline our transition into being both a print and online journal, as well as being a mediator to contributors throughout the publishing process.

Sydney Vance and Ocean Scheel, our Poetry and Prose editors, have both gone above and beyond to make sure the reading and selection process is disseminated to their teams and deadlines are met.

With the new additions of expanding New Plains Review, we’ve acquired a Development Officer. A.J. Ferguson has worked hand-in-hand with the editorial team. Our contests and fundraisers have been A.J.’s big tests in making sure things run smoothly.

I will wrap up this blog Michelle Waggoner, the heralded Art Director & Production Chief (as I’m over word count and I don’t want Kellyn getting on to me *inserts smiling emoji*). Michelle has been with New Plains for years and years, and her workload seems to increase while we continue to struggle to find her an assistant and more money. (Still saving the budget cut rant for later.) On top of New Plains Review, the New Plains Publishing Group has 2 other journals– 1890: Undergraduate Research Journal and The Central Dissent: A Journal of Gender & Sexuality, both of which she designs. One day she will be off to bigger and better things. Or New Plains Review will continue to grow and become the most well-known literary journal of Oklahoma. We may be a bit biased, but with the continuity of returning go-getters and talent filled editors, we know we can reach that goal.

Thank you to everyone unmentioned, yes, even Shay Rahm, our enthusiastic Executive Editor, and all the associate editors and even more to the contributors and readers across the world. Without you all, our journal would be something short of a nimrod book.
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