Back in color, The Eckleburg Project is reaching new milestones.
The only student run literary magazine on campus, TEP published its first colored issue and celebrated the release of Volume II, Issue II Thursday at the MSC with a night of poetry, prose and art.
“This is the first edition that we actually had a chance to print in color, which was a huge accomplishment for us and the team,” said Gabi Aguilar, editor in chief and telecommunication media studies senior.
The Eckleburg Project was able to accept color artwork and print more copies than ever for Issue II. Aguilar said the magazine is continually progressing.
“The magazine is constantly growing and getting better and better every year,” Aguilar said. “And I really feel this is the embodiment of that.”
Davis Land, poetry editor and telecommunication media studies sophomore said the cover and binding had improved.
“The quality of the magazine is a lot better,” Land said.
Last spring, TEP was awarded funding from a nonprofit that selects A&M student organizations to help. Aguilar applied the magazine for a $1,000 Texas Alliance Foundation grant, but was awarded $2,000 instead.
“They loved what we were doing so much that they not only gave us that, but they doubled it,” Aguilar said. “So, we got $2,000 from the Texas Alliance Foundation because they saw that it was a need in this community that the Aggie voice needed to get out there.”
The magazine allows students to communicate in new ways, said Florence Davies, TEP advisor.
“I feel like student voices you know, they’re getting heard, but not in this capacity, not in this way,” Davies said. “It just seemed very fresh to me when they first presented it to me. I definitely wanted to be involved as a former creative writing major here at A&M.”
Davies said TEP accepts artwork, poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction.
“They are accepting submissions right now for the next issue,” Davies said. “We’re hoping again to push another color issue out.”
Missy Ruddell, kinesiology senior said poetry is difficult for her to analyze, but listening to the artists at the event gave the poems new meaning.
“It gave you a reason to why they wrote it and explain why they might have used this imagery and this wording, which made more sense than just hearing it or just reading it,” Ruddell said. “It was a cool experience.”
Sam Carey electrical engineering senior had never attended an event for the magazine. It was the first time he had been to a performance where the audience snapped their fingers instead of clapping.
“It was exciting to hear the authors reading their own stuff,” Carey said. “I really like the graphic art of it.”
The magazine is free, which makes it more accessible to students, Aguilar said, and the absence of cost to the community gives the magazine meaning.
“The value is that it should be free for the community and should be easily accessible for everyone, especially when it’s getting the Aggie voice out there to other Aggies,” Aguilar said.