I'm sitting in a coffee shop in Dinkytown as I write this. (I know: how stereotypical of an aspiring writer. But at least I'm not writing a novel; I work on that at home, or anywhere but a coffee shop.) I've done a decent amount of pondering over what to write for this post--my last one before the Launch Party on this coming Wednesday (7:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m., in The Whole Music Club, in a relatively obscure section of the basement of Coffman Union). I suppose I could talk about the Launch Party in great detail, lauding the benefits of attending this annual extravaganza (free refreshments including coffee and baked goods, prizes, free copies of our literature-and-art-packed 2013 issue, and live readings by some of the authors published in our magazine). However, if you've been reading our social media posts regularly, you've probably reached the point where you'd rather attempt to give a porcupine a sponge bath than read another advertisement. So, instead, I'll share some of my reflections on what taking the Ivory Tower production class has been like for me. Still, though, come to the Launch Party: it's definitely going to be one of the highlights of the spring season.

When I first started the class, I was nervous. I'm sure we all were. I had never done anything like this before, and I'd actually been the last one of us to register for it, over the summer. It was unnerving at first, since everyone in the class helps out everyone else with a wide range of duties. So I, an editor and writer by nature, found myself helping out in the wholly unfamiliar areas of promotion and marketing as well. I got the hang of it, though, and ultimately I believe that the experience it gave me was worth it. The editing experience I got in the class was fantastic. I got experience with creating a style sheet (a list of guidelines that, among other things, gives rules for how an organization will treat linguistic ambiguities such as the spelling of the word "grey"), editing the work of actual authors, corresponding with authors to finalize their pieces for publication, manuscript proofreading, and a whole host of other resume-boosters. Furthermore, we had guest speakers from various organizations in the publishing and literary world, and it was a great opportunity for networking. I also got to read a great many interesting poems, stories, and nonfiction pieces. Everybody collaborated to help decide which pieces went in the magazine and which didn't, and I thought it was quite fun. My favorite part of the class, however, is the communal feeling that develops because the class is two semesters long. Especially in the second semester, the class starts to feel a bit like a hard-working family. This will be my last semester at the U before I graduate. I won't miss the workload of college, but I will miss going to class on Wednesdays, seeing so many familiar faces, and feeling truly welcomed and appreciated. If anyone reading this wants an opportunity to network in the publishing industry, get some excellent hands-on experience with producing a small magazine, and meet some great people, I would encourage you to sign up for this class. (Also, see how craftily I managed to slip in an advertisement for the class instead of the Launch Party? You didn't expect that, did you? Well, okay, you probably did).

1. Some readers may have seen you reading your piece, "Delicate Hobbies," at Hazel and Wren's event Words at WAM. How was the experience? Had you done something like this before?
That was the first time I have ever read in front of an audience. I was incredibly nervous, but it was a great experience. I especially enjoyed hearing the other performers.

2. By the way, happy birthday! (April 1) Did you pull any pranks?
Thank you! I'm not much of a pranker myself, but I do have my fair share of traumatic birthday prank stories (thanks, Mom).

3. What do you want to say to the undergraduate community through "Delicate Hobbies" ?
I'm hoping everyone who reads it will get something out of it. I'm wondering how we can defy expectations placed on us and how we can turn sadness into strength and art.

4. If you were an actor, would you want to play a good-guy or a villain?
I would want to play a villain, but I don't think I'd be very good at it. I'd probably be better as the damsel in distress, which is my second choice anyway.

5. Where does most of your inspiration come from? How do you generate and develop ideas?
I get inspiration from everything - other artistic mediums, people on the bus, conversations, found objects... It's difficult for me to write anything without urgent inspiration. Usually a first sentence will come to me and I have to build off of it slowly, through lots and lots of writing and rewriting.

6. When and how did you decide you wanted to be a writer?
I have wanted to write for as long as I can remember. Nothing else has ever really interested me in the same way as writing has.

7. Besides writing, what are your other hobbies?
I know this might be surprising, but I like to read. I also spend a good deal of time playing with my cat. If drinking coffee is a hobby, then that, too.

8. What would your dream Saturday look like?
That's a hard one. I'd wake up early, get coffee, and go to the zoo or a museum or something! Then I guess I might go exploring outside, and end the day with a movie and a nice cup of tea.

9. Many writers stick to a writing schedule such as a designated time of the day, a certain amount of time, or a certain number of words they will write every day, week, etc. Do you do anything like this?
I really wish I could say I do, but I typically just write whenever the fancy strikes me, which means some weeks I write every day and others I don't write at all.

10. What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Write about what you love, or maybe about what you hate. Or write about something you don't care about... just write!

11. And finally, just to mix things up, what are you wearing right now?
Okay, now you're getting a little creepy.

For today's blog, I emailed a set of interview questions to KT Perleberg, the author of the fiction piece "Hummingbird," one of the stories we're publishing in this year's Ivory Tower. The questions dealt with various aspects of her life, her writing, and "Hummingbird" in particular. So as not to keep you in suspense with a long-winded introduction, I'll keep this concise. Below are KT Perleberg's responses, as well as the questions themselves. Come to think of it, you could have figured that out for yourself without me telling you. Oh well. Anyway:

What sources do you draw inspiration from as a writer?
I draw inspiration from most everything around me, though I notice that I get most of my ideas at the beginning of a new school year or semester, when everything is busy and new and I'm surrounded by new people. Sometimes a particular character will be drawn from a movie I've seen, or even songs I hear on the radio.

The bio you gave us for the "Contributor Bios" section of the magazine says you're a Film Studies major. How did you decide on that as a major, and how do you think that relates to your writing?
I think a part of me has always known I was going to be a Film major. For as long as I can remember I've loved movies, and the more I learn about how they're made the more I'm in love with them, picking them apart and figuring out how they work. To me, it's all storytelling, in the end, whether it's written down or played on a screen.

What sorts of films do you most enjoy? What influence do you think they have on your writing?
I can usually find at least one thing to really enjoy in any film I watch, but I definitely have a taste for more films off the beaten track. I have a particular fondness for Tarantino, Allen, Coppola, and Russell. Like I mentioned before, just about anything can influence my writing. A character, a scene, a song, even the way the camera shifted around Bradley Cooper in the first therapist's office scene in Silver Linings Playbook can make my fingers itch to write.

In your bio, you said that you wanted to act, produce, and write screenplays in the entertainment industry after graduation. Do you also plan to continue writing short stories?
I don't think I could stop writing if I wanted to!

In addition to fiction, have you written any other types of creative work, like poetry, memoir, essays, and screenplays?
For a brief time in my middle teens I dabbled in poetry and songwriting, but didn't take to it as much as fiction. My dad and sister are very talented songwriters and musicians, so I always felt like I ought to give it a shot.

Of the many types of written works (novels, short stories, newspapers, magazines, memoirs, essays, research papers, the backs of cereal boxes, etc.), which do you enjoy reading most, and why?
As fascinating the backs of cereal boxes may be, I've lately been enamored of graphic novels. Mixed media like that has always interested me, and reading a comic book at the end of a long day is a great way to decompress while still immersing myself in great storytelling.

What is your favorite genre of fiction (realistic, historical, romance, science fiction, fantasy, etc.), and why do you enjoy that genre more than others?
Fantasy and science fiction are great, but I have a hard time enjoying them without a good dose of realism thrown in. Magical realism and stories about the real world that's just a little shifted to the left are definitely my favorite, because it makes the story and characters that much more relatable.

Who is your favorite author, and why? How much does his or her work influence your own?
Neil Gaiman and Matt Fraction are my favorites of the moment. They're very funny, though--Gaiman in a more dry, sneak-up-on-you sense where you can read part of his book, put it down, go about your life, and then in the middle of washing the dishes you suddenly get the joke and you're giggling into the soap suds. Not only that, but both authors have a very distinct narrative voice, which I always try to convey in my writing, even when I write in third person rather than first. I love having very opinionated third-person-omniscient narrators.

Who or what do you think is the greatest influence on your writing, and why is that?
There is no one person or thing that is the greatest influence on my writing. The whole world is constantly barraging me with new ideas from all sides. Sure, I might go through phases where I tend to focus more on a certain type of relationship, or a turn of phrase, or the way a fire feels when you sit too close but can't tear yourself away, but there's never just one thing. It's a sea of voices all clamoring to be heard at once.

In the literary world, there is a tendency to regard stories that focus more on plot and less on character--such as those of many old science fiction writers like A.E. Van Vogt--as less literary or less skillful than those which focus more on character and less on plot. What is your opinion regarding this attitude? Do you feel that character-driven stories are indeed superior to plot-driven ones, or do you feel that both types of story are more-or-less equally skillful, just in different ways? Or are you a rebel, who feels that the plot-driven story is actually superior to the character-driven story?
Each type of story demands just as much respect as the other, in my opinion. With the vast amount of pre-existing stories out there, it can be a real challenge to come up with an original and engaging plot, so anyone who is able to come up with something bright and new is a hero in my book. The same goes for characters: it's not easy to make a hero who is flawed enough to be relatable without composing them of clichés.

What is your process when you write a story? For example, do you know the plot of the story beforehand, or do you make it up as you go along? Do you write for large chunks of time at once, or do you space out your writing time into small, regularly scheduled intervals?
Usually I get either one specific scene, idea, or character in my head and build the rest of the story around that. Sometimes I'll be writing the early exposition of a story (I typically write in chronological order) but an idea for the last scene or the climax will be sitting in my head, and the words will come together just so, and I'll have to stop and write that in a second document before I lose it, then shape the story to lead the way there. I don't like going back to work on small projects in increments again and again; it's typically all or nothing in one sitting for me. I get everything down, let it stew for a few hours or days, then go back to reread with a fresh eye and fix anything that feels out of place. I never schedule when to write--it starts to feel too much like work--but I try to write a little bit every day no matter what. Even putting down one sentence makes it a little easier to sleep at night feeling accomplished.

"Hummingbird" is about a world in which hearts are literally the source of human emotion. How did you come up with such an intriguing idea for a story?
Like with my favorite types of fantasy/science fiction, I love the idea of a world exactly like ours but shifted a little to the left, with one thing changed and therefore changing everything. It started when I read a compilation of short stories called Machine of Death, about what the world would be like if a machine were invented that, with just a prick of your finger, accurately predicted exactly how you would die. That idea sat with me for a long time, and so when it came time to write a story for one of my classes I decided to take that idea and play it around in my hands for a while. One thing led to another, and here we are.

The main character of "Hummingbird" is Lizzie, a girl who has no emotions. Where did the idea for her character come from?
She came a little bit from several of my most-loved fictional characters, actually. Part was from an online forum discussion about Sherlock Holmes, from the BBC series Sherlock, a modern take of the Victorian hero who plays at purging himself of all emotions to better understand the world around him. Another part was Black Widow from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, who pushes aside her own wants and feelings to disguise herself in the lives of other people. And the last was Spock from Star Trek. The one thing each of these characters, and Lizzie, have in common, is that at the end of the day, even the most heartless of people still reach out for human connections, whether they want to or not.

I notice a pattern in subject matter between this story and your first story (a girl who can't feel, a puppy who can't bark): both are about characters who are unable to do something that is considered "normal." Is this reflective of a lot of your writing, and if so, why?
Not entirely indicative, no. Recently I've been experimenting a lot more with testing my comfort zone in writing stories like "Hummingbird," but I used to stay relatively safe when it came to plot devices and character traits. Now I've become much fonder of the world-weary, damaged, and societally "wrong" characters that are so often the ones who need support the most, but don't seek it out of pride or fear.

Can we expect to see more submissions from you in upcoming issues of Ivory Tower? In other words, do you plan to submit again, so that future classes producing the magazine can look forward to reading your work?
It would be my genuine pleasure.

Very recently I had the exciting opportunity to interview Andrea Tritschler, author of the poems "Greetings" and "Yours Truly." Tritschler is a senior at the U of M and is pursuing a degree in Professional Journalism. You can find her two poems in our magazine coming out April 24.

Why do you write poetry?
I honestly don't know if I can answer that question. I guess because poetry comes naturally to me. I love anything where I can break rules. But poetry also challenges me in a way other forms of writing don't. It is the most personal form of writing for me, and it can be kind of exhilarating to put myself out there, but also completely terrifying.

How did you get into writing?
I know it sounds cliché but I was always writing. Starting in second grade I always kept a journal. I actually still have all my old journals. I started writing about everything that happened each day, or observations about something odd. It slowly evolved into a more creative process.

Where do your ideas spawn from?
I'm mostly driven to write by events in my own life. I find that's where most of my ideas are born, but sometimes I have really strange dreams that are so weird I feel compelled to write about them.

Who are your favorite authors?
I have so many favorite authors. A lot of my favorite authors tend to be journalists as well. Some of my favorites are Joan Didion, Sylvia Plath, David Sedaris, Jack Kerouac, Paulo Neruda, Chuck Klosterman, and Vladimir Nabokov.

Who inspires you the most?
I'm really inspired by spoken word poetry and poets like Andrea Gibson and Guante. I love the rhythm and passion of spoken word, and I try to incorporate that into my own writing. Even though I'm not brave enough to read it online.

Do you write every day?
No. Writing every day would be torturous for me. Writing is a definitely a source of catharsis for me, and I find that my writing tends to be pretty dark, even when I'm writing about something cheerful. So to write every day would probably make me really depressed.

Do you prefer writing digitally or on paper?
I prefer to write on paper. When I make mistakes on paper, they are still there to go back to. When I make mistakes on a computer and hit backspace they are gone. Sometimes mistakes end up being useful later.

What do you think makes a good poem?
I think a poem is good when it reaches an emotion that you didn't even realize was there, or describes something that you couldn't.

Are you more interested in realistic poetry or abstract poetry?
Abstract Poetry.

What do you find most challenging in your writing?
Starting. Ideas come easily but when I first sit down to write, I go through like three pages or verses before I'm finally like, okay I know where this is going to go.

What do you do when you experience writer's block, if ever?
I do something else--go for a run or clean the kitchen--just something to take my mind off what I'm doing.

What is your favorite genre to write about? To read?
I prefer to write non-fiction and poetry. I think the two are very interconnected for me, but I like to stick with what I what I know and what I have experienced. I also like to read non-fiction, mostly essays and memoirs, but poetry and biographies too.

What are your goals as a writer?
I would like to continue working as a journalist, but eventually I would like to get a book or collection of poems or essays published. I will continue to write creatively until the day I die or until I no longer can, so eventually I will get there. Let's just hope it will come sooner than that.

Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing Matthew McGuire, a former staff member of Ivory Tower and one of this year's contributors. Make sure to check out his story "Silence is Sexy" when our magazine is distributed on April 24.

Natalia Petkovich, Ivory Tower: Let's get into the important stuff right away: Are you a dog person or a cat person?

Matthew McGuire: I think I am more of a dog person, but I see the appeal of cats.

NP: Here's a more serious question: Who are your favorite authors?

MM: David Foster Wallace was my first exposure to difficult literature and he remains my favorite. Ben Marcus, David Markson, Jena Osman, and Zachary Schomburg top my contemporary list. As far as the canon goes, I like William Gaddis, Ralph Ellison, Emily Bronté, Thomas Hardy, and Samuel Beckett. I think no one comes close to Kafka and the way his stories work. There's a British author, Stephen Gilbert, who wrote a brilliant book called The Ratman Notebooks.

NP: Name a fictional character who you despise.

MM: Walter Berglund from Freedom gets under my skin. He represents a lot of what I don't like in fiction, obvious social criticism, lack of genuine human relationships, misogyny masquerading as feminism.

NP: Describe your writing process. How do ideas come to you and how do you turn those ideas into stories?

MM: I get most of my story ideas from conversations with friends or bits of speech I overhear in public. Most pieces start with a voice and then I try to experiment until I find something that works.

NP: "Silence is Sexy" has a unique style; what inspired you to write this story?

MM: "Silence is Sexy" came from a friend's complaint about his relationship. He claimed to have trouble sleeping next to another person because of the extra body heat. My goal with the story was to completely eliminate anything that could indicate character, gender, names, age, etc. What was surprising to me was when I showed the piece to some trusted readers, everyone agreed on the genders of the speakers.

NP: You were a fiction editor for the 2012 edition of Ivory Tower. What did you learn by being in that class?

MM: Working on Ivory Tower taught me a lot, mainly that I don't have what it takes to be an editor. It was extremely difficult for me to reject pieces without having the necessary space and time to explain why the pieces didn't work or fit with a certain theme. Thankfully, the other members of the staff helped me make the tough decisions.

NP: This year you'll be graduating with degrees in English and Philosophy. Do you have any plans for after graduation?

MM: After graduation, I plan on moving out of Minnesota. I'd like to give writing a shot and see how far I can go.

NP: Last question: Imagine that you're stuck on a desert island. You get three books, two movies, and one iPod that can play only one song. What do you bring with you?

MM: Books: a collection of Kafka stories, a condensed OED, and Infinite Jest. Movies: Melancholia and Salò. Song: "Nobody's Wounded" by Deine Lakaien or "Love Less" by New Order.

MM: Thanks to Ivory Tower!

For this post, I could choose to talk about any number of things. I could talk about how the date of the Launch Party is getting ever closer, and how you should come to it because it's sure to be an entertaining evening. I could talk about some of the books I've read for other classes, and analyze their literary significance. I could discuss the somewhat melancholic feelings brought about by wandering alone around the nearly-deserted campus on Spring Break, putting up flyers advertising the Launch Party. I could even go off on a tangent and give a detailed list of girls I'm attracted to, just to make the information known to them and to the public at large--although I'm reasonably certain our professor would flip his biscuits (and rightfully so) if I used this forum for such an esoteric topic. However, in lieu of those options, fascinating though some of them might be to explore, I will give my thought on a topic of more immediate import: Why does literature matter? Why does the U of M even have a literary magazine? Chances are if you're reading this blog, you already have an adequate answer to this question, even if it's just a feeling you get when you read something that touches you. But, if you'll indulge me, I'd like to give my thoughts on the subject.

As I see it, literature--and, indeed, all forms of artistic expression--matters because it's a way of expressing things that can't be so easily talked about in direct conversation. It's a way to indirectly express sorrows and frustrations, fears and regrets, joys and longings, and, of course, any observations that question the ideology of the society one lives in. Without such a way to relieve the pressure of suppressed thoughts, they might otherwise build up inside and lead to any number of unpleasant manifestations, from social awkwardness to mass murder (that last part is perhaps a bit melodramatic, but you get the point). Example: say you're single and you meet someone who seems perfect for you in every way. You can't just tell that person how much you like them: it doesn't work, and it may very well ruin your chances of ever even seeing them again (I know this from personal experience). But if, instead of telling that person how you feel, you write a story or a poem or even a memoir about the situation, or create a work of visual art inspired by what you're feeling, this can vent the feelings enough to prevent you from doing anything you'll regret. What you produce will most likely be an indirect enough form of expression that instead of being disliked for communicating too efficiently, you may be lauded for the quality of your artistic endeavor. This ability of literature, visual art, and the like to channel thoughts and feelings that can't be communicated directly into an acceptable medium is what makes these forms of expression important. And by providing a place for students to have their artistic expressions published, Ivory Tower gives these students a way to communicate what they want to say despite the barriers society has placed in their way. It's a way to circumvent the locked door of convention, to slip between the prison bars of protocol, and to breathe the fresh air of free expression, if only for a moment. Come to the Launch Party for our 2013 issue and you'll see what I mean: we'll be having live readings by many of the authors and poets in our magazine. Plus, there will be free coffee, tea, sandwiches, and other foods. And if nothing else, you can find me and chew me out for the hackneyed metaphors I used a few sentences ago. The Party is on April 24th at The Whole Music Club in the basement of Coffman Union from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Be there or forever wonder what it would have been like if you'd been there.

We've almost completed the layout of Ivory Tower's 2013 issue, and we're all very excited to see how it turns out. What's even more exciting, however, is what happens once the magazine goes to the printer. That's when our staff will really begin planning the details of the Launch Party for our 2013 issue. We already know it will be in The Whole Music Club at 7:00 p.m. on April 24th, but we don't know yet how we'll decorate the place or how many different types of refreshments (yes, there will be free food) we'll have for the audience. This will all have to be figured out in the five weeks between March 20th and the day of the party. Whatever happens during those five weeks, it will certainly be exciting, and [blatant marketing] it's guaranteed to result in one fantastic event on April 24th. We'd love it if you'd attend and see for yourselves.

This is an exciting time of the year for the staff at Ivory Tower: We're moving into the final stage of magazine production and the light at the end of the tunnel is in sight. We recently finished the intense process of choosing all of the literary pieces and works of art that will appear in our magazine. Now, we just need to finalize the layout and send it off to the printer. I'm thrilled to see our final product. More than just thrilled: ecstatic, delighted, giddy, really any kind of adjective that expresses excitement and joy. I know that the rest of the staff feels the same way. Are you thinking that we're getting too excited about a simple magazine? Well, keep in mind that this magazine is something that the staff has been diligently working on for the whole school year. On the first day of class, we went around the room and everyone said that they were interested in careers in publishing. We knew that Ivory Tower would be a first step into the publishing world, and a class that would give us the unique opportunity create something special. After all of these months, our hard work is soon going to become a reality. I imagine that it will be somewhat of an emotional experience holding a physical copy of our magazine and knowing that it's going to be in the hands and hearts of many other people. It will be a bittersweet moment as well, because by the time we receive copies of our magazine, the class will be coming to an end.

Anyway, I don't want to start getting too sappy, so I want to end this post with a pitch for our launch party. It'll be at The Whole Music Club on April 24 at 7 p.m. We'll have refreshments, author readings, free copies of our magazine, and overall good company--mark your calendars and invite your friends, because it will be a swell time!

The past week has been a hectic one at Ivory Tower. In addition to dealing with new class schedules, the sacrifice of leisure time (for those who still believe in the concept, anyway) to the demands of new homework, and the usual beginning-of-semester kerfuffle (yes, I did seriously just use that word), our staff members have had to finalize our decisions about which student submissions will be published in the 2013 issue of the magazine. Our staff is divided into four committees: one for each category of student work submitted to our magazine (Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Visual Art). Over Winter Break, each member of each committee reviewed every submission in the category that her or his committee dealt with. We arrived in our first Ivory Tower class of the semester on Wednesday, ready to discuss which pieces we thought should go in the magazine.

In the committee I was in, the Fiction Committee, we had decided before break that each of us would come to class this semester with a list of the stories he or she liked, or at least thought would go well in the magazine. As it turned out, one of us had exceeded expectations and made a particularly inclusive list. Therefore, we decided that he would read off the names of the stories on his list, and that after each name was read off, each member of our committee would assign that story a ranking from one to five, five being the best. We would then add up each ranking to give that story a total score, and we would decide which stories got included largely by which stories had the highest total scores. A few of us liked stories that weren't on the list originally, so we added those to be voted on as well.

So we voted, and we were surprised to find that we agreed on a lot more of the stories than we'd thought we would. When we'd finished voting on all the stories and we'd put them together into a list of twenty, ranked according to their scores, we felt quite satisfied with our work. None of us felt that our opinions were underrepresented in the finalized list, and none of us felt that any stories that we absolutely needed to include as possibilities were left off the list. For example, every one of the stories that I included on my personal list made it onto the final list. We submitted the final list to the Editors-in-Chief, who have the final word about what content goes in the magazine. The Editors-in-Chief may disregard some of the rankings on our list when making the final decision, in order to vary the subject matter of the magazine (many of our top choices diverged somewhat from ordinary life, and it might be nice to have a couple pieces dealing with more relatable subject matter), but we can all feel confident that each of us will see at least one of our top picks make it into the printed issue.

The topic of this post will seem rather obscure at first, but bear with us: it does have a literary point. One of our copyeditors received an album by the Moody Blues (a rock band from the mid 60's and 70's) as a Christmas present, and he just recently got around to listening to it. He found the music to be quite good--but that's not the point here. The point is that the album included several tracks that consisted of one of the band members reading some original poetry aloud. The copyeditor thought that, despite the fact that the poems rhymed (a technique that seems to be avoided like the plague in modern poetry), some could actually be considered quite good from a literary perspective. This reminded him of his desire to see a contemporary rhyming poem that could rival our era's standard, the unrhymed poem, in literary significance.

Just to clarify: this copyeditor--a quirky, lugubrious, but occasionally entertaining sort of fellow--does not hate, or even dislike, unrhymed poetry. He just thinks that rhymed and unrhymed poetry should both be appreciated as legitimate forms of literature. So it bothers him when rhymed poetry is treated as unsophisticated and is overlooked in lieu of unrhymed poetry, or when few people bother to write polished versions of rhymed poems, figuring (the aforementioned copyeditor supposes) that rhyming is passé.

As this copyeditor listened to the poems on the Moody Blues album, he thought that they sounded like the sort of rhymed poetry that could compete with unrhymed poetry. Still, the Moody Blues are by no means "contemporary" (their heyday ended almost forty years ago), so the copyeditor still couldn't say that he had ever encountered a contemporary rhymed poem that could put a dent in the exalted position of the unrhymed poem in our culture. Then again, he's on our Fiction committee, and isn't exactly well-versed in contemporary poetry, so that could be why he hasn't yet encountered one. He hasn't read many of the Poetry submissions we've received for the 2013 issue of Ivory Tower, either, since his committee isn't in charge of which poems to accept. For all he knows, there could be a rhyming poem such as the one he seeks sitting in the midst of our Submittable pages. We've received a great deal of good poetry, and what gets published will most likely come down to what fits thematically or stylistically with the rest of the magazine. It remains to be seen whether this will include a rhyming poem.

Well, it's the end of the year again: a time for rejuvenation, resolutions, and (of course) partying. In this particular year, it's also a time to remind the people who interpreted the end of the Mayan calendar as the end of the world that they were quite mistaken.

Everyone greets the New Year in a different way. Some people go to elaborate soirees to imbibe expensive liquor and pretend to be interested in the conversations they're having; some people attend less formal affairs and party the night away; some people just hang out with their friends, make New Year's resolutions, and wait for the ball to drop in Times Square. We at Ivory Tower will most likely be doing a variety of things, such as reading through the submissions that we've received for the 2013 issue of our magazine, and making our own New Year's resolutions. The copyeditor writing this does not know what the New Year's resolutions of each individual staff member are, but he is certain that, as
an organization, everyone on our staff has one common resolution: to decide which of the submissions we've received should be published in the 2013 issue of Ivory Tower. Granted, that was our goal before the New Year as well, but it never hurts to reaffirm it through the medium of tradition.

What are your New Year's resolutions, if you've made any? Feel free to share anything that comes to mind (as long as it's appropriate for public viewing), especially if it involves literature and art.

Have any of you out there--in earnest--to analyze art, literature, or something a bit more unconventional (like a song or a video game)? We'd love to hear what you have to say. Oh, and if you're a University of Minnesota undergraduate who analyzed something and actually wrote a paper about it, we would love it if you polished that paper up and sent it to us: we're experiencing a dearth of nonfiction submissions at the moment.

Well folks, it's that time of year again. While some of us tried to stave this off as long as possible, the University of Minnesota campus was finally hit with Mother Nature's most beautiful weapon: snow.

The snow flurried nonstop throughout the day on Sunday, trapping students inside their homes and apartments, leaving them no choice but to cozy up with a blanket and--you guessed it--their study books. With finals fast approaching, the snow provided the perfect excuse to lay low for a day.

The staff here at Ivory Tower is thankful for Sunday's snow day. It gave us some extra time to read submissions, and hopefully, it gave you a little extra time to craft and perfect your own. Just a reminder: there is still time to submit! We have extended our deadline to December 22nd, because we know how inspiring the holiday season can be to all you writers, poets, and artists.

That being said, we feel that one of the most beautiful parts of this snow day is the art that it inspires. We know you feel the same way we do--and we want to see your work! Don't forget to take in this beautiful scenery (you do live in Minnesota, after all) and use your creativity as a creative outlet! Besides, we know you probably need a break from studying for finals, anyway. What better way to relax than to stimulate the creative side of the brain?

So, after you've come in from your long trek through the snow, after your coat is hung and your mittens are drying... find a place with a nice view of the snow-covered city, and create (and, of course, don't forget to pass it along to your art-and-lit-hungry friends at Ivory Tower).

As temperatures begin to plummet, all University of Minnesota students know that finals--and the Ivory Tower submission deadline--are looming, causing stress for many. Although we've received hundreds of wonderful submissions already, we want to make sure those pieces you're polishing at the end of the semester get a chance to be considered. Don't worry: we at Ivory Tower have moved the deadline for submissions back to December 22!

We know that you started working on an awesome piece of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, or visual art, but did not have time to complete your masterpiece before December 1. Now you can finish and submit it before winter break starts. The staff at Ivory Tower has enjoyed reading and viewing all of the amazing work students have sent us so far. So don't be left out in the cold: now you've got a second chance to submit to the undergraduate art and literary magazine, sponsored by the University of Minnesota's Department of English.

Please take advantage of this extended deadline and upload your work at https://ivorytower.submittable.com/submit. It truly is a pleasure to have the opportunity to see how creative our fellow students are, and we wanted to do what we could to relieve the stress of the season by giving you more time. Now, if only we could do something about those finals.

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone, and with it the brief respite from the onslaught of end-of-semester homework, which is just as much a yearly tradition as the holiday season itself. At the end of November, we also find ourselves bidding farewell to autumnal bliss and battening down the hatches in preparation for winter. In combination, the daunting homework load and impending winter make me feel like an amateur soapbox derby driver, running around my flimsy car at the top of a winding hill, making frazzled, last minute adjustments to the wheels, chassis, and steering mechanism, hoping they won't all fly off on the first turn at uncontrolled, high speeds. Where are the breaks? You don't need them until you get to the bottom, and finals are still three sleepless weeks away.

Thankfully, at Ivory Tower, our pushcart is a finely tuned machine, partially because we have all put in hard work, and also because we have gotten the opportunity to talk to professionals in the business. The Twin Cities has a radiant and active publishing scene, and some of its active participants have visited our class, depositing rich and invaluable bits of information to ensure that our wheels stay on. Whole Beast Rag andHazel and Wren visited the Ivory Tower earlier in the semester and just last Monday, Jamie Millard and Meghan Murphy visited from the intelligent and graphically brilliant literary magazine Paper Darts.

After working on the 2009 issue of Ivory Tower, graduating, and spending countless hours and dollars in coffee shops, Jamie and Meghan started Paper Darts. The first edition of the magazine was hand sewn; however, subsequent editions have been mechanically produced. They told us about their experience creating the perfect relationship between graphics and text, printing in black and white, and graciously gave us a complimentary copy of Paper Darts Volume 4 to generate design ideas. Their website and printed material is a testament to their artistic and editorial skill. Check them out at http://www.paperdarts.org.

The timing of Paper Darts' visit was impeccable as we begin designing the magazine and selecting the literature and visual art for the magazine. Remember to submit any last minute materials at here.

It's always an interesting experience when I catch a group of writers doing what they do best: huddled around a too-small table with their faces so close to their monitors that they can almost smudge the glass with their noses, their eyes squinting at the words on the screen, trying to figure out the best way to write that beautiful love scene or that particularly gruesome murder. Yes, a group of writers is certainly a sight to behold, and we at Ivory Tower love and appreciate them for what they do. November is the month of changing leaves, turkey, and family football games, but it is also an important month for writers.

National Novel Writing Month spans all of chilly November, and, as someone who has participated in previous years, I've observed that it brings out the best in the writers of our university. This event draws together the entire undergraduate community: it includes English majors, of course, but also students from many other disciplines. Some of the best writers I know are Computer Science, Biochemistry, Physics, and Math majors. Ivory Tower wants to hear from all students, because we know that while not everyone is crazy enough to tackle a whole novel in a month, that doesn't mean that the writing atmosphere can't inspire every one of us to create something great.

So, next time you see a group of students with fingers blissfully skittering across their keyboards, smiling as they smooth out that bit of awkward prose, take a moment to think about the ideas that you want to share. That's what it's all about. It's about you, and having your work featured in Ivory Tower. It's about your poems, your fiction, your non-fiction, and your art taking a place where everyone can admire it.
Maybe you won't write a whole novel this month. But if you pick up a pen, type at a keyboard, or move a brush across canvas, you may create something: something uniquely yours, something you can be proud of, and something you can cherish in years far beyond the time you spend here at the university. And if you submit to Ivory Tower, it may be published in a handsome journal that will serve as a record of your achievement. You can submit your work at the following website: https://ivorytower.submittable.com/submit.

In elementary school, one of my favorite memories of autumn was attending my school's annual book fair. Class by class, we were allowed down into the gym where, gleaming on four shelves and two table displays, there were books--hundreds of books, it seemed to me at the time - filled with words and ideas. I would wander through doe-eyed, making lists of titles to pitch to my mother later that evening. Each book had the potential to be a great story, and I loved great stories.

So imagine my excitement when I walked into the Twin Cities Book Festival on October 13 and saw over 120 exhibitors displaying everything from chapbooks to literary magazines to full-length novels. I wound my way through the crowd to the table we were sharing with dislocate (Ivory Tower's graduate counterpart), and chatted with co-editor Casey for a bit. After Casey left to check out the other exhibitors, Amy from dislocate and I took questions and passed out previous issues of our respective magazines to passersby.

It was amazing to see the humming literary world of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. We stood directly next to Conduit's funky, narrow journal, and back-to-back with Hazel & Wren advertising their open mic night. Paper Darts was just down the line flashing their brand new fourth issue. Later in the day, I stopped to look at the University of Minnesota Press' Children of the Northlights book, and Mary Jo Bang's rendition of Dante's Inferno, published by Graywolf Press. There were small publishers I'd never heard of before, like Uncivilized Books, and literary magazines I definitely want to read through in the future, like Hamline's Water~Stone Review. All the people I talked with were eager to discuss their publications, and curious to learn more about Ivory Tower. It felt great to tell them about our fantastic staff, how we're receiving many submissions, how we're applying for grants, and how we're learning InDesign.

What a wonderful opportunity. Thanks to the Ivory Tower class, I have found a new autumn tradition, the Twin Cities Book Festival, where thousands of books and journals hold the next great stories.

Think you have something you want to share with the undergrad community? We want you to scour through those doodles and class notes for your best art, poetry and short stories. (Even the famous boy-wizard got his start on a coffee shop napkin!)

Just stick to a few guidelines on length and quality to help us give you the best product we can. Please be sure to read them over before you submit, and let your creativity flow!

Create. Share. Get Published.

Note: Ivory Tower no longer accepts submissions via email. Please use Submittable to submit your work.

Guidelines Specific to Genre:

Comprehensive list of our genre guidelines

SUBMIT FICTION, NONFICTION, POETRY, VISUAL ARTWORK VIA Submittable.
Include your name, contact information, and a brief bio in the designated space for a bio/cover letter.

We will carefully consider each submission and decisions will be made only after a lot of brow wrinkling and chin stroking.

We thank you from the bottom of our little hearts for your interest in Ivory Tower,

The Ivory Tower Staff

During my first class visit, I scribbled and scrawled magazine information on one of Lind's formerly black boards and currently glimmering white boards while the writers gathered into an inclusive circle of desks, no doubt preparing to share, read, listen, and respond. The instructor entered the room energetically and invited me to tell the students how to submit their work to Ivory Tower. I told them that Ivory Tower is a student-run magazine only for undergraduates' writing, sponsored by the University of Minnesota English Department. I told them that we accept pretty much any form of creative expression in visual and written art. I told them that they can send questions to ivory@umn.edu and that submitting is easy via https://ivorytower.submittable.com/submit.

The class instructor was almost as excited as I was as she told the class about the great writers that have worked for or submitted to Ivory Tower (Garrison Keillor and Patrica Hampl... just to name a few). We talked about how great of an opportunity this is for emerging writers to land their first publication and to be involved in a lasting literary tradition in the Twin Cities.

Then the visit was over, and I walked out the door; before it swung shut, I heard the instructor urge her class again even more strongly to submit. And they should--and so should you. Because submitting it to Ivory Tower is one of the best ways to gain affirmation and exposure for the beautiful work that students create; doesn't it deserve to be heard?

Think you have something you want to share with the undergrad community? We want you to scour through those doodles and class notes for your best art, poetry and short stories. (Even the famous boy-wizard got his start on a coffee shop napkin!)

Just stick to a few guidelines on length and quality to help us give you the best product we can. Please be sure to read them over before you submit, and let your creativity flow!

Create. Share. Get Published.

Note: Ivory Tower no longer accepts submissions via email. Please use Submittable to submit your work.

Guidelines Specific to Genre:

Comprehensive list of our genre guidelines

SUBMIT FICTION, NONFICTION, POETRY, VISUAL ARTWORK VIA Submittable.
Include your name, contact information, and a brief bio in the designated space for a bio/cover letter.

We will carefully consider each submission and decisions will be made only after a lot of brow wrinkling and chin stroking. A notification of publication status will be sent for each submission before the end of February, providing advice for revision, a request for author and staff member co-editing, or just a hearty pat on the back. Once accepted for publication, your piece may appear in our yearly magazine, newspaper supplements, and/or website.

We thank you from the bottom of our little hearts for your interest in Ivory Tower,

The Ivory Tower Staff

Editors-in-Chief
Casey Underkofler
Etta Berkland

Managing Editors
Lindsey Geyer
Aaron Bergland
Damian Johansson

Online Editor
Jessica Sanko

Marketing Director
Elleni Paulson

Publicist
Amy Wolner

Art Editor
Cassandra Labriola

Design Manager
WooHyun Shim

Copyeditors
Dalton Craig
Heather Hamilton

Proofreaders
Kristen Darveaux
John Moen

Fiction Editors
John Moen
Natalia Petkovich
Melissa Meaglia

Nonfiction Editor
Amy Wolner

Poetry Editors
Aaron Bristow
David Bowar
Jessica Sanko

Saturday, May 9th
7:00 pm, program begins at 7:30
Mississippi Room, Coffman Memorial Union

Come enjoy some food and Lucy Michelle will be playing! Hope to see you there!

We’re also working on planning our launch party. We’ve found a location in Coffman and are looking into finding some delicious food and décor for our shindig. Lucy Michelle (from Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapels) will be playing, and we’re excited to have her. It’s going to be an awesome event, and we’re hoping lots of people will show up for it! Hope to see YOU there!

Kate Carpenter
Poetry Editor

Our poetry judge is Todd Boss. Check him out at www.toddbosspoet.com . He has recently written a book of poetry called Yellowrocket which I bought immediately after having heard him read from it. It is published by Norton, which is a pretty big deal and he lives in Minneapolis! He does readings with other poets once a month at Nina's Coffee Cafe too--go check it out.

Our fiction judge is Lin Enger. He recently wrote a book called Undiscovered Country and has also co-written a number of mystery novels. He is a U of M grad and now teaches creative writing at Moorhead. His website is www.lin-enger.com .

Our non-fiction judge is Brad Listi. He has a best-selling book out called Attention. Deficit. Disorder. His website, bradlisti.com, is a lot of fun to check out. He also founded the online literary community and publication www.thenervousbreakdown.com which features writers from around the world.

Our special content judge is Laurie Lindeen. She was the front-woman of the band Zuzu's Petals and wrote a memoir called Petal Pusher: A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story. She read part of it for us at our last workshop (another one tomorrow!) which she did a wonderful job of leading. Her website is www.laurielindeen.com

We still haven't found an art judge but we're looking very hard for someone very awesome.

Look out for more information on our launch party and make sure you come!

Evy Bround
Marketing and Public Relations Director

Are you a dude or a chick that films stuff on their digital cameras for fun? Or do you record music for fun?

We're now accepting Music and Movies!

E-mail us your submissions!
If you have any questions... you can also e-mail us about that!

Deadline is April 8th.