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Printer-Friendly ModeSins celebrates 25th edition
December 12, 2005 —
Not many organizations, or anything really, has been around this campus for 25 years. SVSU's literary magazine, Cardinal Sins, has, and a party was thrown Monday evening to celebrate that.
The Sins staff hosted the Fall 2005 Post Publication party in the Roberta Allen Reading Room on the fourth floor of the Zahnow Library. The party, which began at 7 p.m., featured an introduction from Sins editor Amanda Conner, an introduction of the magazine's first editor and advisor, and presentations from some students who had their work published.
Conner, who took over for Anderson Bearden as editor this semester, expressed her pleasure with the issue, which commemorated Sins' 25th anniversary. The edition featured six color photographs, a step up from last year, when only the cover was color. In addition, interviews with the first editor, Michael Langworthy, first advisor, English professor Gary Thompson, and longtime contributor Ann Garcia along with a copy of the first-ever issue of Sins were added to the end of the magazine. In all, the issue had 12 more pages than the Winter 2005 edition.
Conner took the opportunity to thank her staff, including co-assistant editors Mat Easterwood, Amee Schmidt, and Stacie Gatza. She also thanked Sins advisor Melissa Seitz from the English department. Seitz then introduced Langworthy and his wife, Alissar, and Thompson, who spoke briefly before the audience about the original issue.
Schmidt then took over as MC for the event, first introducing those that wished to share their published literary pieces.
The literary section of the presentations included its highlights and lowlights. Kristopher Petersen, who won Sins' Fall Poetry Slam in September, read his short fiction story published in the issue, "Room for Two," which won the award for best Short Fiction piece of the issue. He also recited - from memory - his poems included in the magazine.
Petersen remarked that it was the first time he had read a fiction piece of his out loud, but was obviously a veteran when it came to reading poetry. His poems were fast paced, made obvious by his distinct reading style.
A lowlight of the party came when Howard James Miller III, also known as Buck, read his poem, "The Trickster Prowls the Deserted Garden," featured in the magazine. After reading the piece, the Sins staff member confused the audience by tossing his copy of the issue to the floor and pulling another of his poems out of his back pocket to read to the audience.
Conner alluded in an interview a week earlier to several instances when the staff had harsh disagreements on selecting some pieces, and Miller's demeanor while reading the poem made it clear that it was one that was debated on heavily before being left on the cutting room floor.
After the literary section, Schmidt introduced those in attendance with photography pieces in the issue. Those that did attend gave some background of their pieces, such as where they were taken and the inspiration behind them.
In all, the issue has four pieces of artwork (two color, two black and white), 20 pieces of photography (six color, 14 black and white, six fiction pieces (four short, two flash) and 22 poems
The party, which lasted close to an hour and a half, was attended by students, staff, and administration members.