On a rainy Thursday evening, a crowd of Southwestern students, faculty, and friends gathered inside a beloved local establishment, Lark and Owl Booksellers, to celebrate the release of the Sea Shanty, Southwestern University’s newly revived literary journal. Several of the published creatives were in attendance, mingling with supportive friends, family, and even some faculty and staff.  The party’s purpose was to highlight their work, allowing them a space to express and explain their projects. 

The celebration started with a brief welcome from Zoe Hein (‘26), Gus Papasan (‘27) and Caitlin Stewart (‘26), the leaders of the project. They explained how grateful they were to not only receive the King Creativity Fund, but to also ultimately win first prize; adding a shoutout to the fourth member of their team, Maglor Williams (‘27), who was unable to attend due to studying abroad in the Netherlands. Dr. Eileen Cleere, the chair of the English Department, then stepped up to officially open the ceremony with a speech congratulating the Sea Shanty and its participants and the importance that literary spaces bear to combat AI. She notes how AI is not “the end of humanities, but its inevitable Renaissance”, pointing out how hungry students are for a return to physical culture, and lauding the Sea Shanty for allowing Southwestern’s student body to express all aspects of itself. She concludes by stating “In a literary world that is incredibly threatened, the Sea Shanty stands out as a weapon against a disenfranchised future.” 

After receiving thunderous applause for the introduction, Zoe introduced Sally Beglau ‘26 as the first reader, performing her poem “ A Hole in the Bucket”. After the emotional reading and backstory, she encouraged audience members to “write the words” they have in their thoughts.

Gus introduced Asin Allavudeen ‘27, who created the cover art for the journal, as well as several works within the text. She explained the personal meaning behind her art, discussing how she starts with “difficult concepts” and finds ways to channel them into her unique and bold creative style.

Announced by Caitlin, Sophie Vogel ‘26 shared her works next, explaining that her capstone presentation is centered around the “vulnerable complex emotions that come with life” and the visual language of human emotion, claiming that she wanted the hardest parts of existence to be embraced. She specifically highlights her painting Rage, a depiction of bright inward fury and internalized anger. She hopes to destigmatize these emotions with her work. 

Next, Zoe announced Fernando Cruz Rivera ‘26, who read his personal essay “On Buying a Bonnet”. Before reading, he explained that the essay originally started as a part of a fan zine. He continued on to mention that it’s an essay speaking on what it means for friends to influence your life, and how important those connections are and will continue to be. 

Following Fernando’s encapsulating reading, Zoe announced Jessica “Jess” Jaime ‘26, an artist whose work focuses on animal companions and their existence in our lives. Jess hopes to use her art to center these animals, and express them as physical parts of our world–not just pets. Her work is meant to feel “simple” in a way, as she says she wanted to capture the animals as “not symbolic, but as they are in everyday life”.

Gus next welcomed Abigayle Stubby-Kern ‘27, who reads one of her two published poems, “Meat and Wool”. Through the poem, she centers the complexities of love, longing, and toxicity within relationships and the self. 

Liberty Taylor ‘26 spoke next about her capstone, which discusses TTRPGs (table-top role playing games) and the sourcebook for one that she ultimately created, Jericho 1999. She led the audience through a lively explanation, including a brief exploration of how she got into the art-form and the definition of the “monster of the week” phenomenon often seen in TTRPGs, books, and tv. 

Gus finished out the presentations by reading his own creative work–a portion of his longer story “Reunion with a Nightmare”. He mentions the importance of the Creative Writing club to his personal experience, explaining that without this club, he might have never gained the courage to share his work in the first place. 

Finally, Zoe takes the mic to give a bit of history on why the group chose to restart the Sea Shanty, explaining that while working on a summer research project, she and Maglor discovered the long history of literary journals on campus. There were several different versions, with different social and cultural meanings. By bringing the Sea Shanty back from the dead, the group hopes to continue the fostering of creativity and community on campus.

After this closing statement, the celebration continued, with all students enjoying discounted goods at the Sanctuary Holistic Kitchen inside of Lark and Owl’s cozy space–not to mention great company! 

A link to the journal can be found here