By N.L. Sweeney
In autumn 2019, three alumnae from the 糖心vlog视频 created a small press and published a new journal to address the environment and climate change. Titled , the 60-page journal represents a significant achievement for Woogee Bae, Aya Bram BonnLuders and Amy Jones, all spring 2019 graduates of the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing & Poetics program.
Exploring environmental issues ranging from deforestation to footpath erosion, the journal is a collection of original poems, artwork and essays. Snail Trail, however, is anything but bleak. Despite its subject matter, the press, according to its mission statement, reaches 鈥渇or something more conscious and hopeful.鈥
鈥淭he journal is founded on a principle of hopefulness in the face of climate change and ecological destruction,鈥 said Amaranth Borsuk, an associate professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences who served as one of the project鈥檚 faculty mentors. 鈥淓ven as it asks us to consider the trails we each leave behind, the journal creates space for resilience and for micro-movements that can sustain us in difficult times.鈥
Bringing together the editorial board
It was in January 2019 during their second year as graduate students that Bae, BonnLuders and Jones officially came together as an editorial board. But for Bae, the idea of starting a press formed long before that. She happened upon a copy of 鈥淪nail Poems鈥 by Eric Sneathen back in spring 2017, and in it she found the inspiration that would later become the project she proposed to BonnLuders and Jones.
With the guidance of Borsuk and Thea Quiray Tagle, a lecturer in the School of IAS who served as a second mentor for the project, the students evolved specific editorial and production roles. Bae managed submissions, timelines, proofreading, publicity and outreach. BonnLuders was the designer, responsible for layout and visuals. As production manager, Jones managed the budget and assumed the responsibility of making sure that the materials used are as eco-friendly as possible, taking the lead on papermaking and journal binding.
They each had their own roles 鈥 and they all helped during the submission review and crafting processes 鈥渟o that one person wasn鈥檛 completely overwhelmed,鈥 said Bae.
The final product features contributions from Eric Sneathen as well as Ching-In Chen, assistant professor in the School of IAS; Joyelle McSweeney, whose work was included in The &NOW Awards 2: The Best Innovative Writing; (Creative Writing & Poetics 鈥19); Katelyn Oppegard (Creative Writing & Poetics 鈥19); and Dao Strom, a Seattle poet who spoke at UW Bothell鈥檚 2019 MFA Spring Festival.
Merging theory and craft
After deciding which works would be included in the inaugural issue, Bae, BonnLuders and Jones began production.
At all stages of the process, Snail Trail embodied the press鈥檚 commitment to sustainability. With a maximum print run of 75 journals, each issue was handcrafted upon order.
鈥淲e made the paper for the cover out of recycled newspaper, scrap paper and plant matter found in Amy鈥檚 backyard,鈥 said Bae. 鈥淟ooking forward, we want to think critically about where the paper is coming from, how it鈥檚 made and whether we can reuse it in some way.鈥
Not only did the project represent the realization of a desire years in the making, it also fulfilled the students鈥 curricular requirements in the MFA program.
鈥淭he second year of the MFA in Creative Writing & Poetics is structured to allow students to focus on their thesis work and begin thinking about how they will find community when they graduate,鈥 said Borsuk. 鈥淚 am really happy with the way the second-year curriculum can flexibly accommodate the interests of our students.鈥
This flexibility allowed Bae, BonnLuders and Jones to tailor their studies with Borsuk and Tagle to Snail Trail. 鈥淭he research Amaranth had us doing emphasized community and mutuality. On top of that, we studied the history of bookbinding, small press ecology and the concept of treating a book as object,鈥 said Bae. 鈥淲ith Thea, the books we read covered everything from impact, harm, excess, waste and toxins to care, reusability and companionship.
鈥淭hey had us thinking about what responsibility means within an environment or community, what accountability means and how these are both practiced.鈥
Creating a path and message
For Jones, it was not just the labor itself that gave the project value, but also how it represented the editorial team鈥檚 values. From the works featured to the material used to make the journal, Snail Trail reflected the students鈥 desire to create a path for their environmental message 鈥 a path that they hope to blaze for others.
鈥淭he journal is small,鈥 said Bae, 鈥渂ut I firmly believe that what we do in small communities can ripple out, that language shifts our thinking and that we can provide a resource for those who wish to follow in our trail.鈥
The team of editors, soon to be joined by Oppegard, looks forward to exploring ecopoetry and materiality in their press in the future. Volume 2 of Snail Trail is scheduled to be published in April 2020 and will be available on the Snail Trail website.
