On the Printing Press...

Forewarning: Be prepared for some serious English-nerding out right now. 

The before!

So, one of the things I have been a part of majorly during my time at WC is being an editor of Treason, which is a foreign literary journal that prints roughly once a year. It is meant to be a translation of works from famous foreign authors or translations of original work from students at WC. I joined the editing team my freshman year when my roommate told me about it on a whim. By my sophomore year we had some really cool submissions, in Korean, in code, in classic Spanish and French... I really wanted to revamp the journal and give it a breath of fresh air, so I added some things and changed some things. Unfortunately printing has always been a bit of an issue. We had it printed on plain, white card stock that year, and while it looked beautiful it didn't have the same feel I was hoping for.

Anyhow, this year, I applied for and was very luckily awarded a Jacoby Endowment grant from the Rose O'Neill Literary House for $1,000 to work on Treason. I have been steadily collecting submissions and soliciting all my foreign-language speaking friends to compile a journal, and I have been beginning to plan how exactly I want the journal to look. My grant is allowing me to use the Lit House printing press to print the cover and back page as well as create a gorgeous broadside to place in the middle. Right now, my friend is designing an illustration around the theme of discovery for it. 

As part of my stipend I have been attending a letterpress workshop with Mike Kaylor on Tuesday evenings, and let me tell you something. I have fallen in love with it. He showed us the basement with all the different fonts, and I had this urge to print everything and anything! It's so much fun, and there is a lot that goes into it. Right now, my workshop project is putting together a little illustration to send to my friend in Philadelphia. We did a rough print before at our last workshop, and I am (im)patiently waiting over spring break for our class this Tuesday to print a final version. Can't wait to show you all!

The After (so far!)

P.S. Yes, I do realize I forgot the "the" between Man and less!