Posted by Katie Waring, GD Managing Editor for Fall 2014
Hey Gandy fans,
As the semester winds down and our class prepares to part ways, we celebrated the launch of our new issue on April 30th with…what else? A party! Amid a delectable spread of homemade chocolate chip cookies, fresh fruit, and (lots of) coffee, a crowd of SUNY students, professors, and literary lovers of all kinds filtered into the MacVittie Union Hunt Room to help us commemorate the release of Gandy Dancer Issue 2.2.
As food vanished from the table and caffeine seeped into our veins, artwork from the new issue flashed across the screen at the front of the room. I sat on a ledge in the back next to a table fully loaded with merchandise (a.k.a. SWAG—anyone want a t-shirt? Mug? Totally awesome journal?) and watched as the crowd quickly became entranced with readings from a few of our contributors. Fiction writers Sarah Christ, Jim Ryan, and Suraj Uttamchandani; nonfiction writer Stephanie Nawrocki; and poets Stephon Lawrence, Bibi Lewis, Megan Nolan, and Andrea Springer all read portions of their newly-published work to the audience.
As the party drew to a close, singer-songwriter Kirsten Maxwell—whose music we were ecstatic to publish in 2.2—took the (alas, figurative) stage alongside our very own poetry editor Amy Bishop to play us all home. Listening to Kirsten and Amy’s lovely voices cut through the Hunt Room, I was suddenly struck by the notion that this was the last time many of the contributors and editors would be together. As we bid farewell to our seniors and wish them luck in the future, we also welcome a brand new batch of students to the editing table. To those editors who are about to join the Gandy Dancer family: hello. Get ready to embark on the biggest adventure of your college career. Next semester offers you a chance to have fun, make new friends, and learn a lot more about grammar than you ever thought you needed to know.
If you weren’t able to make it to our launch party, don’t fret—you can still purchase a print copy of our beautiful new issue! Copies are available on Amazon and you can, as always, still view the issue online right here on our website. And, don’t forget: the deadline for our fall issue is September 18th!