Author Archives: Gandy Dancer Staff

by | August 14, 2017 · 7:00 pm

Goodreads: The Best App For Bookworms

Posted by Grace Ventura, CNF Reader for 5.2

Do you have a bookshelf (either physically or mentally) that is organized into the books you haven’t read yet and the books you have already read? If so, then you probably haven’t heard of the website/app Goodreads . Goodreads keeps track of all of this for you and then some.

Goodreads is free on iTunes and on the Google Play Store. You can sign up through Facebook although you have the option to sign up with an email instead. If you sign up through Facebook, you can connect with other Facebook friends that have the app. The best way to explain how Goodreads works is by going through the five tabs that are listed at the bottom of the app. Continue reading →

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by | May 10, 2017 · 4:53 pm

St. John Fisher’s Best of The Angle leads to revival of journal as ANGLES

Posted by Oliver Diaz, Managing Editor

Like a shot of espresso, a Best Of issue is a short burst of concentrated content. Dynamic and packed with the best fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and cover art of the last 25 years, Best of The Angle is St. John Fisher’s literary espresso shot. Published in 2016, the anthology also features interviews with the authors alongside their revived writings spanning back to as early as 1956 and as late as 2011.

The joy of a Best Of compilation is in the consistent quality and The Angle delivers in all forms. Tom Hughes’ poem “OINK,” published in 1967, recalls the counter-culture during the Vietnam War, and, like all the work in the anthology, is complimented by an interview in which the author expounds upon his inspiration. On the other hand, full of emotion, distress, and mystery, Emilio Lopez’s story “Reluctant Brother” explores the relationship between two brothers as one tries to call the other back to the family. Lopez’s story is patient, chilling, and, according to him, verges toward the Twilight Zone. Continue reading →

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by | · 10:30 am

Interview with Gandy Dancer 5.2 Featured Artist: Ashley Lester

Posted by Noah Mazer, GD Art Editor, and Poetry Reader

We are pleased to announce the selection of Ashley Lester as Featured Artist for issue 5.2 of Gandy Dance. Among the many works submitted, the Art reviewers for this issue were particularly struck by Lester’s submissions, which were the only ones that utilized collage as their medium. We were so impressed by Lester’s art, in fact, that we reached out and asked her to submit more pieces so that she could be included as Featured Artist. Here, Lester offers insight into what influences her artwork: Continue reading →

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by | May 9, 2017 · 8:28 pm

The Tenth Launch

Posted by Mallika Shah, Gandy Dancer Fiction Reader for 5.2

The tenth issue of Gandy Dancer has marked a shift. Through the semester-long process of its creation, the staff has seen an increased tone of melancholy—a transition into darker themes reflecting the despair that many Americans feel today. On May 5th however, as noted by Managing Editors Evan and Oliver, Gandy Dancer was a gathering place for the contributors, readers, and staff to connect and celebrate this milestone: five years of Geneseo’s SUNY-wide literary magazine. A magazine that has grown up and has taken a stand. Continue reading →

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by | April 17, 2017 · 10:30 am

Making Decisions: How We Choose the Pieces We Choose

Posted by Cassidy Brighton, Gandy Dancer CNF Reader for 5.2

Making decisions on what gets published each semester in Gandy Dancer is not an easy task. With so many submissions and limited room within the magazine, the selection process can get intense.

This is my second semester working to create Gandy Dancer, and my second time working to choose the creative nonfiction pieces that will be published. Each time, we have had to make tough choices and have had tough conversations about what few pieces are going to get put into this semester’s journal. Continue reading →

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by | April 13, 2017 · 10:32 am

Love and Poetry in a Dark Time: Dante Di Stefano’s Love is a Stone Endlessly in Flight

Posted by Evan Goldstein, GD Managing Editor for 5.2

I finished Love is a Stone Endlessly in Flight, Dante Di Stefano’s debut poetry collection, alone under the harsh fluorescent lamp that hangs above my dinner table. It was a frigid winter night, and the wind howled its way under the door to my house and into the living room. Earlier, I had spent considerable time looking out of my bedroom window: trash and lost milk crates skated across the concrete past the students fighting their way to campus in the wind.

It’s easy, especially on Western New York winter nights like this, to feel unhopeful. We live in an unhopeful time, as well. As we watch the authoritarian Trump administration double down on America’s long bipartisan history of war abroad and austerity and state terror at home it can be easy to forget where to find hope, or at least solace, in the day by day. Continue reading →

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by | April 11, 2017 · 10:30 am

Writing Advice from Idra Novey, Author of Ways to Disappear and Exit, Civilian

Posted by Kallie Swyer, GD Poetry Editor for 5.2, Former Contributor for 4.1 and 5.1

As a part of the Geneseo Literary Forum, translator, novelist, and poet Idra Novey came to our campus to discuss her books with in-class visits and a reading. I was lucky enough to be in one of the classes that she visited, where we got to discuss her latest novel Ways to Disappear,  and her recent poetry collection Exit, Civilian.  Continue reading →

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by | April 10, 2017 · 2:39 pm

When The Autistic Evaluates Poetry


Posted byMegan Grant, GD Poetry Reader for 5.2

When I find myself bemoaning the five hours and nine minutes between my friend Chrissy and me, I read her poetry out loud to myself.  I sit cross-legged in front of my bleached-wooden bookshelf and run my fingers across novels and memoirs until they rest on Issue 3.1 of Gandy Dancer.  Chrissy’s poems are printed on page thirty-one; the journal bends open to her.

I have memorized the degree of emphasis of each syllable, the number of milliseconds between every dash and line break.  The stanzas sound like Chrissy, despite our voices’ differing timbres.  However, no matter how many times I recite her poems, both the ones she wrote in college and the new ones she’s written while pursuing her MFA a UMass, I still cannot comprehend what it means to be, “subatomic reactions daisychained in fractals,” or to, “supernova against your stringbean cilia.”  I can’t quite figure out all of what the poems are saying. Continue reading →

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by | April 7, 2017 · 8:48 am

What am I even doing here? Writing and Existential Angst

Posted by Lily Codera, GD Poetry Reader for 5.2

So you’ve decided to write, and nothing is going to stop you. You’re going to write, and no number of soul-draining barista or restaurant server positions (on the side) can slow your momentum now. At this point, you may have developed a routine that allows you to work on your writing regularly; you may have even pinpointed your most productive time of day so as to “protect” it, like Kate Daloz suggested at her recent reading. Maybe your dad has finally come to terms with the fact that you’re probably not going to become the doctor or lawyer that he always wanted you to be. Great. So why do you still feel so unsettled about all this? Continue reading →

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by | March 31, 2017 · 10:08 am

Gandy Dancer Goes to AWP

Posted by Joshua DeJoy, CNF Co-Editor for 5.2

Several current and former Gandy Dancers attended the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP)Conference in Washington, DC, February 8-11. The conference was a rewarding experience for all Geneseo attendees, including myself, Managing Editors Evan Goldstein and Oliver Diaz, Poetry Editor Kallie Swyer, former Poetry Editor Robbie Held, former CNF reader Isabel Owen and friend of Gandy Dancer Elizabeth Pellegrino.

The AWP conference has two main components: dozens of panels by writers, editors, and translators and an absolutely massive book fair. Even the most diligent and caffeinated attendee can only experience a small fraction of what the conference has to offer. For example, I attended a couple of panels and then spent the rest of the time at the book fair, going systematically past hundreds of tables and booths and seeing what they had to offer. Continue reading →

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