Trinity has many opportunities for students to find their creative outlet. The Trinity Review, a student-run literary magazine, is one way that students can tap into the fine arts and gain public recognition.
The Trinity Review is a student-led, volunteer-based literature and arts publication exclusively for Trinity undergraduates. It began mostly featuring prose and poetry, but in the last few years, it has branched into the visual arts. The Trinity Review publishes online in the fall and in print in the spring.
This year, the staff is roughly comprised of 15 people. The volunteers sort through work using a double-blind review process, meaning that neither the volunteer reviewers nor the authors know each other’s identities. Students submit all of their works into one collection before they are evenly distributed amongst the review team.
John Bieberich, sophomore English major, works on the Trinity Review staff as an editor. He helps choose the pieces that go into each edition and work on the review process of each piece. Bieberich also plans and coordinates events that the Review hosts with the help of the other staff members.
“I did a literary magazine in high school, so I really just like being able to review and look at a bunch of other people’s work,” Bieberich said. “I write quite a bit of poetry and short story stuff. It’s just nice seeing other people’s work on that.”
In addition to working for the Review, Bieberich has also submitted his own writing to the magazine. His work was in both the fall and spring editions of last year’s Trinity Review.
Sandra Gurrola, senior English and computer science double-major, co-leads the Trinity Review as an editor-in-chief and has worked for three years on staff. She said that she enjoys this position because she is able to give so many students an opportunity to share their work. According to Gurrola, it makes her happy to see the payoff after working so hard on the magazine.
“The intent is an early opportunity for publication recognition,” Gurrola said. “A ton of the people who submit want to do careers in writing, and this is an opportunity to have something on your resume and in your portfolio. Same for the editorial staff.”
The funding for the Trinity Review comes primarily from the English department. Despite this, Gurrola said that student leadership takes priority over any faculty’s input.
“I call it the English department pet. Dr. Carlisle is our advisor, and I get as much support from her as I want. But, also, I can kind of do whatever the hell I want, and that’s what I really like about it,” Gurrola said. “I think some of the staff members also appreciate that they get a say in what we do, and we don’t have to go through the chain of command.”
As an EIC, Gurrola must juggle many different tasks, including dealing with event organization and running the website. Another responsibility of an EIC is effectively managing and organizing a group of staff members.
There are two EICs of the magazine. Martín Rosales, sophomore English major, is the second, and he has worked for two years on staff. Rosales said that the Trinity Review has provided him with more experience working with others’ creative pieces. According to him, rejection is a difficult part of the job.
“It gives you hands-on experience with the act of being in a publication and looking over pieces. Determining whether they should be in there or not is something a lot of people are doing for the first time,” Rosales said. “People always talk about how hard it is to get told ‘no,’ but it’s also equally hard to say ‘no.’”
Rosales said that the Review is pretty egalitarian in nature. As an EIC, he is responsible for the distribution of work and creating community, but everybody has a say in what the magazine looks like.
The magazine acknowledges that they must reject some pieces to stay aligned with their printing budget. Gurrola said that they were able to accept 85% percent of the authors and artists that applied last semester, even with these conditions.
“A lot of times people get upset about their pieces not getting accepted. We are doing our absolute best to accept everybody that we possibly can, because this is for you,” Gurrola said. “It’s not not getting your work in. It’s not a rejection. It’s a ‘try again.’”
Rosales said that the Trinity Review is a place for like-minded creative individuals. He has been exposed to other people’s work through the magazine. Other students can also join in the experience by attending the Trinity Review’s release party on April 30th at 7 p.m. in the Fiesta Room.
“I think that creative expression is key to being human. A lot of the time, we get wrapped up in schoolwork, and we don’t find the time to sit down and try to make something for fun,” Rosales said. “The Trinity Review is a really good outlet for both encouraging people to do that and getting people to see other people’s works.”
