Putting the "Student" in Student Publication
Written by Asia Howe
“Let the world burn through you. Throw the prism light, white hot, on paper.” – Ray Bradbury
Ask any aspiring or accomplished writer about their experience with getting their work publicly printed, and they will undoubtedly have a tale or two to tell about failure. While we might dream of being the next great storyteller, visual artist, poet, academic writer, or photographer, the reality is that publication, otherwise known as recognition and exposure, is not the easiest commodity to obtain. The students at the student-managed periodicals, Kanilehua, informally called “Kani,” and Hohonu, however, strive to make this seemingly impossible feat possible. Although the objective of their jobs can be described in four words—“To publish student compositions”—their jobs are not simple.
David Sellers, the Art Editor for Kanilehua, discussed the intricacy of his job, stating, “My position at Kanilehua is helping me to use my previous knowledge of art and communication to make the best decisions in creating a cohesive magazine. All the details that go with the job such as promoting our name, editing submissions, and being a team player will help me gain experience in the workforce and become a better employee. As the only Art Editor, there’s a lot of responsibility to make the best decisions for my team and fellow co workers. I’ve built upon my social skills, as working with various types of people in a single office can be difficult for those who lack previous group or social experiences.”
David Sellers, Art Editor for Kanilehua. Photo courtesy of David Sellers.
Kanilehua is an art and literary magazine which seeks to publish UHH students’ visual art, poetry, creative writing, and photographs. Its glasses-clad sister, Hohonu, is an academic journal that aims to publish UHH students’ non-fiction writing on any topic in any format. One need only open the periodicals to perceive the difference between them. The pages of the magazine are covered with colored and black and white visual pieces as well as, short stories by such titles as “Pareidolia” and, poems. Articles with titles like “Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. Portrays Our Future” array the pages of the journal. Both are funded by the student publication fees all UHH attendees are asked to pay at the start of each semester, and both go through the same process for determining what to print.
The start of a published essay from Hohonu Volume 10 (2012). Photo courtesy of Hohonu, http://hilo.hawaii.edu/academics/hohonu/Volume_10.php.
Sellers explained, “The process of submitting pieces for potential publication [is] quite universal amongst all other [periodicals]. First, students submit one or more of their personal art [or] literary work(s). Then their pieces are reviewed by specific editors, depending on the type of submission. Before editors see the submissions, the Editor in Chief removes the names of the artist[s] to avoid any biased reviews during the scoring process, which involves scoring each piece according to a rubric created by the Editor in Chief.”
Samantha Howell, Editor in Chief for Hohonu, added to what Sellers discussed, saying, “After the papers are scored, the editors give them back to me and I delegate the papers again to the editors, only this time the editors get papers that they have not gotten. The papers [are] scored again. After all of that is finished, I take the average of the scores and the top … submissions [are] chosen. We then let the writers know that they have been selected, and the editing process begins.”
Samantha Howell, Editor in Chief for Hohonu. Photo courtesy of Samantha Howell.
Hohonu, which comes out in May, is estimated to contain student works from both the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 school years. Kanilehua shares her sister's publication date and as the General Editor Daisy Willis stated, "We have [received] 30 NEW student submissions."
“YOU CAN’T BE PUBLISHED UNTIL YOU ARE PUBLISHED,” Howell inscribed in an email. “Publishing through school is the easiest way to get your work out there.”
Students interested in submitting their creative or academic work may visit the respective Kanilehua or Hohonu web pages. The Kanilehua office is in Campus Center 215 and may be reached by phone at (808) 932-7370 or email via uhhkanilehua@gmail.com. Located in the same room, the Hohonu office may be reached by email via hohonu@hawaii.edu.
