Everything in the 2017 Literary magazine is student-made: from the bright pastel cover, to the poems and jaunty prose.

Although outside submissions were encouraged, the majority of the writing comes from room 305, Creative Writing teacher Kerri Williams’ 5th period class.

Williams thinks the wide range of styles will be appealing to readers .

“They did a really good job,” she said. “There is a nice variety of styles and subjects. There should be something for everyone this year.”

Sophomore Jenny Capriola agrees.

“I feel like the lit mag is a perfect eclectic compilation of our creative writing class,” she said. “Our class has students from all grades and different walks of life and I think this is portrayed through the variety of our magazine.”

In addition to contributing literary work, the students also participated in committees to decide which pieces would make it into the magazine.

Capriola was one of the poetry editors and she said she had a hard time “rejecting entries because there were so many great poems.”

“Writer’s Bloc” [the magazine] was modeled off a mixtape theme. The magazine is organized by topics such as love and rebellion. At the start of each section there is a playlist which reflects the poems and stories within.

Williams loved how “the class came together to create a unified idea.”

After review from the students, the writing pieces were placed into the layout by Senior Claire Torak using InDesign.

Williams thinks the layout was the most challenging step in making the magazine a reality. “ [It] is always the part that slows the process down,” she said. “ It just takes a while to get everything right.”

The magazine arrived on  May 12.

The theme of the magazine will change next year, some things will stay the same.

“We also decided to give the magazine a running title [Writer’s Bloc] that will continue from year-to-year,” Williams said.

No matter what changes, Capriola hopes that the Literary magazine will become a staple of Decatur High School.
“I hope the magazine continues to grow to where it is circulated throughout the school…and students look forward to reading it,” she said.