A pencil rests against a notebook page. A camera lens is adjusted for the perfect shot. No matter what form of art a person is creating, it always starts the same: a creative mind restlessly considers how to bring their subject to life to create a piece that tells the story they want to share.
At MCLA, not only are students given plenty of options to take classes that cultivate their creative interests, but they are also provided with the opportunity to showcase their work outside of a classroom setting with the campus literary magazine, Spires.
Recently, sophomore Mya Linsky (‘27), who works for Spires, was given the chance to come live on air on MCLA’s radio show, WJJW, to talk about everything Spires does to give students a creative outlet to publish their art, from written to visual to even auditory formats. She was also given the chance to explain the deeper intricacies of what exactly Spires is.
“Spires is a student-run, student-organized literary magazine that we open up for our fellow students so they can submit their poetry, prose, artwork, music, and more,” began Linsky in her interview on 91.1 FM. “We’ve been around since 2001, and actually used to go by the name ‘Kaleidoscope’ when we first started, as a metaphor for the different mediums of artwork being submitted.”
Upon being asked about the name change, Linsky explained, “Well, I think it was changed to Spires because it’s a play on how everybody is inspired to create more work.”
After talking about the basic idea of what Spires is and the opportunities it provides to students on campus, Linsky then proceeded to talk about how individual works get chosen and where the work goes once it is submitted to Spires.
“We have the magazine we print each year, and each year we’ll go through the writing and we’ll try to find a theme throughout all of the submissions. If there is a theme, then we’ll try to find artwork that matches that theme so that we can put it on the cover. It’s all dependent on what the students submit, so it’s always different every year,” she explained emphatically.
Something that isn’t apparent at first glance is the fact that Spires has a three-page limit for each student submitting any form of art for the printed version of the magazine. This goes for written works, painted works, and photographic works. For a literary magazine that touts their ability to provide a means for students to show off their creative works, it may come across as a surprise at first to hear about this limit.
However, Linsky had an easy answer for this concern as well.
“We’re just trying to get as much artwork in there as possible,” she explained. “But if we do find a piece that goes over the page limit that we think is really good and should be put out for people to read, then we’ll put it on our website. And, we encourage people to go to our website just to see the other artwork that students create by putting information about it in the book.
“That’s also where we put the music,” she continued. “We’re looking for tons of musicians to submit their music to Spires so that we can put it on our website.”
Spires truly does seem to have a place for anyone, as the formation of their website has opened up opportunities for auditory mediums (such as any music) to be included under the umbrella of artwork they show off as well.
With the conclusion of that thorough explanation, Linsky finished providing her overview of Spires, and then students in the radio practicum were given the floor to ask her questions live on air about the work she does. Here, thanks to a question from Adam Brunner (‘27), she was able to open up about her own journey with writing and why the organization means so much to her.
Clearing his throat, Brunner asked, “What was your reasoning for joining Spires, and how has it helped you with your own writing?”
“Before I graduated from high school, I helped run a literary magazine for my school. Seeing all of that poetry and prose firsthand really inspired me, and when I came to MCLA, I knew I wanted to do the same thing here,” Linsky responded in a friendly, informative tone, seemingly hardly needing a beat to think about what her response would be beforehand.
Continuing, she added, “As a writer, I find so much inspiration in reading other people’s poetry and prose that it really inspired me to be a part of a club like this where I can be exposed to that kind of writing.”
Linsky’s passion for writing isn’t just a pastime, and she certainly was not exaggerating when she discussed her love for Spires. Among her other accolades, currently, she is the standing Co-Editor in Chief of Spires, and she also works as an associate in the writing studio on campus, where she makes a job out of helping other students’ find their voice and become stronger writers both academically and for their personal creative writing.
In fact, creative writing is an aspect of prose where Linsky particularly shines. “I always tell people I was writing before I knew how to read,” she said with a laugh. “Ever since I was a kid, I was always making little books. It’s a part of who I am. And that’s a big part of why I knew I wanted to be a part of Spires, so that I can help people get published and so that they can be proud of what they’re publishing.”
Currently, the deadline to submit work for this year’s printed edition of Spires has passed as of March 1st, but that does not mean they are not still looking for work to add to their website, and Linsky noted that any students (published or not) are welcomed to come to their release party when the journal comes out in late April to early May.
Additionally, she found it important to let people know that the magazine is not just for the artists themselves, and anybody can have access to it if they so wish.
“One thing some people also don’t realize is that the journal isn’t just for students who have work in it,” she began. “If you would like to get a copy of the Spires literary magazine but have not submitted content, you can reach out to Professor Finch for one and he’ll be able to print an edition for you.”
This ability to get a copy of Spires without having any work inside of it is great for multiple reasons. For starters, a student who is more shy and wants to see what the magazine is like before submitting any work themselves will have access to a copy of it to pore over ahead of time. Additionally, students who want to be shown more of the arts but are not necessarily fans of creating it themselves can be given the chance to see art made by their fellow friends and peers, which creates great exposure for the artists involved.
If you are interested in literary magazines, make sure to keep an eye out for this year’s edition of Spires.
If you would like to learn more about Spires, or if you would like to see some of the work students on this campus put out, be sure to visit mclaspires.com, or be on the lookout for the printed edition of the magazine coming out at the end of the semester.
