Home-Grown Publishing

by Dan Lukiv

Credits

Various sections in this publication have appeared in BC Teacher, The Cariboo Observer, The Journal of Secondary Alternate Education, Borders & Time, CHALLENGER international, Western People, Word is Out, The English Teachers' Online Network of South Africa, and Students On The Net (Singapore), and some have also appeared in my collection of essays called The Master Teacher (Vancouver, BC: y press and BCTF Lesson Aids). CanTeach (Vancouver, BC) published the whole text in 2002.

Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Dan Lukiv. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted in any form or through any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without written consent from the author.

This symposium-style presentation on the subject of home-grown publishing addresses:

how to create a literary journal to publish students' writing;
how to develop a creative writing program (includes examples of how to publish/display students' work); and
how to create and publish a specialized journal of education to provide direction for specialist teachers.

In Part One, "CHALLENGER international: A Home-Grown Literary Journal" describes how I started a literary journal to display the writing efforts of my students. In an article called "Computers and the Writing Class," Dorian Love (n.d.) presents some valuable direction about how he has displayed the writing efforts of his students. His article resides at http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Campus/2159/writ2001.htm

In Part Two, "Story Day: A Theoretical Model for Teaching Creative Writing in the Elementary Grades" continues the home-grown publishing theme. The model includes suggestions on how to display/publish students' work on bulletin boards and in class libraries.

In Part Three, I continue this home-grown publishing theme with a focus on the needs of specialist teachers. For example, how does a specialist teacher find direction when little seems to exist? To answer that question, I describe how I began The [Home-Grown] Journal of Secondary Alternate Education, designed to give direction to teachers, like myself, who teach high school students with socio-emotional problems. I encourage specialist teachers to apply the information in Part Three to their own circumstances and needs.

Part One: How to Create a Literary Journal to Publish Students' writing

CHALLENGER international: A Home-Grown Literary Journal

Do you enjoy teaching creative writing? Many of us do. But isn't it frustrating that the poems and stories our pupils "sand and polish" seldom get an audience beyond author and teacher?

Twelve years ago I cut down my frustration in this regard. I assembled a forum for my secondary alternate students--a literary journal I call CHALLENGER international.

Volunteers photocopy about fifty copies per issue (we run three issues per year), which we distribute mostly to secondary alternate students throughout our school district.

These issues are the collective effort of many of my students, myself, and our secretary, each helping out as one or more of the following: typist, proof-reader, "gopher," author, co-editor, artist.

Co-editors read submissions and vote on whether or not they merit publication (illustrations may also be published if our co-editors find their quality acceptable). Submissions often come from our own students, but because we are advertised in The 2002 Poet's Market¹, we also receive work from students internationally.

Once we've gathered enough material, a volunteer word processes the journal. Next, proof-readers go over the printed original several times, uprooting typos and overlooked spelling errors.

Some of our young writers have found other publishers: in Canada, The Cariboo Observer, The Cariboo Advocate, Kids World Magazine, The Word is Out, Teacher, The Student Voice, Against the Wall, Western People, To the Wall, and TG: Voices of Today's Generation; in the USA, StudentsWrite.com.

Naturally, I want our CHALLENGER-writers to find big audiences. So I hope some of their poetry and prose, one day, will fill pages in first class literary journals such as Canada's Fiddlehead, Malahat Review, and Grain, and in fine international markets.

Here are two poems and one editorial note CHALLENGER international has published, to let you taste some of its flavours:

 
           Houses out of Boxes, by Kerry Randall (18 years old)

           Thought mumbles through
           my breath
           breaking the soft silence.
           Happiness has past
           dripping off my skin.

           I seem to remember
           my strange days
           making houses out of boxes
           mastering my future.

           And the fragile fish
           show off their silent strokes
           and I still perch
           deeply.


           Kindergarten, by davemoss (19 years old)

	        i'm a kindergarten    i used to sail
                   now i'm away
                   that is it
                             contagious
                             contagiouse

                             i'm a bird
                                 a bird
                                   bird blue
                                        you are in my
                                        skye
                                        tickles
                                        my tears
                              but my waves on the
                                     ocean

                                     eye see you

EDITORIAL NOTE:

Campbell's Beef Vegetable from the can--that's poetry. Add no water. As John Drury says in Creating Poetry, "[a poem] is charged, intensified, concentrated" (1991, p. 5). Once you add water, you have prose.

Poetry is my first concern in this issue. Poems that CHALLENGER international has published, and new ones, lie awake inside. Be careful they don't jump off the page and into your blood.

I hope they make your "toenails twinkle" (Thomas as quoted in Drury, 1991, p. 5): Dylan Thomas' thrust: If they don't make your "toenails twinkle," they aren't poems. Emily Dickinson defined poetry differently: "If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry" (as quoted in Drury, p. 5).

Who needs drugs?

If a "poem" stops you shaving, it really is a poem figured A. E. Housman (Drury, 1991, p. 5). Robert Graves thought a poem should make "the hairs of one's chin...bristle" (as quoted in Drury, p. 5). Emily, I believe, didn't shave, so she had her own ideas. I wonder if she knew Beethoven's friend called Furry Lisa.

I hope you enjoy this issue. William Wordsworth defined poetry as the "overflow of powerful feelings" (as quoted in Drury, 1991, p. 5).

I hope you overflow.

THE END

As for reviews of CHALLENGER international, here are three:

"I have just finished reading the latest edition of CHALLENGER international. Great stuff!...I really appreciated it, but the big winners are the kids. I know kids feel validated when they see their own work in print."--Tina Quinn, former Associate Principal of Secondary Alternate Programs in Quesnel, BC.
"I have just read CHALLENGER international...I found it to be very interesting...I particularly enjoyed the poetry."--Ed Napier, former Director of Instruction in Quesnel.
"CHALLENGER international is commended for distinguished accomplishment in clarity and interest...I am most impressed by the variety of topics you address as well as the quality of the articles and poems submitted."--Dr. Debra Cullinane, former Co-ordinator of Student Support Services in Quesnel.
"CHALLENGER international is an excellent vehicle for students to express themselves. Their views on life through stories and poetry show others how they think and feel. Another positive example from students expressing themselves through writing is that it could relieve tension caused from their stress. We all look different, but most of the time we are all the same on the inside, and CHALLENGER international helps us see that."--Kathy Olsen, McNaughton Centre graduate.

Footnote

¹I encourage writers to submit poetry, short fiction, novel excerpts, and black pen drawings. I'm open to "any kind of work, especially by teenagers (Ci's mandate: to encourage young writers, and to publish their work alongside established writers), providing it's not pornographic, profane, or overly abstract" (CHALLENGER international, 2002, p. 86). E-mail submissions preferred: [lukivdan@hotmail.com]. Snail mail: Dan Lukiv, editor, CHALLENGER international, 440 McNaughton Avenue, McNaughton Centre, Quesnel, BC V2J 3K8 Canada.