The staff of Plattsburgh State's literary magazine, Zplatt, crossed the border on a day-trip April 14 for a conference at Concordia University in Montreal.
Zplatt staff members and select students in ENG208 attended an international conference and meeting during their visit. The English students were asked to tag along for the trip because of their interest in joining the literary magazine in the future.
Upon arrival, PSUC students and faculty were welcomed with dinner and beverages, served over conversation among the students and professors from both universities.
On the coffee table lay numerous publications of Canadian prose, poetry, plays and some visual arts. PSUC attendees were allowed to take copies to look at in order to expand on their ideas.
"I was really impressed with their program and writing," PSUC ENG208 student Kate Pais said.
Elizabeth Cohen, Zplatt adviser and English professor, planned the entire trip. Since her advisement, there have been numerous advances regarding the literary journal. Cohen was out of town this week and unavailable for comment before press time.
"It feels like there's a new type of energy with the journal," Assistant Professor of English Carol Lipszyc said.
"She really brought students together, and I want to give her all the credit here."
Jill Mann, another ENG208 student, said she plans to join the staff come spring next year, and she thinks it is important to establish a relationship with Canadian universities.
Mann said she thought the trip as a whole was interesting, but it did not match her expectations. The topic coverage was not on the path she had thought it would be, but she considers this trip a great start for something bigger.
Mann said she would enjoy compiling a publication of international works between Canadian universities, such as Concordia U and PSUC. She would also enjoy creating some kind of internship for students that involves international communications.
The conference consisted of an exchange of ideas concerning systems and methods the literary magazine staff uses to produce a quality product. After covering those bases, discussion progressed to how both magazine staffs work before finally turning to Internet media.
Students informed professors about blog sites, Twitter and social networking sites and how the variety of sites benefit literary magazines.
"The conference seemed more for the faculty," Mann said.
And as the group began making comments more meaningful to the students, their time at Concordia had run out.
"I wish the formal conference part had been longer," Pais said.
She was just getting started with her personal input and comments with the Internet topic when they had to pack up and head back to Plattsburgh.
Although Pais said she enjoyed that it was a day trip, giving it a more "laid back and casual" feel, she would have liked it to have started earlier on, so the conference time could have been extended.
Pais said she is interested in the creation of a segregated creative writing major, aside from the English department.
"I know we have the writing arts major, but it would be cool to have this other major with its own faculty and department," Pais said.
Lipszyc said it was nice to have the schools together and saw it as a start to a new beginning.
"We (Lipszyc and Cohen) always talk about creating a writing community," Lipszyc said.
She said she really loved the connections made between the two groups through discussion and poetry readings. She saw it as a great opportunity for students to read aloud to others, besides their peers, and she said she thinks it gave everyone a great insight on the future of writing.
Lipszyc said she was excited to be a part of the trip and to see what new experiences Zplatt will accomplish with Cohen's "injection of life into the journal."
The trip opened up another door for poetry students and the Zplatt staff, bringing them into an even more professional writing world, Lipszyc said, where there is "always a hunger to talk to other writers."
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