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Responses to Changes in Education Student-Centered Learning in Liberal Studies Watershed Celebrates 20th Anniversary
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Watershed, CSU, Chico's literary magazine, celebrated its twentieth anniversary in spring 1997. The special issue marking this anniversary,Watershed: Past, Present, and Future, looks back on the magazine's lively history and forward to its future. One section contains the best of the last twenty years selected by a panel of advanced creative writing students and faculty. A selection of work from current submissions forms the middle section, and the last contains work solicited from students at CSU campuses at Hayward, Los Angeles, and San Luis Obispo that may, in the near future, form part of a consortium to award an M.F.A. in Creative Writing.Watershed hopes to expand its base in the future by including work from other CSU campuses and the M.F.A. program. Edited by students and showcasing writers from the University and community, the magazine is published once each semester: in fall as part of a class project and in spring by student editing interns. "Working with the other editors and learning to put into words why I think a piece of literature is 'good' has been the most valuable part of the experience," explained Koenig. "It's given me a sense of confidence in my own judgment." That sense of accomplishment is typical of the student editors (nearly 400 total), who are entirely responsible for soliciting submissions, selecting work, responding to writers whose work was not selected, shaping the issue by arranging works in a coherent pattern, working with student designers and University Printing Services on production, and advertising and selling finished magazines. This is one "laboratory" students seldom forget! "There's an amazing community of writers in the Chico area, and Watershed is a way to showcase that community," said Koenig. In addition to finding and celebrating the best local writing, Watershed has published well-known writers, including Clark Brown, Gary Thompson, and Carole Oles from the University's own faculty; John Gardner, Raymond Carver, Debora Gregor, and George Keithley from former university faculty; and Maxine Kumin, Gary Snyder, and Denise Levertov, among others from beyond the Chico community. The magazine, formerly called Trial Impressions, originated as a project in the first class in Literary Editing and Publishing, a class which has become part of an interdisciplinary certificate program in the English Department. Many of the local writers published in Watershed over the last twenty years continue to write and publish work in magazines and with presses around the country. A number of former student editors have become publishing professionals. In 1995,Watershed was awarded an Annie (the city of Chico's annual award for achievement in the arts) for its contribution to literature, the first awarded in that category, and in spring 1997 it launched its own page on the CSU, Chico Web (www.csuchico.edu/engl/wshed). Watershed and its current editors are proud to have been part of the rich tradition of creative writing and writers that has characterized California State University, Chico and the Chico community and look forward to the next twenty years. The special twentieth anniversary issue is still available in the AS. Bookstore. Ellen Walker, professor of English |
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