The Myriad Journal is a journal here at El Camino that puts together poems, short stories and artwork from the college’s community and has been around since the 1960s.
The journal publishes once a year and is put together by students enrolled in the three-unit class taught by adviser, Pete Marcoux. This class is transferable to CSU’s and as an elective for UC’s.
“I like working with the editors, we have a great group of kids who are passionate.” Marcoux said. “There’s a lot of creativity on campus and it’s nice to be able to put up a platform for them.”
There are a total of 10 students in the class, all of whom are editors for the journal, and are in charge of sorting through all the submissions to put in the publication.
“I really like that we have it all in our hands and make all of the decisions.” Justina Rodriguez, 19, English major, said. “We make it from scratch I think it’s really cool.”
Anyone can visit their website www.myriadecc.com and submit their story, poem, artwork etc.
Shelbylyn Allen 23, English major, said the work submitted then “goes through a program called Submittable, making everything anonymous” and the editors vote on whether or not it makes it in the journal.
“We as editors can submit something and we don’t have to worry,” Allen added. “it’s unbiased and more fair.”
Marcoux has been the supervisor of the class for more than a decade and has seen the journal come a long way.
“Technology has changed completely,” Marcoux said. “In 2005, everything was collected on paper and not via email, people would have to come drop off their work.”
Editing and publishing for the Myriad is something that many editors enjoy for the experience.
“I want to go into book publishing,” Rodriguez said. “This was was the closest thing we had, so I decided to get my feet wet.”
The class seemed to have a laid-back and relaxing environment as the editors worked away on their computers.
“I love writing and reading so it’s not extra work,” Allen said. “It’s actually fun, I want to go into publishing so I thought I would try the class.”
This year’s magazine is set to come out on Thursday, May 5 and Marcoux said there is going to be a release party and reading on the same day from 1 to 2 p.m. in the Distance Education Center on campus.
