Digressions open for student submissions

By Jennifer Griggs •

Digressions Literary & Art Journal, a yearly collection of students’ artwork, poetry, short stories and photography, is accepting submissions until Dec. 1.

Yasmeen Hughes, second-year communication major and student editor of Digressions, encourages all students to submit their creative work.

“Even if we do not select you, we have your work, and it can be for another issue because we try to match it with the theme. It’s worth it because you can see all of your work in a journal,” Hughes said.

Janine Morris, associate professor in the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts and faculty adviser of Digressions, said that it is an outlet for students for all things creative, including music, poetry, short stories and photography. Each year, Digressions accepts 40 to 45 pieces to publish in the journal.

“What stands out the most is just seeing how the student involvement allows the journal to reflect the students at a moment in time,” Morris said.

Morris works alongside Mario D’Agostino, adviser of the Sports Desk for The Current and assistant professor in the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts, who has been working with Digressions for about five years. Both Morris and D’Agostino emphasized how crucial it is for students to submit their pieces to Digressions.

“The first month [of the semester] or so is getting the message out that we need reviewers and are open for submissions. Our review process is so incumbent on the submissions coming in,” D’Agostino said. “The students are the lifeblood of this journal. If we do not have students submitting or writing about it or taking an interest in it, then we do not have a journal at all.”

Since it is a student-run publication, they work alongside many students including Hughes, who first got involved with Digressions as part of the communication major’s Practicum course.

“It’s an expressive journal for everyone on campus. They are pretty flexible with what you can do. I would recommend it for commuters because it can accommodate to your schedule,” Hughes said.

Hughes encourages students to volunteer. She said the Digressions staff understands the stress and responsibilities that college can bring and is willing to work with their other time commitments. There is even a Zoom option for commuter students who might have a hard time being involved in clubs on campus.

The submissions deadline for Digressions is Dec. 1. Students can submit up to eight pieces of creative writing and 10 works of photography. Submissions can be made through NSU Works by searching Digressions and creating an account with the NSU student-login information. Despite the Dec. 1 deadline for this year’s publications, Digressions is always looking for submissions.

The theme for Digressions is based on the first 22 to 23 pieces submitted and is usually determined around January or February. Once the theme is chosen, graphic design students create potential covers, and the Digressions staff chooses one of them for the journal.

“The theme is important because oftentimes it speaks to what I think the artists are concerned with at the time they are creating the work for that particular year’s journal. It’s something that happens totally organically,” D’Agostino said. “We almost never go into it thinking about a certain theme. It’s whatever tends to come out of the art or poetry that we accept. That’s usually how the themes are determined.”

Every April, Digressions hosts a launch party where students and faculty come together to celebrate the publication of the journal. The publication process takes about eight months to complete, and this year’s anticipated publication date is April 1.

“We’re in charge of this now, but we kind of inherited 20 years of history. You are kind of picking up along the way and inheriting the legacy and finding things as you go and maintaining the expectation or standard for the journal,” D’Agostino said.

For more information:

Visit https://nsuworks.nova.edu/digressions/ or contact Mario D’Agostino (mdagost0@nova.edu), Janine Morris (jmorris2@nova.edu), or Yasmeen Hughes (yh216@mynsu.nova.edu).