Etcetera Magazine is a student-run interdisciplinary magazine that recently made its debut at Geneseo. The online publication encourages students to submit a diverse array of work to more accurately showcase the talents of the diverse student population. Videos, music, photographs, artwork and even maps are examples of work that students are able to submit to the website. Etcetera Magazine is open to submissions from all student majors and minors, whereas other publication sources may only appeal to the more literary majors such as English or communication. Shying away from the typical journalistic or literary approach, Etcetera Magazine is open to students of math and science majors who wish to express themselves and their interests as well.
Juniors Ariana DiPreta and Zach Muhlbauer are the two founding members of Etcetera Magazine at Geneseo. DiPreta is an English major with a human development minor and Muhlbauer is an English major. Both have extensive editing experience from working at the Writing Learning Center, making them strong and passionate leaders for this literary magazine.
Etcetera Magazine possesses a distinct collaborative aspect for submissions. Students are able to work with one another to produce content stemming from multiple mediums. This includes everything from a story written about a photograph to a poem written about a piece of artwork.
In addition, students are able to collaborate with work that has already been submitted to the website; they can connect their work with someone else’s through the simple click of a hyperlink. This collective feature emphasizes the magazine’s philosophy of free flowing, open-ended submissions from a variety of students.
The editing process of Etcetera Magazine is set up in a manner that almost guarantees the publication of all submissions—something that often hinders submitted work from being published in other magazines and journals. DiPreta and Muhlbauer plan to set up weekly meetings and office hour appointments in order to edit submissions with the person who submitted the work. Instead of submitting a piece of work and having it edited to the point where it’s barely recognizable to the person who created it, the submitter is able to have a say in how their work gets altered before it’s published.
All submissions go under a personal profile that is a simple click away from employers. While Etcetera Magazine is still a new publication website at Geneseo, DiPreta expressed a desire to expand the executive board into having editors for each section as the magazine grows in popularity.
Online publication sites similar to Etcetera Magazine have recently become very popular among college students, with Odyssey Online going viral at many colleges. Etcetera Magazine has much of the same format as Odyssey Online, with a profile page, picture and biography for each person that submits work to the website. Furthermore, writers may add hashtags to each submission to further categorize the work.
The major difference that distinguishes Etcetera Magazine from other online publication sources, however, is the variety of submissions that are allowed on the website. Odyssey Online allows for written pieces while Etcetera Magazine allows for submissions such as artwork.
Geneseo is an optimal college for Etcetera Magazine to thrive in. The interdisciplinary ideals of the website cater to students of a liberal arts college. With a vast amount of talent among the student population, Etcetera Magazine provides a platform for students to show off their work to an online audience.