Visions and Voices: Experimental Expressions of the Colgate Community, Colgate’s most recently established literary magazine, comes out with its third issue today, March 29.

Visions and Voices, founded by Editor In-Chief Paige Holtzman, is an online journal associated with the Maroon-News that showcases Colgate students’ creative writing. Visions and Voices is a monthly publication and is accessed though a link on the Maroon-News website (www.maroon-news.com).

Holtzman, a first year student, entered Colgate with an interest in creative writing, having had significant experience in high school.

Holtzman said, “I had started my own publication in high school and was excited to jump into Colgate’s vibrant art scene, but there wasn’t as much emphasis on creative writing publications as I had hoped. I wanted to get involved in something that would be a popular literary venue.”

Holtzman emphasized the importance of communication between contributors and the eleven Visions and Voices editors. Experienced editors provide guidance in the writing process through dialogue and interaction with the writers. The magazine publishes fiction, non-fiction and poetry by any Colgate student interested in creative writing, with no specific past experience necessary.

“I think one of the greatest parts of Visions and Voices is the amount of feedback that editors give to those who submit their work. As a writer myself, I always am open to criticism and suggestions about how to improve my writing,” said sophomore Editor Kanitha Heng. She added, “Each submission is reviewed by at least three different editors, so a good amount of feedback is given to a writer. Also, Visions and Voices is not so much a competitive magazine; rather, it encourages writers to just write and to share their writing, which I feel is an accomplishment in itself.”

The second issue of Visions and Voices features an alumni section in which Colgate alum Matt Hotham ’03, currently a graduate student at Syracuse University, contributed his poetry.

Holtzman said, “Ultimately, I hope that the magazine will feature even more work by established writers, like Matt and foster a relationship between current students and Colgate graduates who have writing-related careers.”

Visions and Voices and Hotham, who works at the Chenango Valley Writers Conference, are organizing a poetry reading, which will be held at the Colgate Bookstore in mid-April. The magazine’s staff plans to hold similar events in the future, such as an open mic night at the Barge, where students would be able to personally share their creative works with peers. She hopes to involve alumni writers in future events, as well.

Holtzman says that the most challenging part of working on Visions and Voices is convincing writers to be open with their creative writing. Even though the third issue will feature approximately ten pieces, Holtzman hopes that more of the large pool of Colgate writers will submit to future issues of the magazine.

“The nice thing about working on Visions and Voices is that offers the opportunity to explore the English language and to experiment with various writing styles without adding the pressure of receiving a grade,” first-year Editor Anat Fintzi said. She continued, “the supportive peer community offers constructive criticism, commentary, and inspiration-enough to coax even the most hesitant writer to break out of his shell.”

In order to submit a piece or join the editorial staff, e-mail Paige Holtzman at [email protected].