Cellar Roots turns 35 this year.
To commemorate the anniversary, the staff of Eastern Michigan
University's award-winning arts and literature journal
has a week full of planned events, including this year's
release of Cellar Roots.
The celebration also will include a discussion about pop
culture and the "literary canon," a musical performance
and the release of "Real Beginnings," a new, first-year
student journal.
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FROM THE CELLAR: This collage of Cellar
Roots'
materials include past anthologies, secondary
publications, Eastern Echo inserts, a CD and a
bookmark. Cellar Roots, EMU's arts and literature
journal, celebrates its 35th anniversary with
special
events March 13-17. |
"This 35th anniversary gives us the opportunity to look
at the next 35 years. What can Cellar Roots do to be a
part of EMU's history in the future?" said Cellar Roots'
Senior Editor Jennifer Armstrong, who also handles event
planning and publicity for the publication. "What does
a 21st-century publication need to do to be relevant?"
The purpose of the journal, governed by the Student Media
Board, is to provide EMU students (and, in recent years,
other college students) with a high-quality vehicle for
publishing works of art, fiction, poetry, music and photography.
Cellar Roots originated in 1971, with the annual anthology
printed on newsprint before evolving into a slickly produced
paperback complete with funky and award-winning design
concepts. Most notably, the 1993, 1996, 1997, 2001 and
2002 issues of Cellar Roots have been honored with National
Pacemaker Awards. A Pacemaker is the highest honor available
to college magazines and is considered the equivalent of
receiving a Pulitzer.
"One of the things Cellar Roots is known for is publishing
new writers and artists. It also is known for its design," Armstrong
said.
Warren Brown, the first Cellar Roots editor in 1971, said
that the name symbolizes both diversity and creativity,
according to the Cellar Roots' Web site.
"Students with these varying backgrounds should have a
magazine whose name has something in common with all," Brown
said. "'Roots' symbolizes the deep growth and natural expansion
that is creativity. 'Cellar' is the man-made thing that
comes closest to the roots. Whether a building is a skyscraper
or a farmhouse, that one part of it is always in common
and nearest to the Earth."
The publication literally started in a cellar storage
room in an old publications building — a two-story house
that is no longer on campus — that also used to house the
Eastern Echo and the campus yearbook. Cellar Roots later
moved its offices to Goodison Hall and then, in the late
1990s, relocted to its current office in the basement of
Goddard Hall.
But had Brown not fought for his office space then, Cellar
Roots may have never got off the ground.
"Neither the Echo staff nor the yearbook staff wanted
to give up any space, so I salvaged some discarded fluorescent
lighting fixtures from my dad’s business and old
classroom tables and chairs from around campus to set up
Cellar Roots’ offices in a cellar storage room,"
Brown recalled. "The place was unheated, concrete
walled; had a single, lonely typewriter; and was generally
unfit for anything but staff meetings and manuscript sorting.
I think the magazine staff used the cellar room as much
as we could just to make the point that Cellar Roots deserved
space in publications, too. Interestingly, once the room
was made more or less usable, one of the Echo's photographers
set up his copy stand and lights in the room while the
Cellar Roots' staff was out. I retaliated by putting a
lock on the door. He escalated by kicking the door in and
continuing to use our offices. He and I had a rather heated
confrontation about the incident, which luckily ended with
an understanding about the sanctity of our space."
While Brown said he will be unable to attend, he is surprise
the publication is still produced.
"Given the history of the other such magazines, I am amazed
and gratified the magazine and the name have kept going,"
he said.
Steven Climer, a 1991 EMU graduate who plans to attend
the 35th anniversary celebration, said, as an undergraduate,
he had poetry and a short story published in various issues
of Cellar Roots.
"As for appearing in Cellar Roots, it absolutely was a
positive experience career-wise," said Climer, now a professor
at Baker College and a published author of horror/dark
fantasy books for young adults and adults. "It was my first
fiction publication and there was no escaping after that."
In addition to its annual anthology, Cellar Roots, in
the last two years, also has begun releasing secondary
publications, which was in response to students' requests
for more frequent publications.
In April 2004, Cellar Roots released its first secondary
publication, "Personal Pronouns" which accompanied a weeklong
gallery event. In September 2004, Cellar Roots released "Metropolyesterday
Dreams," with another weeklong gallery event. In addition,
a number of other activities took place, including a writing
workshop, a poetry slam, an open reception and a visit
to numerous classrooms to promote the events. The most
recent secondary publication released was "Ekphrasis," in
April 2005.
The schedule for the 35th anniversary celebration, with
all events in McKenny Union's Intermedia Gallery, is as
follows:
- Cellar Roots will host its 35th anniversary
book release and gala reception Monday,
March 13, 7-9 p.m. The reception will include free
food, music, readings from the book and a gallery show
with art from the new issue. Copies of the new 35th
anniversary issue will be available for the first time.
The anniversary issue includes new work as well as
retrospectives from past issues.
The cover of the latest anthology will include a hole
in the cover that will allow the reader to read the retrospectives,
Armstrong said.
- A panel of EMU literature faculty will discuss "Pop
Culture and the Canon Discussion," Tuesday, March 14,
7 p.m. Listen to a debate about why and how popular culture
affects the literary canon. Should Harry Potter be taught
in literature classes? Should comic books be taught?
Bring your own questions. Light refreshments will be
served.
- Release of "Real Beginnings," the new first-year student
journal, 5-7 p.m., Intermedia Gallery. Campus Life hosts
a reception, which will allow faculty, staff and students
to see the new directions and experience the lives of
EMU's first-year students through their art and writing.
Light refreshments will be served.
- A Music Café, with Ian Young and other
rock guitarists,
is scheduled Friday, March 17, 7-10:30 p.m. Young will
play songs from his independently produced debut album, "Sad
Songs for an Optimist" and be joined by other artists.
Coffee, tea, hot chocolate and light refreshments will
be served. The event is free and open to the public.
For more information about these events and the 35th anniversary
of Cellar Roots, call 487-6940.
