A year reflected: the Mirror’s Literary Magazine
The cover of this year’s Mirror’s publication is by the talented junior, Scarlett Hoffer, and the photo is titled “Bee Line.” “I feel especially honored to have my picture as the cover,” Hoffer said. “It means a lot to me that my photo is kind of the “face” of the magazine this year and it’s the first piece of work everyone who has magazine or sees it notices.”
The Mirror’s Literary Magazine hosts events and publishes student works, creating an environment that offers an outlet to all students at York. For as long as anyone can remember, Mirror’s has been publishing a spring magazine, which hasn’t stopped this year. They continued the tradition of printing a variety of student work as well as continuing to showcase and help enhance student work through other events.
“I picked up a copy of the 2016 publication at the middle school activity night,” freshman Hannah Lonergan said. “I thought it was awesome that students who were passionate about the same things that I was had an outlet to share their work like this, and I decided that it was definitely something I wanted to be a part of as a freshman.”
The cover of this year’s Mirror’s publication is by the talented junior, Scarlett Hoffer, and the photo is titled “Bee Line.” “I feel especially honored to have my picture as the cover,” Hoffer said. “It means a lot to me that my photo is kind of the “face” of the magazine this year and it’s the first piece of work everyone who has magazine or sees it notices.”
This year the magazine was distributed on Friday, May 11, and is available to be picked up in English classrooms. There were many student submissions that were printed, but everything that was submitted will be posted on the online catalog (linked at bottom).
“It’s a great feeling to know that other people will get to see something I’ve worked very hard on,” sophomore Isabella Deblasio said. “I always hoped that my art would inspire people who saw it, just as everyone else’s work inspires me.”
The Mirror’s Literary Magazine puts in a lot of effort to publish a magazine at the end of the year that isn’t dominated by one type of art and showcases students of every grade level here at York. Even with making sure the magazine is balanced, has no errors, and that the formatting of every piece of art can be put in the magazine, the stress levels are minimal when it comes to planning out the magazine.
“The fun we have putting it together,” senior Riley Olson said. “We come up with a lot of ideas and somehow end up making most of them work. Not to mention that there is so much enthusiasm from everyone.”
But the Mirrors Magazine isn’t the only thing that the Mirrors team accomplishes during the school year.
Though the printed magazine is a distributed publication that makes it into every classroom, the team that puts it together also plans the very popular Java Live. For those who have never been, Java Live is an open mic night that offers students the stage to perform individual pieces or covers to display their talents.
“[Java Live] is a really great place for kids to foster creativity without the stress of things like the talent show or fine arts week,” senior Hannah Orr said.
Sophomore Lex Lesniak practiced her set before she performed. “I started [writing and playing] in eighth grade,” Lesniak said. “It became therapeutic and Java Live definitely makes it a lot more fun.”
“My favorite part is getting to watch all of these talented people go up on stage and be themselves in front of everyone,” sophomore Catherine Evans said. “It is a great experience to witness people put their emotions out for everyone to see and have fun drinking coffee or coloring.”
Sophomore Eleanor Hainey and friend draw and color while enjoying the performances at Java Live, Nov. 10, 2017.
Being an event that’s hosted a few times during each semester, Java Live attracts crowds of 30 to 50 students the majority of which perform, the others just come and watch the show.
Even though Java Live is the most well-known event by Mirrors known among students, and the magazine is distributed in classes, the Mirror’s team does at least one more notable thing. This year, the literary magazine hosted a writers workshop to help students get ideas and work collaboratively to enhance their authorial skills with peers.
With this having been the first writers workshop, only a dozen students showed up, but the Mirror’s staff and students attending thought it was a successful first run.
Sophomore and Mirror’s Member, Catherine Evans, writes her own piece while those attending the writers workshop work independently.
“I would say that picking the little prompts out of the jar [was highly beneficial], just because it gives you a lot of creative liberty with whatever you choose,” junior Vivienne Butera said.
Even with all of the success of this year, the Mirror’s team is planning more for next year, so keep an eye on the announcements this upcoming fall!
“If I can say one thing,” Olson said, “it would be that the janitors need to be acknowledged for all of their hard work!”
Check out their website at https://sites.google.com/a/elmhurst205.org/mirrors/home!
Julia Jardon is a sophomore at York and is a reporter for York Hi. Jardon is a new reporter this year and is also on the York Color Guard team. She is...
