Julia Kim
Staff Writer
Carolyn Bossmann
KCBY
The Coppell Literary Arts Magazine – more commonly known as the C.L.A.M. – will be available for distribution within a week for $12. Written and made by students and staff, the publication is a compilation of prose, poetry, art and photography.
“I like the fact that it is student ran and student made,” C.L.A.M. staff senior Daniel Logan said. “All of the works are from students and the whole book is put together (with some help from teachers, of course) by students.”
This year marks Volume 7 of the C.L.A.M., assembled by English and Creative Writing teacher Matthew Bowden and six students – Logan, seniors Sebastian Herrera, Nick Martinez, juniors Mary Whitfill, Aimee Hyndman and Trevor Lopez – who make up Bowden’s Creative Writing II class.
“The class has allowed me to broaden my imaginative horizons as it has incorporated projects that have allowed us to utilize and develop skills beyond those learned in Creative Writing I,” Martinez said. “Preparing the C.L.A.M. was a long, artistically grueling process. Every member of the class had a certain job in developing the book, with everyone contributing to specific departments.”
Bowden picked up the project seven years ago when it was formerly known as the Chrysalis. Before that, the same publication was titled Digambara when it was first released.
“We [the students and I] came up with a fresh new name,” Bowden said. “We have really taken and run with it because we now have capabilities that they didn’t have.”
Student and teacher submissions were accepted prior to the deadline in early February, and from then on, the staff diligently worked to select pieces, design and edit pages on Microsoft Publisher and sell ads. The works of over 50 students are presented in this year’s issue.
The teachers were really helpful in broadening the number of entries. The C.L.AM. received works from Mrs. Creighton who submitted poetry written by her students and artwork from Mrs. Westervelt who scanned and sent art created by her students It also accepted creative works from New Tech this year.
“We ordered the sections based on the stages of life: birth, adolescence, maturity, adulthood and death,” Hyndman said. “It’s a neat theme, and I think it worked well with the selections we received.”
The publication aligned similar works to fit on the pages.
“If we had a poem about nature, we had a work of art or photo of a similar concept,” C.L.A.M editor-in-chief Whitfill said. “There are similar color themes on the pages, and the page spreads were designed so they matched.”
Although many members on staff are proud of their final work, the students found the most pleasure in collaborating to assemble it.
“Working with everyone on it was the best part,” C.L.A.M co-editor-in-chief Herrera said. “It was really enjoyable because Mr. Bowden created a mood that wasn’t stressful at all but actually really fun. I personally enjoyed laying out the different pages and seeing the end result.”
The product is affiliated with Amazon – a new change – and will be available for purchase on the online retailer.
“It was interesting to see all the submissions and the outlet of people that we were reaching. It is a great Coppell tradition, and I hope to get to do another one next year,” Whitfill said.
