Harwood student writers assemble, share online literary art magazine
May 14, 2020 | By Riley Gallagher
The Waterbury Mobil" by Willa Yonkman is one of 20 Harwood Union High School student entries in the online literary magazine, "The Silver Lining in a Distant World," published this week.
Staying occupied during a period of isolation isn’t a simple task. In late March, English teacher Steve Rand of Harwood Union High School challenged his students to use writing as an outlet while confronting the reality of finishing the school year online.
And instead of compiling student work into a printed magazine, students created a digital literary art magazine and titled it “The Silver Lining in a Distant World.”
Rand and his students have produced similar projects in recent years, but due to the remote learning situation, it made sense to switch to an online format. Using the platform Flipsnack, Rand facilitated student editors to put together a 30-page issue that was published on May 12.
The first page explains that the purpose of the project is to “[connect] with our community during an extraordinary time of isolation.”
The magazine hosts a variety of creative writing, from poetry to rants to artwork. The cover image is a picture that accompanies a piece written by Dylan Marineau that explores the idea of isolation—something everyone can relate to during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rand’s two Creative Writing classes, mostly with juniors and seniors, contributed to the magazine. About half of the students decided to share work from earlier in the year, while the others contributed recent work in which they used writing as an outlet to express their responses to remote learning. The magazine contains 20 individual pieces of writing.
Rand has asked his students to either create new pieces or provide other writing from the year to contribute to two more issues before school ends June 12. All issues will be posted online on the Flipsnack website.
Harwood senior Riley Gallagher was a student editor of “The Silver Lining in a Distant World” along with Angela Bywaters and Alex Pendo.