The FUSE Box
A Journal of the Forum for Undergraduate Student Editors
"There's this idea that monsters don't have reflections in a mirror. And what I've always thought isn't that monsters don't have reflections in a mirror. It's that if you want to make a human being into a monster, deny them, at the cultural level, any reflection of themselves."
Junot Diaz
Reflections
Guest Speaker
2017
About Espada
Called by Sandra Cisneros "the Pablo Neruda of North American authors," Martín Espada was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1957. He has received the Shelley Memorial Award, the Robert Creeley Award, the National Hispanic Cultural Center Literary Award, the PEN/Revson Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. His 2006 collection, The Republic of Poetry, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. A former tenant lawyer, Espada is a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
More information on Espada can be found at martinespada.net.
Espada at FUSE
Poet and activist Martín Espada kicked off the conference with a captivating reading of his poems, which “explore the immigrant and working class experience.” He read passionate poems from his published works as well as moving poetry in response to today’s political climate.
Espada also hosted a master class on satirical poetry, where he read examples from Marge Piercy, Ernesto Cardenal, Jack Agüeros, and John Millington Synge before encouraging students to write and present their own satirical poetry from what they learned.
"Espada's masterclass was just incredible; you could feel the energy in the room as everyone spent time writing up pieces that perhaps might be outside their comfort zone. One after another, amazing pieces flooded the room. It was the guidance of Espada and the energy of the room that lead me to write a piece that I personally feel is incredible. I learned new methods of resistance through poetry and feel like I will be using this information much more in the future."
Michelle Chavez, Cedar Crest College
"I see the poets, who will write the songs of insurrection generations unborn will read or hear a century from now, words that make them wonder how we could have lived or died this way..."
About
Letter from the Editor
Dear reader,
Welcome to the publication of the Forum for Undergraduate Student Editor (FUSE), The FUSE Box. We don't mean to brag, but we think it's a pretty creative title, no? This publication aims to model how disparate voices and experiences can be encouraged and captured by literary magazines.
On this site, you will find creative works and reflections of undergraduate editors, with each issue embodying the theme of that year's conference. For the 2017 issue, all content is working towards the goal of representation and resistance within our respective publications and the literary community as a whole. We hope that this pieces inspire you to explore marginalized voices and various means of challenging the damaging ideologies that exist in today's society.
In 2017, we had the honor of having Martín Espada as our guest speaker. Our first night, he treated us to a poetry reading, and come the next morning, he was running a masterclass on satirical, political poetry. While the focus of FUSE is to create a community of undergraduate editors, we editors never mind having an award-winning poet joining our group.
I feel very lucking to be creating the pilot issue of The FUSE Box for my honors project at Bowling Green State University. FUSE has helped shape me as a literary community member during my undergraduate experience, and The FUSE Box is my final hurrah, the gift my poor-college-student self can give back to this organization. I hope your time with this publication finds you well and that, if you or someone you know is an undergraduate editor looking to make the most out of their four or so years of higher education, you may consider joining the Forum for Undergraduate Student Editors.
So please, stay a while and soak in the energy of young writers and editors working to define themselves within today's hectic, polarizing climate. And if you take away one thing, let it be these wise words of Mr. Espada: "Never pretend / to be a unicorn / by sticking a plunger on your head.”
Thank you,
Ally Butler
The Forum for Undergraduate Student Editors
The Forum for Undergraduate Student Editors (FUSE) is a national organization that provides a network for undergraduate student editors and writers and their faculty advisers. An important part of FUSE’s mission is to improve channels of communication between editors of undergraduate literary magazines and to foster discussion on the improvement of the undergraduate literary community.
Each year, FUSE holds a national conference at a host institution. Everyone is encouraged to attend and participate in panels, lectures, readings, and the business meeting.
In addition, FUSE hosts a caucus at the annual American Writers and Writing Programs conference to update members, welcome new members, and hold a roundtable discussion of a selected topic.
2017 FUSE Conference Presentations
Editorial Discussions
KLIO: Connecting Far-Flung Groups to Form a Creative Arts Constellation at Penn State
Varshini Chellapilla, Penn State University
Sydney Herdle, Penn State University
The Voices of Oxcart: Fostering Literary Citizenship
Hannah Hawkins, Adrian College
Rachel Kanaziz, Adrian College
Natalie Dunn, Adrian College
Theresa Horowitz, Adrian College
Making an Editorial Policy from Start to (Almost) Finish
Michelle Chavez, Cedar Crest College
Rachel Wielgopolski, Cedar Crest College
Editor and Contributor Relationships
Lily Codera, SUNY Geneseo
Meghan Fellows, SUNY Geneseo
The Challenges of Creating an Inclusive and/or Disruptive Publication
Madeline Pulino, Rosemont College
Stacy Wong, Rosemont College
Janoah Wright, Rosemont College
Creative Workshops
Using Documentary Theater to Craft Monologues of Resistance
Jennifer Rohrbach, Widener University
Caroline Sisco, Widener University
Nicole Gray, Widener University
Feminist Short Shorts
Hope Martin, Susquehanna University
Rachel Pietrewicz, Susquehanna University
Hannah Phillips, Susquehanna University
Where I'm From: Resisting and Representing through Identity
Hope Martin, Susquehanna University
Rachel Pietrewicz, Susquehanna University
Hannah Phillips, Susquehanna University
What If Trump Were a Warlock?: Writing a 2017 Allegory
Ally Butler, Bowling Green State University
Shay Carroll, Bowling Green State University
Finding Your Voice
Katherine Castillo, UCLA
Jodi Scott Elliott, UCLA
Erika Salazar, UCLA
Defining Your America
Isabel Owen, SUNY Geneseo
Elizabeth Pellegrino, SUNY Geneseo
Using Performance Poetry to Reclaim Your Identity
Jessica Ram, Susquehanna University
Mitchell Roshannon, Susquehanna University
James Hoon, Susquehanna University
FUSE Conferences
2018: Resilience
Join us November 1-3 at Susquehanna University for the 2018 FUSE Conference. We will be discussing what resilience means as young writers and editors, exploring these ideas through master classes, workshops, open mics, publication, and more.
If your institution is not a member yet, you can become one at http://www.fuse-national.com/fuse-chapters/become-a-member/. We look forward to seeing everyone and to continue our mission of building national literary citizenship!
2017: Representation and Resistance
Cabrini University hosted the fifth annual FUSE conference from November 2-4, 2017. The three-day conference brought together about 60 students from 13 universities for a series of writing and editing workshops and panels centered around the theme of representation and resistance.
The conference aimed to display the importance of understanding “the capacity of literary arts to evoke social change, depict the experiences of underrepresented populations, and protest injustices.” This year, we added writing workshops to the mix of editorial presentations. Each workshop, both writing and editorial, was dedicated to speaking out, finding your voice, and telling one’s story, whether it be through Susquehanna University’s “Feminist Short-Shorts” or SUNY Geneseo’s “Defining Your America.” There were multiple opportunities for the editors to share their work, building upon FUSE's goal of creating a national literary community. Through workshops, open mics, journal showcases, and other events, the editors learned how to express their values while fighting against the harmful ideologies of the current social and political climate.