SandScript gives PCC students a chance to publish their poetry, prose and visual arts pieces.
The writers will celebrate the release of the new SandScript during a Thursday, May 9, launch party in the Amethyst Room of the PCC Downtown Campus.
During the party, contributors will read their work and share their processes. There will also be an announcement of genre contest winners and a reception.
The student-run publication, which has garnered national recognition, is produced as part of a WRT 162 Literary Magazine Workshop class at PCC.
In 2023, fiction, poetry and visual arts contributors won prizes in the Southwest division of the Community College Humanities Association’s Literary Magazine Competition.
The Sandscript staff has expanded its scope this year, hosting a faculty spoken-word open mic and a book release in addition to assembling the publication.
The annual literary magazine was founded 1990. In 2020 and 2021 during the height of the pandemic, the publication was online only. In 2022 and 2023, it returned to print and digital formats.
Faculty adviser Mariah Young — who teaches English and creative writing at Pima — said this year, SandScript will be online and in print. Exclusive content will no longer be published online.
“There really was a demand to have a physical print edition from contributors and readers,” Young said. “So, that’s where we put most of our energy this year.”
Young said this year, the edition will have a different color scheme, motif and paper type.
“We just focused a lot on quality, making sure we had quality paper, quality printing,” Young said.
“We want readers to have something beautiful when they hold it in their hands.”
As part of SandScript, students judge the entries, edit the publication and assist with marketing and promotion.
Last year’s staff had nine individuals. This year, the 14-person staff put the magazine together.
Editor-in-chief Mackenzie Dougherty was the assistant editor last year.
“I feel like the editor-in-chief role has helped me to learn and get a well-rounded experience in the process of publishing a magazine,” Dougherty said.
Young said many recent contributors are continuing to pursue visual arts and writing, either at PCC or other schools.
During the judging process, the names of the writers and artists are not revealed to the staff.
Staff members were broken into different genre category teams, with a lead in charge of each group. They chose which pieces would appear in the publication, and it was further broken down from there.
“We actually left it up to our genre leads, where they selected the top 10 of what they considered to be the strongest work,” Young said.
“We connected with local artists and local writers and asked them if they could do the evaluation and rank the top three. We wanted to show that the work we are producing here is a really high caliber. So, having working artists and writers who are in the industry donate that time to read and then describe the strengths of these pieces, it’s really rewarding.”
Dougherty said that submissions went through several rounds, and during the process of reading and discussing the pieces, the staff members were very passionate.
“There were so many arguments, and I feel like that is such a good thing,” Dougherty said.
“Whenever we would have those discussions, I would be standing there and feel like the people that submitted would love to see this because it just goes to show how much of a struggle we had choosing the pieces.”
Young added, “We definitely argued, but they were important arguments that made us think more clearly or with more deliberation about what SandScript is supposed to be….There were a lot of pieces that we were like how does this show the complexity of our community and also how are they wrestling with really complex events, emotions and contexts?
“Every piece got a lot of attention, from that first round. Let’s think about what this piece is trying to accomplish and trying to do. And then, it was like how does this piece complement the larger whole?… It became this process of not only thinking of the work on its own terms but also how it fit and how it reflected the particulars of this edition.”
This year, there were around 350 prose, poetry and visual arts submissions, which were received from October to the beginning of March.
Dougherty said many of the submissions were themed around music, which became a central theme.
Dougherty said many of the writers and artists looked inward and outward at the world around them.
“There were a lot of submissions that talked about the world, what we were seeing and how this community was feeling about it. They tried to bring that to themselves,” Dougherty said.
Young said the students who submitted were grappling with larger issues in society, such as transgender identity and legislation, suicide, the Israel-Hamas War and humans’ role and agency in the world.
Visual arts submissions came as digital art, photography, paintings, pen and pencil drawings and charcoal works.
Many of these visual arts pieces were self-portraits.
“We saw the spectrum of how people wanted to show themselves. Some were very artsy and beautiful. Some were defiant. Some really leaned into staring straight at the viewer…It all struck me as the artist trying to see how they can show themselves and what they wanted the world to see in them,” Young said.
Each year, the cover art image represents the content inside of the publication. For the second consecutive year, the front cover will feature artwork by student Aiden Badruddoja.
In his painting “Mr. Miller,” he depicted hands, covered in tattoos and rings, playing the piano.
“You have this grand piano, but then you have hands with gold rings and tattoos…It felt like a reflection of our community, making this beautiful music, this beautiful art, but also bringing our own style to it,” Young said.
Being in the literary magazine is meaningful for students, especially those who are published for the first time.
Some students have had multiple pieces published in SandScript, either during the same or multiple years.
“When they do get accepted for publication, this whole other world opens up for them, or they see their talent in a totally new way. And they are inspired to keep going with that creativity,” Young said.
Young said that with students who publish over multiple years, it is possible to see their growth as artists and writers.
Last year, Dougherty had three pieces accepted for publication into SandScript. She said she and her family were proud of her work.
“When I first saw it printed, it felt surreal,” Dougherty said.
“I remember calling home and telling my mom, and my grandma called and was like, ‘You need to send me a copy.’ Then, she showed all of her students because she’s a teacher. It blew my mind that something as simple as submitting to SandScript opened doors that I connected with family.”
Many faculty members and locals also value SandScript publications. Young said some have been collecting editions of the magazine for years and have all or a large collection of SandScript issues.
“I have started my own little collection now. In going through all the back issues, if I find one from the ’90s, I’m so excited. The oldest issue I have is from 1995, and it’s this beautiful artifact of that time. You can really see how Pima has evolved and changed,” Young said.
Sandscript 2024 Launch Party
WHEN: 6 p.m. Thursday, May 9
WHERE: Amethyst Room, Downtown Campus, Pima Community College, 1255 N. Stone Avenue, Tucson
COST: Free
INFO: sites.google.com/pima.edu/pccsandscript
This article appears in Apr 25 – May 2, 2024.
