Skylar Haas
skhaas@ursinus.edu
Ursinus’ student literary magazine, The Lantern, is released each year in the spring. The debut of the 2020 Lantern was different than in the past.
This past week, senior and editor of The Lantern Nicole Kosar went live on YouTube for the launch of the magazine. She started it off by stating, “This year was cut short for us. Seniors and underclassmen alike mourn the loss of our last months on campus, of our graduation. After years of frantic essay writing and drunken philosophical conversations, of laughing until we cried and crying until we laughed, of best friends and perhaps a few enemies… after years of growing and changing, our last few weeks are gone. Our last chance to say goodbye is gone. But this is the 2020 issue of The Lantern. This is our goodbye, our hello, and anything else we may want to say to the school, our friends, or the world.”
The idea of doing a virtual launch was the idea of a couple of people. Kosar says, “We wanted to find a way to celebrate the completion of this year’s Lantern. We always do a launch party where we announce the prize winners and everyone gets a chance to read their piece. This year, Dr. Volkmer and I were throwing around ideas about a virtual launch and how it would work.”
The virtual launch of the magazine consisted of some special appearances by prize winners reading aloud the work that they had published in this year’s edition. Viewers of the launch were happy with the idea of launching The Lantern virtually this year due to circumstances caused by COVID-19. One user commented, “Super excited for this!”
Kosar said, “I contacted the prize winners to ask if they wanted to read their winning pieces. They each sent a video to Dr. McShane, as did myself, Dr. Volkmer, and the Doleman Prize winner Jen Joseph. I made some advertisements that circulated emails and the English Department’s site, and Dr. McShane put all the videos together and posted it on her YouTube account. Additionally, I sent the online copy of the finished Lantern to Andy Prock, who then put it on the Library Commons where anyone can view it for free and where it will be archived for anyone to read in years to come.”
English professor Kara McShane, added, “The YouTube premiere was designed to make it interactive, so our contributors and community could celebrate together while apart.”
The first prize winner to read their work was Jeremy Moyer. He is the winner of the Prose Prize. He read his work titled, “The Light in the Sky.”
Then, Poetry Prize winner and first-year student Colleen Murphy, read her piece titled, “Cochlea, Greek for Snail.”
Junior Adam Mlodzinski, the winner of the Creager Prize, read his piece next titled, “Overview Effect.”
Lastly, the 2020 Dolman Prize winner was announced by Jon Wilkmer. It was awarded to senior Jenifer Joseph, with the runner-up being Maddy Rodak.
The launch ended with Jenifer Joseph reading the sonnet that won her the Dolman Prize, titled, “Christmas Glove.”
A physical copy of The Lantern will be available to students, staff and faculty in the fall. In the meantime, the 2020 issue of The Lantern can be found at https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/.