Alexandra Loizzo '09 transferred to Barnard from Swarthmore College in Fall 2006, and it didn't take long for her to make an impact at her new school. She founded Echoes, a literary magazine that she feels filled a need on Barnard's campus as an outlet for the many talented students who are writers and artists. Starting out in Spring 2007 with only 100 copies, it is slowly expanding and becoming a strong presence on campus.
How and when did you decide to found Echoes?
So, the story of Echoes goes: I came to Barnard as a transfer and I was looking to get involved in a literary magazine, but there wasn't a general literary magazine on campus, they were all focused on very specific subsets. I was really shocked. Barnard has such a great reputation for writing, but no plain old literary magazine, so I decided to found one. My friend, Mary Borovicka '08, who's another transfer student, and I applied to SGA for funding and recognition. I have a lot of passion for Echoes; it's kind of like my baby.
As a newer magazine, is it harder to get writers?
It's really exciting. Even with our first issue, in Spring 2007, we had a ton of submissions, especially for a first issue, and we managed to publish at least one piece by everyone who submitted. For the Fall 2007 issue, there were even more submissions because now people see we're established. With one issue out, they're even more willing to submit. We got a lot more photography and artwork this time, too. I wasn't surprised that people wanted to participate, but I was surprised at the overwhelming amount of submissions, especially this past semester.
How do you hope the magazine grows over the course of the next year?
Our first issue was just two staples, poor quality paper, and we could only print 100 copies. The Fall 2007 issue had glossy paper, "perfect" binding [binding without folding or staples], really nice quality color pictures—it was amazing. We hope at least to keep that level of quality and be able to print more issues, since we could only print 300 this last time.
It's not easy to publish a magazine, it can get pricey. Where does your funding come from?
We had to put up some of the money ourselves for our first issue; SGA doesn't fund publication for the first semester. We had a $200 start-up grant from the English department, and we had $100 of our own money. The second semester, we had SGA's contribution, but it's not sufficient to keep the quality and number of pages we want; we're looking for donations from alumnae and from family and friends of the staff. We're also trying to find other sources besides the advertisers that every group on campus goes to. They're out of cash at this point. We have had some success with ad sales, but really not enough. We recently got a grant from CU Arts, so that will help us for this semester.
How do you think Echoes reflects the Barnard student body?
Echoes publishes poetry, prose, and different genres of photography and art. There's just so much talent at Barnard and we provide a means for sharing it.
I'm really hoping Echoes will continue after I graduate.
— Amanda Lanceter '09
For more about Echoes, including contact information, click here.
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