University News

Literary Magazine for Veterans Accepting Submissions for Latest Edition

February 19, 2018

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MACOMB, IL – "SITREP: Veteran Perspectives on Combat and Peace," a literary magazine for Western Illinois University students, alumni, faculty and staff veterans and service members, will continue in its fourth year. 

The project's advisors, Barbara Lawhorn and Jacque Wilson, both assistant professors in the WIU Department of English, were inspired to create the magazine after years of working with student veterans in their composition and creative writing classes. Moved by the power of their students' stories, and receiving early support from Kathy Meyers, assistant director of the Veterans Resource Center, Lawhorn and Wilson believed such work should be celebrated and shared beyond the classroom to provide a forum for veterans and service members, as well as foster a greater cultural awareness of their experiences. 

Submissions for this year's magazine are due Monday, March 19 and can be sent to SITREPWIU@gmail.com.

The previous three editions, archived at wiu.edu/cas/english/magazines/sitrep.php, feature fiction, non-fiction, poetry and photography by contributors who represent all major service branches and served in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and many other locations stateside and overseas. Contributors have worked in a number of capacities, among them, machine gunner, corpsman, infantry officer, medic, automated logistical specialist, human resources officer, radio operator and pilot. 

This year, student and alumni editors, Ryan Bronaugh, a former English graduate student from Blandinsville, IL (managing and fiction), Luke Cummings, a senior English major from Moline, IL (non-fiction), Chris Bell, a junior English major from Blandinsville, IL (poetry) and Ian Covington, a senior biology major from Astoria, IL, and Jared Worley, an English graduate student from Adair, IL, (art) will continue their work with the magazine.

In the past three years, small groups of advisors, editors and contributors have presented at a variety of venues, including the local Rotary Club, the Dealing With Differences Institute conference at WIU, the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Macomb, the Macomb Women's Club, the Monmouth College American Association of University Women and The Conference on Community Writing in Boulder, CO. The team has communicated with classes at Illinois State University and Monmouth College, and connected with another veterans' writing group at University of Illinois. 

In the past two years, the magazine has formed valuable community liaisons with The Buchanan Center for the Arts, directed by Kristyne Gilbert, and the Western Illinois Museum, directed by Sue Scott. Grant funds, provided by the Buchanan Center for the Arts, will help fund this year's magazine. 

The magazine continues to receive valuable support from the WIU Veterans Resource Center, the WIU Department of English and the Council on Student Activities Fund. 

For more information, visit sitrep-vv.org. 

Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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