Literary Magazine

The Mosaic is back in business. It originally was a part of an English class, but now it’s a publication on its own. 

According to co-editor Sureika Shore, the last publication was in 2019 before the pandemic. It stemmed from Creative Writing classes and stopped due to both the teacher not teaching here anymore and COVID-19. 

“They had lots of resources and funding, whereas we are starting with practically nothing. So fundraising is something we will have to consider,” Coleman said. “They also had a huge class, so they were able to have 15 or more people review every submission in comparison to it being just us two at the moment.”

The teacher at the time Kelly Gomes no longer teaches here but still works for PPS. Gomes shared that the joy and pride students typically felt when their work was chosen for publication was a beautiful thing to witness. 

“Celebrating student accomplishments is one of the golden parts of teaching,” Gomes said.

The Mosaic will still hold a compilation of literary art that is submitted by students. It will include writing and art, and this year it will also include music and video. There will be two online releases and one print release at the end of the year. The Mosaic will still hold a compilation of literary art that is submitted by students. It will include writing and art, and this year it will also include music and video. There will be two online releases and one print release at the end of the year.

“Our hope for this project is that a wide variety of students will discover that The Mosaic is a safe platform they can express themselves on,” Says Coleman 

Submissions are currently open until Nov. 15 for the online release. The next online submissions are due Feb. 15. The print release will be in the spring around May.  Written submissions will have to be 5000 words or less. 

The way students will be accepted is through a rating system, due to there being limited space open.

“There are several rubrics for each kind of submission, like suitability and content, that will help us to find the submissions that are outstanding and that are qualified to be within the literary magazine,” Coleman said.  

According to Shore, they are not using the rubric and form as something to strive towards like a classroom assignment. They are using it for their own personal judgment, so they stay as objective as possible and eliminate biases.

 The mosaic will not be taking any teacher submissions due to the goal of the platform. 

“The literary magazine is a way to represent the student body, their creativity, and their motivation towards art,” Coleman said.

You can submit a piece by filling out this form that is posted both on The Mosaic Instagram (@mcdanielmosaicmag), and in the morning announcements as a QR code. 

Podcasting

The podcasting program is an opportunity to share creativity amongst students. 

“It’s an independent medium that holds no form or shape is how I would describe it,” podcasting director senior Evangeline Johnson stated.

Enrolling in the class is the only way to get involved. You get to create your own podcast and post it on different forums such as Soundcloud and The Oracle’s website: mhsnews.org. (The podcasting tab is found in the “more” drop down). Some of the podcasts also get broadcasted on Benson’s radio (AM 1450 KBPS)

“A class favorite is Jeopardy 2, which is the sequel to jeopardy. It’s a very fun game show, but that’s not all, we have The Mosaic audio showcase which is a collaboration with The Mosaic literary magazine. We have my show, which is called The Creative Little League; a review show about students’ niche interests [and more],” Johnson said.

According to Johnson, the best part about podcasting is that it’s very personal to people, due to everyone having their own need for podcasting and way of using it. For example, some listen while cooking, and others listen while they drive or clean. 

“Podcasting has taught me a lot,” Johnson said, “but the biggest thing would have to be how in control of my voice I now am.”

McDaniel has a diverse range of ways to express yourself, and these media outlets are just a couple.