Lighting New Fires
What's Next for TAB and How Our Team is Creating A New Place for Writers
Animo ad Acto, non Secesso sed Societate
From Inspiration to Action, not Separate but in Society
(The Austin Beacon Motto)
The Austin Beacon published its first issue only six weeks ago. As the next group of features nears its release, our staff continues building the publication from the ground up. Let me share with you some of the exciting activity going on at the newest student publication in the nation.
Animo Ad Acto — From Inspiration to Action
Long summer days and weeks allowed for generous deadlines, although the team was forming from opposite sides of the country. The start of school presented its own array of pros and cons. Our team has enjoyed a newfound ease and frequency of communication (it helps to pass each other in the Atrium every day). Our team has also encountered the enormous distractions of undergraduate life. New responsibilities weigh on each of us as we inevitably say “yes” to too many things. Old habits and hobbies are either reinvigorated in the fertile ground of university or they are abandoned for other opportunities. For better or worse, there’s always a good conversation happening in earshot to pull away your attention.
Non Secesso Sed Societate — Not Separate but in Society
The Austin Beacon has begun to organize what we are calling the Writers Salon. This is a small group of students who regularly come together in a beautiful place to engage in exciting conversations, share ideas and questions, get feedback, study their craft, and generally have fun with other writers. Most of the Beacon features have come from those whom are already “caught” by an idea or story. It has not been enough to merely come up with an interesting idea; the writers who succeed follow something like bothered curiosity.
As a peer editor, I am limited by the incentives I can employ to motivate a writer. I don’t (yet) have the monetary kerosine to quick-start the creative process. Instead, I can try something like striking lots and lots of sparks to hope something catches in curiosity. I have so admired how much energy my friends and colleagues have put behind ideas that they are intensely captivated by. These creative flames have started small but bright.
We are still learning through a lot of trial and error, but our hope is that, by carefully tending to the small number of excellent works being done now, our team can continue to grow. This student publication is growing and we are pursuing more and more important stories to present to our readers.
Now for the upcoming features to look forward to…
Upcoming Features
Milo Yue decries, Voting Is Cornfed, his Austin Beacon debut piece on the disillusionment with democracy.
McKenna Conlin sits for an exclusive Interview with Jonathan Yudelman to discuss the events of his viral confrontation, its effect on his life, and what it means for his job at the University of Austin.
Also, look out for Conlin’s comprehensive story on the 30 seconds that made Jonathan Yudelman famous, the 7 months prior, and the summer after. In what may be the most substantial work of journalism covering these events, Conlin breaks the story on the University of Austin’s disciplinary hearing conclusions.
Jacob Hornstein and Max Montgomery argue on the question— How ought the Israel-Palestine conflict be resolved? Each will have an opportunity to rebut and respond to the other’s proposed solutions in a classic Pro-Contra piece.
