Just this year, a group of University of Rhode Island english majors joined together to create the university’s first underground literary magazine, “Etherbound,†which accepts submissions of all forms of creative writing.
Etherbound, which is run by President/Editor-in-Chief Andrea Johnson and Vice President/ Managing Editor Angela Nelson, just formed this year. Nate Vaccaro, the group’s social media manager, said that he first joined the club after hearing about it in his advanced poetry class, and after attending a meeting, became a staff member.
Vaccaro explained that the magazine is just online for now, but in the fall semester, he hopes Etherbound can have its first print issue. On the other hand, Vaccaro said that he actually prefers the online format because it allows the magazine to accept film, music and photography.
“Etherbound is different than other on-campus literary groups because it accepts all forms of creative work,†Vaccaro said. “We will feature music, dance pieces, photography and anything you think is creative and want to send us, we’ll put in our magazine.â€
He said that the main goal of Etherbound is to showcase student work for and by students, which he believes is really special. Currently, there is no literary or creative outlet on campus to publicly showcase work and have students featured. He said that he would like to bring an outlet to campus to show students that there are people who value their creative work.
“I want to see more of what this campus is doing creatively,†Vaccaro said. “That’s why it’s so exciting for me – I get to see what everyone is doing and I get to put that out into the campus.†He said that this magazine will give students the opportunity to give out a link to their work, and show their friends and family. Â
When it comes to submissions, Vaccaro said it is essentially a voting system. He said the editors will read the piece and vote on it. If the piece receives three “no’s,†the board will not feature the piece in the magazine. However, if the piece comes out to a tie, the group will discuss the piece in more detail.
So far, Vaccaro said Etherbound has received funding from the URI Honors program, and they are trying to get more funding from the English Department. Next semester, there will hopefully be a print element, a bigger staff and more submissions, Vaccaro said.
Etherbound’s first inaugural spring 2016 issue is set to released on May 20, and although URI students will not be in school, he hopes the site will still receive a lot of traction through social media outlets..
Etherbound Magazine can be found online at http://www.etherboundmag.org/ and on social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram by searching @EtherboundMag.