GREENEVILLE – Personal reflections, profiles and perspectives combined with art of varying styles fill the pages of the newest edition of “Sit Lux,” a student-led publication that highlights the clever and creative writing and design that permeates Tusculum University.
Among the participants in the newest edition of “Sit Lux are, left to right, students Zoey Seay, Kiersten Paxton, Patience Salisbury, Zach Mitchell and Lilli Gall.
The publication features 29 pages of nonfiction and poetry crafted by six students and two alumni as well as four pieces of digital art and one graphite drawing inside and digital illustrations on the covers developed by five students. The contributors come from a variety of academic disciplines but share a passion for stimulating writing and attractive art. Readers learn more about these creative writers and artists and the two lead editors – senior Zach Mitchell and junior Kiersten Paxton — and the poetry editor, junior Zoey Seay, in mini-profiles.
“It’s definitely more community-based than prior editions and about personal experiences and personal lives,” Paxton said.
This edition, which emerged from an evaluation and selection of stories and art that were submitted in a competitive process, was released publicly during Tusculum’s Academic Symposium Friday, April 19. As part of this connection, “Sit Lux” included the schedule and mini-profiles of the students who presented at the symposium as well as Dr. Kate Smith, one of the event’s organizers.
Kelsey Trom, associate professor of English and one of the faculty advisors, admires what the students have created.
“I think it’s beautiful on both a textual ad visual level,” she said. “I like how the art works with the writing in ways that these students made work. The journal’s graphic design is exceptionally strong. The top editors collaborated so closely with the art editor and the other artists. That collaboration was almost a daily process. Zach and Kiersten also collaborated really well with each other and with other people, too. They were real diplomats as editors.”
Dr. Josh Martin, assistant professor of English and the other faculty advisor, also praises the finished product.
“This journal is really topnotch, especially when you consider what the students have accomplished with such a small staff,” he said. “Other institutions that have undergraduate journals tend to have 20-plus people working on them. “Sit Lux” feels way more professional compared to those produced elsewhere, which tend to be more loosely bound and not looking like a journal.”
“Sit Lux” derives its name from the university’s motto. This is the third edition of the journal, which was established in 2022 by then-senior Macy Woods.
The nonfiction stories in the 2024 edition are split equally between profiles of individuals and personal retrospectives.
One profile is about Dr. Martin, written by Paxton, who is an English major concentrating in creative writing. The second is about Mark Strange, a Tusculum alumnus and Sessions Court judge in Cocke County, written by Bob Schaff, an investigator for the Cocke County Sheriff’s Department, who is also pursuing an English major with the creative writing concentration.
The final one is of Sarah Castellon, a textile artist as well as a storyteller and Master of Fine Arts candidate. The writer was Mirna Ramirez, a 2023 Tusculum graduate, who majored in environmental science but whose writing appeared in the 2022 edition of “Sit Lux.”
One personal reflection comes from senior Andrae Robinson, who discussed the process of determining what major he would pursue before deciding on sport management. Another came from Sophia McGuire, a business administration major, who discussed a family vacation to Europe in 2023 during which she experienced personal challenges. The final one was written by Isabella Gall, a freshman psychology major, that serves as a self-discovery story revolving around video games.
Alumnus Paul Lawless reads his poem at the creative writing readings during the Old Oak Festival.
Student Elizabeth Massengill reads her poem published in “Sit Lux” at the creative writing readings activity during the Old Oak Festival.
The poems in the journal come from a Tusculum alumnus and a current student. Paul Lawless is a 1970 graduate who majored in chemistry, wrote “Book Love,” which describes another person’s experience as if it were happening to him. Elizabeth Massengill, a psychology major, wrote, “Bulls Gap Market,” which imagines her life in the future.
Written work by Massengill, Ramirez and Schaff have appeared in all three editions of “Sit Lux.” Paxton’s and Lawless’ words have now appeared twice, and she has been an editor in all three editions.
In addition, Mitchell, Paxton, Ramirez and Schaff have won awards in the Curtis ’28 and Billie Owens Literary Prize competition. The Owenses established the prize in their name at Tusculum in 1995 to highlight creativity and talent among aspiring student writers.
Creating the front and back covers was Patience Salisbury, who is graduating in May with a bachelor’s degree in art and design, with a concentration in visual communications design. The front cover shows two ducks in water, and the back cover portrays a frog on a lily pad. She also contributed a piece of digital art called “Triplicity.”
Others who contributed art include Eli Berney with people and animals in the digital piece “Plane Hoppers,” Raigun Duncan with an ostrich and a house covering the face in the digital piece “Baby Yaga,” Isabella Gall with the digital portrait “Oh Wow a Face” and Lilli Gall with a dragon and a person in the graphite “Pleasant Surprise.” Lilli Gall also served as the journal’s art editor for the second straight year and created the template for the publication’s design.
Berney is a secondary English education major. Duncan is an art and design major with a concentration in visual communication design. Lilli Gall is an art and design major who is concentrating in studio art and visual communication design. Duncan has published writing or art in all three editions of “Sit Lux,” and Lilli Gall’s art work has appeared in the last two editions.
Paxton was pleased with the blending of the College of Science, Technology and Mathematics and College of Civic and Liberal Arts in this edition.
“With this volume of “Sit Lux, especially because we were in collaboration with the Academic Symposium, we wanted to show both of them as a unit,” she said. “The work that is inside “Sit Lux” goes along with the Academic Symposium pretty well.”
Mitchell said he and Paxton also wanted to ensure the artists had leeway to showcase their creativity.
“We didn’t want the artists to be limited by the exact content of the stories but to send us the work they considered their favorite and best,” he said. “We then paired them thematically with the stories that we selected.”
Copies of “Sit Lux” can be purchased at https://ttr.tusculum.edu/gifts/. To learn more about the English program, please visit https://site.tusculum.edu/english-2/. Additional information about the university is available at www.tusculum.edu.