Degree Type
Honors Capstone Project
Date of Submission
Spring 5-1-2012
Capstone Advisor
Harriet Brown Assistant Professor Magazine Journalism
Honors Reader
Melisa Chessher Associate Professor Magazine Journalism
Capstone Major
Magazine, Newspaper, and Online Journalism
Capstone College
Public Communications
Audio/Visual Component
no
Capstone Prize Winner
no
Won Capstone Funding
no
Honors Categories
Creative
Subject Categories
Creative Writing
Abstract
Medusa Magazine is a student-run campus publication, co-founded by the author of this project and Samantha Lifson, a 2011 graduate of Syracuse University. The idea for the magazine came together over the summer and fall of 2009, with Medusa gaining official status as a Recognized Student Organization in the spring of 2010. The first issue was printed in April of 2010, and we have published two issues per semester since.
The process of Medusa’s creation involved the drafting of our constitution as a student organization, numerous meetings with Bethany Piraino, our consultant within the Office of Student Activities, to ensure we met all the criteria to become a student organization, and application to the Student Association for the funding necessary to print. To create the format, which we have perpetuated in each subsequent issue, Samantha and this author worked very closely with Chloe O’Connor, our first design editor. We established coherent sections to the book, and set examples for things like the sex column, writing style for the features section, profile writing format, and photo/art spreads. We held numerous general interest meetings, and constantly recruited writers. We set an editorial process, which the staff follows consistently twice a semester to ensure the issues are printed on time and distributed to the student body efficiently. We also developed a style guide of general style rules for the publication, as well as a feminist style sheet, dictating the kind of politically correct language that should be used to discuss feminist issues in the publication.
Medusa was founded to promote a feminist discussion on campus, and to bring into the public eye the outstanding achievements of women in their chosen career field. We feature art, poetry and opinions by female writers, and we allow column space to anyone with arguments to express. The publication was also founded to act as a critique of cultural norms, and to view and analyze current events and trends through a feminist lens.
Recommended Citation
Warren, Hannah Kristin, "Medusa Magazine" (2012). Honors Capstone Projects - All. 123.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/123
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
