The Talon staff sat down with Sounding’s Public Relations Executive Sydney May to discuss this year’s journal, as well as upcoming opportunities for Oklahoma Christian University students, faculty and alumni to get involved with the publication.
Q: What is Soundings and why is it an important part of Oklahoma Christian’s community?
“Soundings is our school’s literary and visual-arts journal. We take submissions from students, faculty and alumni. As a staff, we pick the best of the best out of those submissions and we publish them at no cost to the people who submit their works. So, they can say they’ve had published works and then we give the books away for free. It’s a really good way for our art people and people who like to write to get published while they’re still in school.”
Q: Are you planning any new additions to Soundings this year?
“Something we’ve talked about this year—it’s not new but something we are encouraging more of—is we do accept foreign language submissions. We are going to try to work with the International Student Council to get some international students to submit some stuff in their first language.”
Q:What are some upcoming Soundings events/activities?
“We had an open mic night last night. Our biggest one is Lighting of the Commons because we are in charge of the Christmas Market. I am the PR executive, so I do all the contact with the vendors. That’s one of our biggest fundraisers we do, because different vendors around the city can purchase booths to sell their products.”
Q: How has your involvement in Soundings shaped your college experience?
“I’ve really liked it a lot. I am not an English major in any way, shape or form. But I love the arts and I feel like it’s just an awesome way to encourage that on campus. It’s also given me a lot of opportunities in the PR aspect to use the skills I’m learning in my classes in a real-world environment.”
Q: Why do you think it’s important to celebrate creativity on campus?
“It’s so important. Everyone is creative and sometimes we think it only fits in certain majors. But every single major requires creativity in some way, and Soundings is the perfect outlet for that. In the communications department, students learn how to write, but they might never think to write something other than nonfiction. Soundings has this playing field that you can submit your work anonymously, and even if you do not think you’re good at what you’re doing, we might.”
Q: What does the money raised from renting out vendor booths at the Lighting of the Commons celebration go toward?
“It goes toward us publishing the journal at the end of the year, because we do it at no cost to the people who submit their works and we give the journal away for free—we fundraise all the money it takes to print the journal itself.”
Q: Why should students submit their work to Soundings?
“Students should submit their work because it’s an awesome opportunity to have your work published as an undergrad, alumni or faculty, and it’s a cool way to bring the campus together, I think. A lot of people see Soundings as just an English department thing, but it’s open to all of campus. We want it to be students from every single major.”
Q: What would you tell a student who is nervous to submit their work to Soundings?
“Don’t be nervous. Lots of people submit and even if you might not get your work into Soundings, it’s not about your skill necessarily. It might just not be a good fit for this year. If they’re worried about putting their name on it, they can submit it anonymously. We accept all types of different work, so if you’re writing something you think is controversial, there’s no rules against that.”
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