Staff Bios-- Lilly

Name: - Lillian Bales

Major and/or career goals? - English Literature with the hopes of one day becoming a famous and well known editor. (Well, not the famous part, but successful yes.)

What are you involved in outside of PRiSM? - The Leadershape Institute, Miami Telehawks, Honor's Mentor Program (I'm a mentor.),

What do you think is the best thing about Miami or the Oxford Community? Hmmm.... I think the best part of the cimmunity is the community. All the friends I've made at Miami and with the local community make it a place wher I enjoy being and can never wait to get back to.

Favourite genre? - Oh, complicated question. Probably Romance, of any kind and that includes everything from a Harlequin novel to Anna Karenina.

Favourite author? Also a hard question. One that I find I am incapable of coming up with an answer for. Just give me a book and I'll be happy.

Annoyed by spelling favourite the British way? - What, what, not at all! Especially because then you can say it like "fave-oer-ite"

What do you look for in a good story (poem, essay, etc)? - I am always searching for an author who has the ability to write with sentences that string together words in combinations you had never dreamed of, yet just knew were lurking around the literary world somewhere. Words that were wating to be found and put into their place within the pages of a novel, meant to send shivers down the spine's of the readers who are in awe of their wonder. (And that about sums it up.)

What else do you want people to know about you? Ah, the question that is the bane of all Facebook and Myspace users. Who am I really and How do I tell you about it? My answer: What do you want to know?

Any other words of wisdom?

Drink Coffee. Read Books.

Staff Bios-- Laura

Name: Laura Crosby

Major and/or career goals?

English/Creative Writing

I'd love to work in Editorial for a publishing house or any sort of print/online media publishing/editing role.

What are you involved in outside of PRiSM?

IDEA, Circle K, AWS. I also work at the Shriver Information Center.

What do you think is the best thing about Miami or the Oxford Community?

I very much value the way our beautiful campus spawns inspiration and creativity within myself.

Favourite genre?

I don't believe I play favorites towards any particular genre. I'll admit I am not a fan of thrillers, murder mysteries, or any sort of science fiction. Also, I'll fess up: I am such a sucker for Chick Lit (i.e. Sophie Kinsella, Meg Cabot, Lauren Weisberger, etc) and (ironically) angry, feminist manifestos.

Favourite author?

DeLillo, Salinger, or Hemingway, I can't decide.

Annoyed by spelling favourite the British way?

My spell checker says it's spelled wrong - and words that annoy my spell checker generally annoy me!

What do you look for in a good story (poem, essay, etc)?

I'm picky. I want to be blown away. But, at a basic level - (a) I do not want to see spelling or grammar mistakes (b) I want to see a significant amount of time and thought behind the piece (c) I want a piece that will force me to keep thinking about it, even after I've finished reading.

What else do you want people to know about you?

I'm very excited to meet and get to know everyone new to PRiSM - so, if you have questions for me, just ask and I'd be happy to chat! Feel free to shoot me an email at crosbylm@muohio.edu!

Any other words of wisdom?

As a number of my English professors here at Miami have told me, "We can't all be Emily Dickensons." In other words, we can't all have our writings published and widely praised posthumously, as Dickenson has - instead, most great writers become great because of their perseverance and eventual success in the submission process! Don't be afraid to put yourself out there - give submitting to PRiSM a try!

Staff Bios-- Tabby

Hi everyone. I'm going to be putting staff bio's up this month into next. Here's mine:

Name
Tabby

Major and/or career goals?
English Lit. Then I'm probably going to work in social work for a few years before ultimately pursuing a PhD. Then I guess I'll have to grow up and pick a field.

What are you involved in outside of PRiSM?
I volunteer for the Crisis Hotline in Oxford, and am president of the Crisis Hotline Student Outreach. I am involved in the English Honor Society, Sigma Tau Delta (bringing you fantastic spelling bees, check the walls of Bachelor for local listings), and America Reads.

What do you think is the best thing about Miami or the Oxford Community?
La Bodega. Dr. Dunning and Dr. Jay.

Favourite genre?
Fantasy

Favourite author?
Katherine Kerr

Annoyed by spelling favourite the British way?
I prefer it.

What do you look for in a good story (poem, essay, etc)?
I want it to provoke me enough that I say something out loud. Even if it's just a little hm sound. Literature has it's power in reverberations, and I think if literature can cause sound, then it's done a large part of it's job.

What else do you want people to know about you?
I talk a lot, and I feel like people think that means I won't listen. I like listening too!
I like cats, and I have a cat named Stormy, and a mouse named Mitsy. I like video games, and I play an online strategy game called Travian, where I'm a defense coordinator for a top ranked alliance (I am a geek.) I love to cook, almost as much as I love to eat, and can usually be easily persuaded to make just about anyone dinner. Also, I like Bumblebees. They're fuzzy.

Any other words of wisdom?
I'll cop out here and quote someone else's:
"Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right."
-- Henry Ford

Submissions

Feel free to post questions as comments - someone else might have the same one!

We accept poetry, short fiction, plays, essays, and black and white political cartoons. Please send double spaced, size twelve font word/notepad documents with your name and email on the document (it gets taken off before it goes to the editing staff) to prismmu@gmail.com. The limit for submissions is ten pages, double spaced per submission, and five submissions per person.

The deadline for Fall semester is October 25 - The advantage to getting it in early, however, is that we will review your work, give you suggestions, and give you a chance to resubmit it up until midnight on October 25. Why not take the chance to make a good thing better? Submissions are being accepted now!

Literature across cultures

I installed a gadget on the side that tells about arabic literature. Every month (or in this case, after two months, since I'm leaving it until September) it will change to a new culture or genre. Learn something new!
-Tabby

A New Beginning

Welcome to PRiSM. We think, and we like thinkers. We like ideas -even the ones we don't like - because without them, how would we understand the ones we do?

This is our blog. It's about ideas, big, small, red, orange, yellow, and so on. It's thoughts on editing, thoughts on our magazine, on the Miami community, and the world. No idea is one sided: all of it's a PRiSM. We want to show you some facets.