Fall 2005 PDF - Milton Academy

Campus PublicationsMagus-Mabus:Student Literary Magazine Exemplifies Best of Milton Talent, TraditionIn 2004–2005, 2005 graduates EmilyCunningham and Andrew Gorin served aseditors in chief of the venerable literarymagazine, Magus-Mabus. The magazinehas its roots in the Girls’ School publication,The Magus, and the Boys’ School publications,The Orange and Blue, and, later,The Lit, which momentarily morphed intoThe Milton Review before merging with thegirls’ publication to become Magus-Mabusby the early 1970s.The June 1912 edition of The Magus, undereditor Priscilla A. Crocker ’12, leads with,“Published each year on Graduates’ Day bythe Girls of Milton Academy”; it chronicledthe school calendar, club officers and theatricalperformances in its original iteration.As of 1920, the Girls’ School publishedThe Magus three times a year. (Thatsame year, its pages also announced thatthat the School’s endowment had reached$230,000; the School’s current endowmentis roughly $150 million.) By 1932, an“Alumnae Notes” section had been added,recording, for example, that EstherWilliams Apthorp, Class of 1903, would bereturning with her family to Milton, so thather sons could attend the Lower School. Or28 Milton Magazinethat Lucy G. Morse, Class of 1922, wasworking as an occupational therapist atMassachusetts General Hospital.By 1956, the periodical functioned primarilyas a yearbook and included individualheadshots and club photos, but also news,poetry and short fiction. Throughout thesedecades of student publishing, the Boys’School was likewise active: In the fall 1939issue of The Orange and the Blue, whichwas first published in 1894, editor NedHandy ’40 encouraged fellow boys to helpbuild the quality of the publication tomatch that of peer institutions. The editorialcame with the reprise, “If they can do it,so can we.” That publication split eventuallyinto the news-centered Orange and Blue(which would become the Milton Measure)and The Lit, which eventually joined withthe girls’ creative work in Magus-Mabus.Despite its occasional swerves and fusions,Magus-Mabus is now known to generationsof Miltonians as the premier campusforum for poets and artists. In 1983, GuyHughes, former chair of the Englishdepartment, hired Jim Connolly to teachcreative writing and advise Magus-Mabus.For more than two decades, Jim hasencouraged literary-minded students topractice poetry and produce, with the helpof student-artists and art editors, Magus-Mabus. The publication has become part ofMilton’s ethos.“Mr. Connolly [also] has an aura—theleather bag, the copper glasses, the pipe,”says 2005 co-editor Andrew. “He’s genuinelyexcited about your work. He encouragesyou to heighten your consciousnessaround your work.”“He knows that writers can shut off,”Emily says. “He helps you keep up theexercise of writing.”“The first couple of workshops [in creativewriting class] are scary,” Andrew says.“Then you learn that it’s all about the work.You can’t ever just go in there and say, ‘Idon’t like this.’ You find pieces that need tobe brought forward—pieces that havepotential.”Emily and Andrew apply the same principleswhen they consider work for inclusionin the School lit magazine. Along with acommittee of 10 other students, theyselected poems for inclusion author-blind.