10 reasons for submitting work to Telolith 2004

by Bill McGlothing
Guest columnist

Seward County Community College students should consider submitting to the upcoming issue of Telolith if one or more of the following apply:

* You have written a poem, story, or essay and admired and reread it so many times that you could boil the pages and make soup.

* You've always been a little afraid of opening your private writing stash to public view. You think it's good, but you're not really sure others will agree with you. What's that saying about Guts and Glory?

* Your significant other tells you he/she loves what you write, but he/she also likes to eat Korn Nuts in bed, often has stray kitty litter stuck between his/her toes, and watches Real Estate Investment infomercials in the middle of the night with the sound off.

* You are not really sure anymore about the validity of Granny's "That's nice, honey" critiques of your writing, since she's said that each Valentine's Day for at least a decade and the last time you heard it from her you'd just told her your dog had died.

* You always thought Telolith was just for English and Art majors, but recent contributors include members of the baseball and women's basketball teams, international students, ag students, business and science majors, night students, commuting students, returning students, non-traditional students -- in other words, just about any kind of SCCC student you can think of.

* You've actually looked at an issue of Telolith and after reading some of the selections have decided first of all that there's good stuff there, and secondly, that you wouldn't mind at all seeing your name on the pages of the next edition, especially since the publication has been printed every year since the early '70s, an impressive streak in its own right.

* You have watched writers and artists who have submitted to the Telolith besieged by admirers, autograph seekers, and wannabe groupies in the days following the release of a new issue in the spring.

* You kind of like the idea of being able to give copies of the 2004 Telolith to your friends and family as personalized gifts because the issue will showcase your writing --and copies are free.

* Long after you're gone (however you choose to define that), your words and works will live on in the pages of the Telolith. Beats carving your initials into a tree, assuming you can find a tree in Southwest Kansas.

* Think about the year we've had at SCCC. Think about the year you've had. Think about a lasting legacy, the microchip of immortality that is activated by becoming published. It takes courage to make public something so inherently private. But if you have works you think worthy of being appreciated by SCCC readers, works you are proud of, then bring them on by the Humanities Building to Susan Copas (H106, Ext. 685, scopas@sccc.edu), or Bill McGlothing (H107, Ext. 668, bmcgloth@sccc.edu). Deadline for submissions is Thursday, April 1.

If you don't write to let others read it, if you don't draw, paint, photograph, or shape to let others see it, then what is the point of doing it at all?

Advisers' Note: The upcoming 2004 issue will be dedicated to the memory of Dr. James Grote.

Dr. Grote believed in the value of the arts and cared deeply about SCCC students experiencing literature and art firsthand. He always gave his complete support to Telolith, as well as to any effort to bring writers and artists before the college community.