And so the “literary madness”—as Hailley, our previous managing editor, referred to it—begins. I’m Alex, one of the new managing editors, and, since arriving on campus two years ago, I’ve had the pleasure of working on the Coe Review as a reader, business manager, and editor. Throughout that time, I’ve been working toward my goal of being the new managing editor—the first step toward a career in publishing—and now, alongside Marissa, I have achieved that. And with the position of co-managing editor comes the pressure of trying to figure out how the presence and quality of our magazine can best be improved.

Being one of very few entirely undergraduate-run literary magazines that publishes writers from all across the country (and across the world!), our editors have often struggled to find where we want Coe Review to be situated within the literary community as a whole. Will we be able to rise to the level of excellence of magazines such as Iowa Review, Glimmer Train, or Five Points? Not in the near future. But Marissa and I have some ideas that will hopefully help the magazine thrive.

Most noteworthy of our ideas has to do with our blog has been a large focus for the past year or so now but has not quite kicked off in the way we hoped. However, as with most magazine reading staffs, most of us are hopefully writers ourselves. And, though our own writing can’t improve the magazine itself, we will be soon giving “Flash Fiction Fridays” a shot, a short story under 750 words being posted at the end of each week to both highlight some of our readers’ work and to hopefully give our website-viewers quality writing to remain engaged in between our fall and spring publications.

This year, we will also have multiple editors going to New York City in the spring semester, including both myself and Patrick, our lead production editor, an opportunity which several other members of the Coe Review staff have taken advantage of. One of the key potential benefits of leaving there is the potential for internships in publishing or at a literary agency such as Writers House. Though this means that we miss out on our spring 2015 issue, it also means that we may be able to bring back some aspects of NYC publishing environment.

And so I’m reminded exactly why I came to Coe College, twenty hours from home and unknown by anyone else I’ve ever talked to, because even though we may not be as well-known or as mass-producing as Iowa Review, we have equally passionate readers and opportunities.

–Alexander Boyd, Co-Managing Editor