The writing on the walks

04-07-04_image-1_thumb.jpg

Deciphering the hieroglyphics chalked along heavily traveled quad thruways can stump even the most dedicated pedestrian reader. Today the most enigmatic messages were the scattered Qs skirting Cobb Hall’s main entry, which revealed their significance only by association with another stark sidewalk missive: “www.ChicagoQuill.com.” The Chicago Quill, an online student-run journal, launched last Friday (and edited by Magazine intern Phoebe Maltz, ’05), takes as its totem a gothic Q and promises an environment where, much like campus paths, “any and all voices will be heard.” But the Quill presents a more legible format, offering politics, arts, and culture along with the Inkblots section—a “rapid response center” for reader views “too long or formal to be a comment, but not long enough to be an article.” With student-penned stories ranging from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to tongue-in-cheek diet advice, the Quill strives, as its mission statement commands, “to further the great conversation.”

Response so far has been encouraging. According to executive director Zachary LeVasseur, who perched outside Cobb this morning trading Jolly Ranchers for e-mail addresses, the Quill received inquiries from 30 potential contributors and 40,000 hits in its first 72 hours online—attributable to both its chalk campaign and a College list-host message.

Also hitting the streets later this month is the Chicago Scholarly Review (not available online), which will publish undergraduate research papers in the humanities and social sciences. Founded by fourth-years Margaret Ryznar and Natalie Brown, the CSR garnered 70 submissions for its first seven-article issue.

A.L.M.

April 7, 2004