The Pointer UW-Stevens Point Student Newspaper
The Barney Street 2013 release party, which took place on Thursday May 2 in the Carlsten Art Gallery of the Noel Fine Arts Center, honored many talented University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point writers.
This is the 35th annual edition of Barney Street, UWSP’s free literary magazine created by University Writers. Students were allowed to submit prose, poems and artwork in December to be considered for publishing.
Andrea Wagner, the Editor-in-Chief of Barney Street, has been involved with the publication for the past three years.
“I unfortunately hadn’t known about its existence before my sophomore year, but since then I have been hooked,” Wagner said.
This is Wagner’s second year as Editor-in-Chief. She oversaw the work of the staff and ensured that the printing process went smoothly.
“Since our organization is small and young, a lot has fallen on my plate this year,” Wagner said.
It was also Wagner’s job to ensure that all of the contributors knew about the release party by sending out acceptance and rejection emails.
“I want to stress that while I may have done a lot this year, it would not have been possible without the support of my editors and my partner in crime, Erika, the Barney Street treasurer,” Wagner said.
Randy Ploeckleman, a senior English major, was featured in Barney Street.
“I had two pieces published,” Ploeckleman said. “When I got the email, I was totally stoked. I told all my friends about it as soon as I saw them.”
This year’s edition of Barney Street includes 37 students.
“It has been a tradition since the start of the publication to only feature students. While I do not know why this was first decided, I like to think that it is because we want to give the students of this university the chance they deserve,” Wagner said. “There is just something poetic about a publication being completely written and designed by students.”
Hilary Neesman, a senior English major, was another one of the students featured in Barney Street.
“I was happy when I got the email that said some of my work was going to be published. Regardless of how big or small the publication, there is a certain satisfaction that comes with being told your work was chosen for something, and it was a confidence boost to keep writing,” Neesman said.
This was Neesman’s first year submitting anything to Barney Street, and three of her poems were published.
“We allow contributors a maximum of three pieces published, and since they are judged anonymously, we sometimes don’t realize that we want to publish more than three pieces by one writer or artist,” Wagner said. “Then we have the tough decision of choosing which three to publish.”
“The release party was a lot of fun. With all the artists reading their work, it was very inspirational,” Ploeckleman said.
Rachel Pukall
