Alumna Founds Online Literary Magazine

Cornell Alumna Julia Morrison ’11 founded the free online literary magazine, The Alligator,  last year as a WordPress blog. With help from staff members and contributing artists Marika von Zellen ’12 and Abbey Sturm ’11, the magazine recently transferred to its own webpage.

Morrison, the editor-in-chief, is on sabbatical in the Peace Corps, so  interim editor von Zellen described moving the journal to its own web domain, “We needed to put on our big-kid shoes and venture into unknown territory. Knowing virtually nothing about web design and other technical hazards, I attempted to build a website from scratch that would function as a monthly journal. After about four months of tinkering and redesigning and dousing myself in coffee I managed to create and upload the finished website.”

The underlying view of the magazine is one of artistic encouragement, as expressed by von Zellen, “We do not discriminate. New artists and writers and musicians are encouraged to submit because I and the staff are new artists and writers and musicians ourselves; we can empathize and give constructive yet understanding feedback.”  The first issue of The Alligator  features poetry, short fiction, photography, a comic, and an interview with a writer.

Sturm was among the first authors published in the journal, with her poem “Companion Processor.” Enjoy this teaser:

It doesn’t matter how fat I am that day
If I’ve moved that day,
How pale or dressed up or down or even dressed at all;
My word processor will
Process my words with
The indifferent kindness of a
Priest.