Described as “Hamline’s literary and arts journal made by students for everyone,” the Fulcrum Journal is starting their new year. 

The Oracle was able to speak to sophomore Bailey Winden who joined the Fulcrum last year as the Design Editor. Talking to Winden, the Oracle was able to see what’s new and upcoming for the Fulcrum this year and what adversity may lay ahead for its publication team. 

WHAT IS THE FULCRUM? 

The Fulcrum Journal has been at Hamline since 1995, and it remains a completely student-led organization made up of Hamline artists. This journal contains a collection of vastly different types of arts from writing to illustration and collage.   

Some students last year may have seen Fulcrum’s scavenger hunt which took place over  a week on campus or other events they have hosted throughout the year.

What the Journal is truly known for though, is the collection of student artwork. Last year, the collection was titled “Pleasure Fruit” consisting of different pieces of art and writing all coming from the Hamline student body. 

WHAT THEY DO AND WHAT’S BEFORE THEM

The creation of each issue of the Fulcrum Journal is a year-long process. At the beginning of the fall semester, the team starts setting up the organization of leadership and what roles need to be filled. 

Like most organizations, the upperclassmen who help lead and are often in officer positions will eventually graduate and this is exactly what happened to the Fulcrum’s staff.

Sophomore Bailey Winden talked about how a good chunk of the team had graduated and that there were several roles that needed to be filled; a setback Winden said that originally worried the team. To many this may seem like a problem that would send many organizations to complete disarray, for the Fulcrum it was almost the opposite. 

The Fulcrum Journal team ended up having to close submissions early for the positions that were available. After the interview and hiring process the team will start working on what the subject for the journal will be this year. 

After seeing last year’s submissions, Winden mentioned that they may be focusing on a darker theme but that it is affecting most students. 

“We start off with an idea, we won’t not include a piece if it doesn’t fit the theme, it’s kind of how to take that initial idea we had and how to incorporate the submissions,” he said. 

The biggest adversity that the Fulcrum team had to overcome last year was the scheduling of their publication. 

Fulcrum only does one release per year. Last year, Winden worked the most within the last month of the spring semester. Alongside with papers and finals, he also had to balance the work rush at the Fulcrum. 

Winden and the Fulcrum team are looking at the schedule and are seeing the best way to try and rearrange it. Winden said t that anyone who submits any pieces won’t be affected by any rearrangements that may take place. 

They have thrown around the idea of workshops and other events so that the team and artists can reach more people and get more activity with students and people at the Fulcrum. 

The Fulcrum’s Instagram regularly posts, and students may start to see more activity on the account throughout the year. Winden wants to start seeing more activity and more posting over all. One trend Winden has seen is that the student body are making collages and he wanted to present that through the Fulcrum Instagram account and other means.