Holding a copy of the latest issue of the Courant, Cecelia Vieira ’18 stood in the center of the room amid colorful paper decorations and spectators wearing colored finger lights and snacking on color-themed foods. As the featured writer of the Courant launch party, Vieira presented two of her poems titled “Pool Filter” and “Judas Kiss.” Vieira has submitted her writing to the Courant since her Lower year.
Vieira said, “ ‘Pool Filter’ is about [an] incident I had with my siblings… [We saw] this baby bird sort of floating around in the pool filter, and we all just sort of stopped and looked down at it, and didn’t say much to each other but had a moment that’s like, ‘Yeah this is death of all things. This is the death of summer, this is the death of our family in a way, this is the death of this little bird.’ It was just a very small, quiet, momentous moment.”
The launch party of Andover’s creative magazine, the Courant, took place last Friday at the Peabody Museum. The theme of the event was “color,” to celebrate the printing of the first colored issue of the magazine. Members of the Courant board collaborated to overcome the challenges presented by running a color issue.
Adrienne Zhang ’18, Co-Editor in Chief of the Courant, said, “The food is all color themed; if you saw some of the performances, they all did color themed poems or stories, and [Sophie Miller ’18,] who is amazing, she did whole bunch of posters… she even had a geotag.”
Angelreana Choi ’19, a poetry editor for the Courant, said, “We’re trying to break even in terms of cost because printing in color is so expensive, but it is our first color issue, and we’re really happy about it. It’s a beautiful copy.”
According to Co-Editor in Chief Miriam Feldman ’18, the newest issue of the Courant was the first to have a featured artist and writer. The “color” theme was partly chosen to better showcase the stained glass artwork by featured artist Chris Ward ’19.
Attendee Skylar Xu ’20 said, “I really liked the Spoken Word performances; they were very powerful. I appreciated the form of presenting the Courant… They didn’t just read the poem, they also performed it under the specific setting, so I really feel like, at the moment, I was able to appreciate literature in that way.”
This issue was also the first one with this year’s Courant board.
Feldman said, “Everybody from the section editors who chose the pieces to the layout who did the design for the cover really put their all into it. So I think that the team of people in the Courant would be my favorite part about it.”
Launch parties give members of the Courant an opportunity to interact with their readers and allow artists to showcase their work directly.
Zhang said, “My favorite part of [the Courant] is definitely seeing the people. It’s so much fun, especially when you’re sitting at the table and some people come over and flip through it, and when they see their own work or when they see their friend’s work, or even if they’re just here to appreciate student work, their faces light up. I really think that the quality of the stuff that people produce here is so incredible.”
Editor’s Note: Chris Ward is a Graphic Design Editor for The Phillipian.
