PHOTO CURTESTY OF THE UNDERGROUND JOURNAL

When I received an email my sophomore year telling me that one of my professors had recommended a piece of my work for submission to The Underground Journal I unfortunately, had no idea what that was. Since my essay was published, however, I have remained closely involved with the journal, and have decided to offer up some background information about the publication.

The Underground Journal is the St. Lawrence University journal for undergraduate research. It focuses specifically on works from the arts, humanities, and social sciences, since the Performance and Communications department created it. Work is accepted from students pursuing any major. The very first journal was published in the spring of 2011 and, since then, nine more have come out, with another on its way.

In the spring of 2013, the journal expanded its outreach to accept pieces of visual and multimedia art as well as the more traditional research-based papers. Not only is The Underground Journal written solely by your fellow classmates, the editorial board is also student run, with the help of faculty advisor Allison Rowland. Submissions are subject to a blind peer review, which means that the author’s name is removed before any editorial work is done. This ensures an unbiased acceptance process.

Through the years, the topics that have been published have included explorations of portrayals of both mental illness and women’s bodies in the media, film analyses, and essays focusing on the changes in society in the midst of an evolving digital age. This is just a small sampling of the numerous brilliant and thought provoking pieces that have been published through the journal.

With that being said, the submission window for Fall 2016 is open until October 14. If you are interested in submitting a piece, please email it to arowland@stlawu.edu. For submission guidelines, take a peek at facebook.com/theundergroundslu.

If you would like to get your hands on a past issue of the journal, they can be found on the first floor of Richardson Hall.

For any other questions regarding submissions or the journal in general, feel free to email Morgan Danna ’17, Editor-in-Chief, at mpdann13@stlawu.edu, or Kathryn Corbitt ’18, Managing Editor, at kmcorb14@stlawu.edu.