MUSE Needs You
MUSE NEEDS YOU.
In September of 2014, I started my journey at Queen’s University, and man did I feel out of place. I was thrown into a group of strangers while wearing a bright yellow T-shirt, and was forced to learn an entire dance routine to a song that made me want to rip my ears off. But salvation was near: I finally decided to attend the Queen’s in the Park event, where in the sea of many different clubs destined to change other students’ lives, I discovered MUSE Magazine. Still in my yellow shirt, and now with a backwards cap covering the sweaty mess summer had created, I approached the table. I was completely enthralled by the professional banner that stood beside a carefully arranged display of shiny magazines. After a thorough discussion, I learned that MUSE is a student run publication, focused on providing an outlet for students to express themselves creatively, whether it be through writing, fashion, photography, or anything else that qualifies as a form of expression. MUSE exists solely as an opportunity for the young minds at Queen’s to share their creative work with the rest of their community. Sophie, our Online Editor, says that this is one reason MUSE is so valuable, explaining, “In such an academic setting, like Queen's, it is important to be able to find a creative outlet on campus. It is easy to get stuck in a rut, and being able to contribute to MUSE provides me, personally, with a creative challenge.” Soon after discovering the magazine, I was appointed to the position of First Year Representative. As time went on, I began to grow attached to the MUSE family. I spoke to Rylee, my fellow Frosh Rep, who described perfectly how I had begun to feel about the whole organization: “MUSE has helped me discover who I am, what I enjoy, and gives me something to feel accomplished about, something to feel proud to be a part of.” As my first semester passed, I began to grow even more involved, and finally began to understand how important a publication like MUSE really is to the Queen’s community— it is truly a unique way for students to feel like their voice is heard. As many of our readers already know, MUSE Magazine has lost the AMS Referendum for the second year in a row, which unfortunately made our team question whether or not there is a place for our publication at Queen’s University. To quote our Directors, however: “If even one Queen’s University student has something they want to write, create, or share within our publication, that in itself is enough reason for MUSE to exist”— and so we continue to work to create a place for MUSE Magazine at Queen’s University. Jaclyn, our Editor-in-Chief, explained why she continues to believe in MUSE’s value as a publication: “It is so impactful for there to be a publication on campus that publishes students’ intimate stories in a supportive and empowering way— I experienced this when I wrote an article in Issue IX on my late mother, and how her life has impacted my decision to go into fashion. It’s pretty incredible that students create this publication that is helping to provide this outlet for their peers.” Unfortunately, not having the referendum vote for the upcoming 2015-2016 year puts MUSE in a very difficult position. One of the cornerstones of MUSE is that our print issue will always remain free of charge— this is because our purpose as a publication is to showcase student work, and we do not ever want to limit our readers or contributors. However, in order to keep MUSE free, our team has to consistently raise money through events, marketing, and sponsorship to pay for the price of printing for the hundreds of issues given out each semester. Having a very short time period between the start of the semester to the time when the final edition of the magazine is sent out, it is very difficult to raise enough funds to meet our deadline, especially without the optional fifty-cent fee. We are now looking to you, our readers, for help. We need donations in order to keep MUSE alive, and in order to continue being a vessel of self-expression for the Queen’s University community. It doesn’t matter how big or small your donation may be— every cent gets our team one step closer to being able to represent our fellow students and everything they have to offer. The donation process will be made available through: https://givetoqueens.ca/
