ON THE WRITE TRACK — Members of The Others Writers Guild – Victor Aguilar, Vice President Vito Di Stefano and President Desiree De La O – took advantage of the Halloween Costume Contest crowd to promote their club and distribute the HalloZine Edition of The Vagabond Reader at the Halloween Boo Carnival in front of Mayan Hall.
Photo by April Abarrondo
Hollywood’s Writer’s Guild is an advocacy organization for talented writers. So is The Other Writers Guild, Southwestern College’s home of poets, essayists and short story writers.
Since its inception six years ago, the OWG has provided SWC writers a supportive platform to cultivate their talents. It sponsors events like the Guest Writer Series, Spring Literature Festival and Visual/Audio Monologue Performance (VAMP). It also publishes The Vagabond Reader, a literary journal of student writing every semester.
Professor of English, Francisco Bustos is advisor to The Vagabond Reader. He said the journal works as an alternative narrative for students interested in creative writing.
“The Vagabond focuses on student writing and provides an outlet for them,” he said.
From poetry to short stories and plays, The Vagabond Reader voices the stories of an array of talented students.
OWG President Desiree De La O said she finds it beautiful and liberating to have a place for young writers to publish.
“It helps a lot of us get away from reality and just soak ourselves in our passion and the community,” she said.
Due out on Nov. 25, The Vagabond will be accompanied accompanied by an open mic for the selected writers to present their work, said De La O.
A previous issue of The Vagabond featured “La Marioneta,” a short poem honoring the late Nobel Prize Laureate Gabriel García Márquez, and an excerpt from SWC adjunct instructor Jennifer Derilo’s memoir, “To Calm the Wave of Mismapping.”
“We are always trying to get the word out as writers,” De La O said. “The more we get into the scene and put our names out there, the more writers we attract and the more we grow as a community.”
Derilo said English faculty in the hopes to make The Vagabond a more polished literary journal.
“We want to form a more robust community,” Derilo said. “I’m trying to drum up excitement for writing.”
Derilo said students are invited to submit their work for a Nov. 20 reading. Chosen writers will collaborate with editors and coaches to perform on Nov. 20 at the Chula Vista Public Library. For information contact Derilo at jderilo.swccd.edu or Bustos at http://www.fbustos.swccd.edu/.
