Arbuckle achieves dream of works published: San Jacinto College publishes first college-wide literary magazine

The San Jacinto College English Department recently published its first college-wide literary magazine, "Accents."

"The three English departments at the College embrace a strong commitment to the one-college model," said Jon Nelson, English department chair at the San Jacinto College North Campus. "In the past, our creative writing faculty have largely operated within their campuses. Having one literary magazine furthers the one-college model while creating a community for students who want to have their writing published in a professional quality magazine."

Of the many articles, poems, and art projects in the magazine, Central campus student Taylor Arbuckle had four works published.

"I submitted six different works to the magazine hoping I would at least get one published," Arbuckle said. "Then, one by one I started getting emails saying they were going to publish my pieces."

Arbuckle had three poems — "Stigma," "Something for the Pain," and "Nameless" and one short story, "Flowers and the Smell of Vanilla" — accepted to the magazine.

"The idea for my short story just came to me one morning out of nowhere," Arbuckle said. "I wrote it down right then and there and then spent months editing and perfecting it."

Writing since she could hold a pencil, Arbuckle has been sharing short stories and creating series and books her whole life.

"When I was in elementary school I used to write little books for my teachers and my mom would write with me too," Arbuckle said. "When I was in the fourth grade, I decided that I wanted to be a writer when I grew up."

Along with her passion for creative writing, Arbuckle also enjoys music and singing.

"I've always wanted to put my creativity into the public," Arbuckle said. "Writing is super personal to me and I get stage fright when I sing, but when other people experience it and give you feedback it can help you get better. Being published in the magazine gave me confidence."

Arbuckle as well as two other students whose work was published in "Accents" — Osasere Edo-Ewansiha from the South Campus and Jannely Gutierrez from the North Campus — had the opportunity to read their pieces for the San Jacinto College Board of Trustees.

"I have never been invited to something like that before," Arbuckle said. "It was terrifying because of my stage fright, but I tried to be as theatrical with my pieces as I could. I was able to meet so many people, including the college Chancellor."

The experience is something that the department chairs were hoping to cultivate when they pulled together for one college-wide magazine.

"The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive," said Nelson. "Students have been excited and proud to see their work in print and meet other writers while our faculty has loved having a physical medium through which to share their expertise and mentorship."

In the future, Arbuckle plans to pour her creativity into earning a degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing and someday become a published author.

"If I could be incredible to be a stay-at-home author, but I'm not going to put all of my energy into that just yet," Arbuckle said. "I need to graduate, and then who knows what the world has for me."