Event INSCAPE TURNS 5O

By Noah Kee ’25

With a formal release party held on Friday, April 25, Central Methodist University students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its magazine of the arts, Inscape.

The magazine, first published in 1975, has featured written and visual work by members of the Central community for the past five decades, publishing poetry, short stories, creative nonfiction, 10-minute plays, and visual arts.

As with many beloved traditions of the English department at Central, the origin of Inscape lies at least in part with Dr. Joe Geist, professor emeritus and registrar of the Ashby-Hodge Gallery of American Art. While the English department was already publishing work from students of the Scribblers & Scrawlers club and other groups prior to 1975, a literary magazine was not yet firmly established, and the English faculty put out a call for students to submit their name ideas for a new magazine. Geist himself suggested the name Inscape to a student, who formally entered it in the competition. The name was selected after a discussion from the half-dozen or so faculty members, and the magazine has been called Inscape ever since.

“I’m very happy and overly pleased that [Inscape is] still in existence,” Geist said, adding that he’s pleased that the magazine has been kept “going beautifully over the years,” and that he reads it cover to cover every year.

John Yuelkenbeck ’82, was one of the students very involved in the magazine in the late ’70s and early ’80s.

“I was very hands-on with doing the typesetting, design, photography, and production as well as editing for Volumes 5, 6, and 7,” said Yuelkenbeck, who graduated with a degree in English literature. “Some of my work was automatically included because I won the Swinney Writing Award a few times, and the winning entries were always printed. As editors, we had to strike a balance when it came to including our own submissions without overdoing it.”

Yuelkenbeck also explained the definition of “inscape,” and how it fit with the goal of the magazine:

“‘Inscape’ is a term coined by Gerard Manley Hopkins, referring to the intrinsic beauty or essence of things,” he said. “It was our job to pull disparate parts together into an organic whole. It does my heart good to know that the tradition has continued.”

CMU is working hard to preserve that tradition and the history of Inscape while celebrating the present and looking ahead to the future. An exhibit was on display this spring on the second floor of Smiley Library in Cupples Hall at CMU’s main campus in Fayette. This display was open to the public and celebrated 50 years of the literary art magazine and 100 years of student writing at Central. The exhibit included copies of historic brochures, covers, and magazines from CMU’s archives. It also included a timeline of student writing, starting with the founding of the Scribblers writing group in 1924 and leading up to the “Pandemic Edition” of Inscape in 2021.

Virtual copies of more recent editions dating from last year’s Inscape 49 back to the 37th edition in 2012, as well as additional information about the magazine, can be found online on the Inscape page of CMU’s website. To see the digital archive page of the exhibit, and to view individual examples of historic student writing including the earliest editions, visit the Inscape page of CMU’s online archives.

Jennifer Parsons, assistant director and access services librarian at Smiley Library, has put in many hours archiving and organizing the history of student writing at the University.

“Inscape is an interesting way of seeing how student writing and creative writing, especially, has evolved and changed to its current form as you see today,” Parsons said. “We have this long and rich history of students engaging in creative writing independently, in experimental ways, with their own initiative, getting their own ideas out there.”

That history was celebrated by many this spring with the 50th anniversary event, which featured a variety of guests, including this year’s published contributors, former editors and contributors to the magazine, and the CMU board of trustees. During the event, participants enjoyed visiting with other guests over lunch and cake, and guests were treated to poetry readings of each of the three winning poems as well as the unveiling of a poster featuring the new cover design by student Diane Ondobo.

The luncheon was a culmination of a year’s worth of work for the Inscape staff and Dr. Kavita Hatwalkar, Inscape advisor and chair of the humanities division, who was pleased with how much the event showcased the value of the magazine.

“It was a tacit acknowledgment of the hard work of our students for the 50th anniversary,” Hatwalkar said. “Once the board members saw the magazine, once they were able to hold it in their hands, they seemed elated.”

Hatwalkar also spoke about how meaningful it was for alumni to take off work – some driving three or four hours – to attend the luncheon to honor the anniversary and their own involvement in the magazine.

“It means a lot that after they leave, they still see it as something of value for them,” she said.

It also meant a lot to Shaynlin Smith ’24, whose poem “Earth’s Arrhythmia” earned her a first-place prize in the poetry category for the second year in a row.

“The Inscape celebration was an incredible experience that meant a lot to me, especially as a graduate student who has been offcampus for almost a full year. Getting to see your creative works in print is exhilarating and surreal,” said Smith, who recently finished her first year in the CMU master’s program for clinical counseling. “Inscape has inspired me to continue to follow my passion for writing. Without Inscape, I may not have written some of my favorite pieces of poetry. I am sure that other students have been impacted in similar ways over the last 50 years due to Inscape’s encouragement of creative expression and empowerment of Central Methodist voices.”

While some aspects of Inscape have changed over the years and are continuing to change, the value of the magazine and the values it represents remain.

“Alumni should know that Inscape is going strong. It looks different than it may have looked when they were students. But the fundamentals are still the same,” said Hatwalkar, who has served as academic advisor for the magazine since the 38th edition in 2013. “The best part is that students are now getting academic credit for the hard work that they’re putting into it.”

This academic credit is thanks to the inclusion of Inscape as a class starting in 2019. Through the course, which is offered as a onehour class in the fall and a three-hour class in the spring, students promote, organize, and eventually publish the magazine. The class has been taught by Hatwalkar since 2019 and will be taught by Dr. Ryan Woldruff starting in Fall 2025.

Regardless of who is in the advising role, the consensus is that the CMU community hopes for another 50 years of the publication of Inscape. And while the inclusion of editions online gives the magazine more reach, Hatwalkar believes the university should continue prioritizing the physical printing of Inscape

“My hopes for the future of Inscape are that we continue to publish physical copies,” she said. “There’s something very palpable and real and tactile about being in a book. The value of that is immeasurable.”

While submissions are open to all CMU students, online students aren’t physically on campus and tend to be less likely to submit as a result. Encouraging more online students to submit may also be a consideration for the future of the magazine.

“Online students are an untapped resource for contribution to Inscape,” Hatwalkar said.

Increasing the cash prize for winners (currently $50 for first place in each genre) is another idea. Hatwalkar said a fund dedicated to the publishing of the magazine as well as the prizes would be a valuable consideration for the future. Currently, the cost of publishing is covered by the combined efforts of the English department and the Student Government Association, and prizes are covered by the English department as well.

Whatever the future holds for the specifics of the magazine’s publication, those who have been part of Inscape since the early years hope it will remain one of Central’s most special institutions.

“I hope it keeps going another 50 years,” said Yuelkenbeck. “A literary magazine is essential to preserving the values of a liberal arts education.”

“Keep it moving, keep it going,” said Geist. “The department is alive and kicking and thriving, and I hope that it would always be a special joy for them to produce.”

View a digital copy of the 2025 Inscape or previous issues, visit; https://centralmethodist. edu/student-life/clubsorganizations/inscape. html