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with junior Danielle Petrozelle, also edited the 200405 Totem, Gannon’s renowned literary magazine. llison Cummings of Manchester, New Hampshire, who judged for the University Poetry Contest, commented, “It is rare to find a good poem about work, but Christian Peterson’s poem brings a day of physical work to vivid life, using all five senses.” Peterson’s poem is set in a wooded area and brings to life a day of chopping wood—an activity that provides him with an extra income during the summer. Peterson attended the Chautauqua Writing Institute this summer with the support of the University. Second place in the undergraduate category went to Petrozelle for her poem “More Roses than Emily,”
and third place went to freshman Christa Blose for “Silver Lining.” Peterson, along with junior Andrew Tanner and sophomore Allison Sico, was also recognized with an honorable mention award. In the graduate category, Lora Zill was awarded first place for her poem, “Flight Simulator,” which portrays a falconer performing with his bird for an audience. Honorable mentions were awarded to Thomas McCabe and Marisa Moks-Unger. In addition to poetry, the evening also recognized graduate and undergraduate students for excellent work in research writing. The Peter C. Braeger Research Writing Contest requested nominations from Gannon faculty in order to recognize students for work they
The Totem Tradition The history of literary magazines produced by Gannon students runs back to 1948 when The Herald was produced for two academic years. The tradition of a literary magazine after that was sporadic. In 1963, the first and only Scutcheon was published, and it was followed by the Laureate, which was published from 1965-1973. The tradition of a literary magazine finally became settled in 1979 when the Phoenix was first published. None of its predecessors, however, match the accomplishments of today’s Totem, Gannon’s literary magazine that has won first-place in the American Scholastic Press Association’s annual magazine competition for nine straight years, the only years in which it has competed. The Totem includes works of poetry, fiction, short stories, art, photography, and graphic design produced by members of the Gannon community. According to Berwyn Moore, Faculty Advisor for the Totem, the magazine is also completely student-produced. Students are responsible for soliciting submissions, organizing judges, designing layout, choosing cover artwork, and distributing the magazine. The majority of the work published in the Totem is created by Gannon students, faculty, staff, and alumni, and the magazine is printed by the Gannon University Press. Moore commented, “The Totem is a professionally handled magazine and something of which the students can be very proud.” The name Totem was chosen by co-editors of the Phoenix, Laura (Wagner) Spayd ’92 and Michele (Wroblewski) Whitaker ’92, because they felt that the magazine was a strong representative of culture and art, much like a totem. As such, the last issue of the Phoenix was published in 1991, and in 1992, the tradition became the Totem. This year’s co-editors were Christian Peterson ’06, English, and Danielle Petrozelle ’06, Occupational Therapy. Continuing the tradition of including a poem from the guest speaker at the English Awards Night, this year’s Totem includes Nancy Willard’s humorous but peaceful poem “Ladybugs.” The cover art, by Randy Stroup ’05, is titled “Hulking Out,” and it was digitally manipulated by Michael Bane, PC Technician.
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Peterson commented, “I really had a great time working with the Totem, and I learned so much—like how to use desktop publishing software and that, although a lot of people are writing some great stuff, there just isn’t enough room for everything.” Peterson was able to improve this year’s issue of the Totem by hiring Kate Healy as a sketch artist to fill up extra white space. Next year, Peterson mentioned that the staff hopes to include an interactive CD with the Totem. He said, “We think it would be really cool to have a place within the Totem to include students’ music, short films, or other interactive media.” And so the Totem tradition of quality as an artistic showcase will continue.