Austin Jones Editor-in-Chief Design & Layout Before he became Editor-in-Chief of the literary magazine, Austin won first place in the prose category two times in a row. When he became a staff member in 2019, he wanted to “make the magazine not only a literary one, but an artistic one as well, incorporating elements of design into the layout itself, creating graphics that unify the magazine, and blending the writing with the art to make a new volume of Roots that stands out and represents the writing and artistic talent of Westminster.” As the graphic designer and lead editor of this year’s magazine, the project was a huge undertaking for him, but he feels it is an extraordinarily special editon. “I’m overjoyed to see how many different ways people interpreted this year’s theme of ‘In the Eye of the Storm’. It was a hard one, as it required more abstract thinking, and so I congratulate everyone in being so imaginative. The creativity in our staff and student body is simply astounding, and I think this magazine shows it very well.” “When I sat down to write something, I wanted to show a side of the storm that others might not always see. I’ve always found dangerous things to be, oddly, the most fascinating: the ocean, space, Antarctica, and of course, storms. I think what makes these things so beautiful is the uncertainty of being in their presence, or, in other words, the unknown of them. Death is also one of these things. We fear it because we long to stay in the here and now- the known. However, if we realize that death is what gives life value, we begin to understand and appreciate it. There is no light without the dark. It’s actually the element of finity that makes life truly worth living. Although my poem can be interpreted in many ways, this is what I aimed to highlight when writing it. Once we see the balance, we can lose our fear of death and embrace the power of life.”
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