Tributaries Mission Statement
Tributaries exists to benefit, celebrate, grow, develop, and sustain the Illinois Wesleyan University writing community.
This goal is paramount to all other Tributaries endeavors or ideas. To best serve this goal, Tributaries encourages and maintains close cooperation with other literary groups on campus, so long as they are also serving the common purpose of bettering our writing community. Tributaries will host many events such as slams and faculty lectures/discussions, champion the hard working members of our group through student features, print an annual publication, and host an annual literary conference called Tongue and Ink, all to further our central ideal. Tributaries further understands that as time passes and groups of students come and go, the subsequent needs of the writing community will change. Tributaries is willing to change as much as is necessary and further challenges itself and the writing community to be in a constant bettering process of revision, so long as those changes are meaningful, intentional, and based on the goal of bettering the Illinois Wesleyan writing community.
Objectives
Literary Publication
Since its inception, Tributaries has tirelessly published 2 annual publications of the (ideally) best work of the Wesleyan art community, in both linguistic and visual forms, with very few exceptions. However, the hurried process of publishing two volumes a year, along with the ever-tightening economic climate, and further complication of the process of publication from both internal and external sources has caused Tributaries to rethink its design.
Thus, this year, there will be one publication with rolling submission deadlines throughout the year. After each submission cycle, a packet will be sent out containing the work itself and materials for scoring the work. After the scores for the work have been collected (1 week after submission deadline), there will be an editorial meeting to discuss the work, and determine which work gets accepted. If a piece is accepted, it will be in the book at the end of the year. If a piece is rejected, the author will be notified, and given brief feedback for possible editing. After the final round of submissions and basic editorial meetings, there will be two editorial meetings to assemble the text in its entirety. Additionally, throughout the entirety of the year, a contest will take place to determine the design of the publication’s cover. The submission deadlines can be found on the Tributaries calendar. The book will then be released at the annual literary conference, Tongue and Ink. Submissions should be sent to iwutributaries@gmail.com.
Annual Literary Conference
In accordance with our mission, Tributaries (along with Lyrical Graffiti, Pseudonym Required, ISU’s Euphemism, and the IWU English Department) will host an annual literary conference. At this conference, there will be sessions, workshops, performances, book releases (for Tributaries, Pseudonym Required, and Euphemism), panels, and parties. The ultimate goal for all of these is three-fold: 1) To achieve the mission of Tributaries; 2) To expand the writing community at Illinois Wesleyan; 3) To grow our writing community by engaging a larger geographic area (i.e. the Midwest United States). This conference is usually held the first weekend of April.
Student Features
Tributaries is not a group that wants to neglect the talent of the writing community. As such, Tributaries Executive Board members will select (in tandem with Lyrical Graffiti’s and Pseudonym Required’s Executive boards) a student feature(s) each month, to proudly display the great work they are producing. This student feature will have the opportunity to do a mini-showcase the poetry slams, possible chances to feature at Words that go BOOM (Lyrical Graffiti’s weekly open mic), as well as a spotlight on the Tributaries website.
Faculty Lectures/Discussions/Performances
To achieve the Tributaries mission, the group will incorporate the faculty of the English Department (and possibly others) to expand the abilities of the authors at Illinois Wesleyan. On the second Thursday of the month, a member of the faculty will be asked to host a session of their own design. Perhaps a member of the writing faculty will share with us some of her new work, or perhaps a member of the literature faculty will teach us about the correct and incorrect uses of a certain type of punctuation. Either way, the purpose of these sessions will be to expand the abilities of our writers, and to let them engage with the talented faculty members in a more relaxed and informal way than the classroom.
Poetry Slam
Tributaries has never been a group that neglected to give ample space and support for those among the members who love to perform. This year will not be different in that respect. On the last Saturday of every month, Tributaries will host a poetry slam with an open mic portion, student feature(s) or professional features, and a slam. These events will be open to the public and hosted in the early evening at Hansen Student Center. The format of the slam will be one round of original work (less than three minutes in performed length), followed by a death match haiku battle between the top three from round one. Prizes may include books, gag gifts, and eternal glory, as well as a mention on the Tributaries website.
LG-PR-T: Partners for a better writing community
In past years, registered student organizations have come and gone, fought and united, risen and fallen, specifically in the creative writing community. However, Tributaries looks forward this year to partnering with both Lyrical Graffiti and Pseudonym Required, in order to better achieve our mission. The enthusiasm, leadership, creativity, and energy of these groups will help to support and augment our own in a way that has yet to be achieved. The dedication to partnership and cooperation shared among these three groups is unparalleled, and Tributaries is proud to be a part of that. Moreover, Tributaries encourages all members to participate actively in all the organizations the community affords them, as this will make them better writers, and continue the close partnership which is so highly valued.
Involvement
Tributaries invites and cherishes active community involvement in the group, in any fashion. If you have an idea for an event that you believe would benefit the writing community, let Tributaries help you to do so. If you simply want to do a specific task, such as emcee the poetry slam or some administrative item, we invite you to ask to do that thing. At Tributaries, we recognize that the group will only know about that which it is informed. Thus, please inform us.
Additionally, Tributaries sees that to really become a part of the writing community, you must look outside of Illinois Wesleyan University. As such, Tributaries will post weekly contests on its website (as long as the website is functional) in which all may partake. Furthermore, Tributaries will post all Bloomington-Normal community events of which it is aware onto its calendar, so that all may participate.
Transparency and Flexibility
Tributaries believes that the best way to operate in regards to the students of the writing community at Illinois Wesleyan is openly and honestly. With that sentiment in mind, Tributaries will seek to be utterly transparent in all its endeavors, both posting all documents and procedures in a timely fashion and allowing others to inquisition and engage any member of the group. To do so, Tributaries will be hosting office hours every Wednesday and Friday from 4-6pm in the combined Wesleyana/Tributaries office above the Young Main Lounge.
Additionally, Tributaries knows and understands that as the students in the community change, so must the group itself change to better serve it. As such, Tributaries will henceforth host a general meeting at the beginning and end of each semester, to establish a means of gathering feedback on how the group did or how it should perform next year. Therefore, this document is very much a live document, subject to change at any moment by any group leader, if that change should better benefit the writing community.