Lit mag adviser shares passion and lit mag process

The purposes of Silhouette are to showcase Sparkman High School’s collection of creative endeavors, to inspire others to explore diverse methods of expressions and to preserve featured works for prosterity.

Most people do not think a high school literary magazine would have this kind of mission statement. Many do not see it as an artistic outlet. Most people think of a high school literary magazine as nothing but pages and pages of words. They could not be more wrong.

“I have enjoyed writing poetry and short stories since I was in elementary school,” Silhouette literary magazine adviser Renee Quaife said. “In high school, I took creative writing and I loved it.”

As Quaife moved through high school, she decided to explore other classes that would allow her to express herself through her writing.

“I joined the literary magazine staff my junior year. My senior year at Bob Jones, I was editor of the school newspaper and assistant editor of the literary magazine,” Quaife said. “I absolutely loved it all.”

Quaife went to college at Athens State University and became editor of their literary magazine as well. Finding something she truly felt she belonged with set her off on her path to becoming the adviser of Silhouette.

“Our literary magazine has been around since 1997,” Quaife said. “There were two teachers who had it before me and once they left, I finally got the adviser position. This is my eighth year as the adviser and I couldn’t be more proud of my students and their work.”

The students of the literary magazine view it as home for their creative minds.

“Being a part of Silhouette is amazing. I can express myself in any way that I choose to do and I’ve found you really don’t have that sort of freedom in other classes,” sophomore Abi Kunckle said. “It’s our work and we’re proud of it.”

Anyone can enter a piece of original work — poetry, short stories, artwork, songs, photographs — and the literary magazine staff all take a vote. Every vote is equal and if a staff member is passionate about the piece of work in Silhouette, they are able to fight for it. Submissions are kept anonymous to avoid favoritism towards a student and are then revealed to credit them when they are published.

“There is only one thing I wish I could change,” Quaife said. “Money has always been an issue. We have to share the computer lab with other classes sometimes and that can be really, really rough. It gets stressful with the amount of everything but we always make sure everything is reasonable so students can afford our literary magazine.”

Despite money, Quaife couldn’t be happier with Silhouette and her staff. It is a place anyone can express anything where creativity is encouraged and applauded.

“Our literary magazine is one-of-a-kind. It isn’t newspaper or yearbook but it does share similarities with both of them. You are allowed more freedom for more expression that many things don’t offer to students,” Quaife said. “It is an outlet for everyone and gives students a place to grow.”