Once upon a time… You’ve heard these words over and over, it’s the staple of story-telling or any kind of literature. You can continue the story in any way you wish. But now that you have this new story, or any piece of art, what are you going to do with it?

Luckily, Paint Branch High School has its very own Literary Magazine, aka Lit Mag, sponsored by Mrs. Leslie Greene. The Lit Mag gathers student-produced art throughout the year, ranging from poetry to photography. If you find and open a Lit Mag, you’d be exposed to colorful, meaningful pages full of paintings, photography, essays, short stories, and poetry. It’s a place to express oneself, so you can even submit rants, anything goes.  Lit Mag member Lauren Saavedra says she joined to “meet new people and hear what people have to say.”

Does it sound interesting? Are you thinking about submitting a piece, but are too afraid to admit yourself as the creator? Don’t worry, anonymous submission is permitted. Anyone can submit, with or without their name: simply hand a copy of your work to Mrs. Greene, your English teacher, Art teacher, email it, or give it to one of the Lit Mag members and it’ll have the chance to appear in the Lit Mag that May. It’s best to submit your work by the end of March, there’s no set submission deadline, but during the first two weeks of April, the Lit Mag members are putting together the pages. The Lit Mag only comes out once a year, so don’t miss out on this great opportunity by missing the deadline.

The Lit Mag always comes out during the first two weeks of May. All persons who make it into the Lit Mag get their own copies, but anyone who wants to own their own can pick up a copy from Mrs. Greene for free!

Anyone can join the Lit Mag at any point in time, Mrs. Greene says they need a variety of people from helping with fundraisers to editing. Currently, the Lit Mag only has six solid members, five of them being new. They’re a very dedicated group of young ladies who work for two weeks after school on the Lit Mag to send it off to the publisher.

Some responses on why the new girls joined Lit Mag varied, but all had the same underlying message of loving art. Danielle Rehwoldt joined because she “loves expressing [her]self through many types,” and that she’s “not in a lot of art classes,” so it serves as a good medium.

Lauren Saavedra had trouble answering the question, but eventually did with “[I] wanted to see how it is like, it’s interesting. You make a cool magazine.”

Jasmine Hubbard had a more positive reason, “I love writing and I love Mrs. Greene.” Those last two reasons should be enough to make anyone join the club.

Even though the Lit Mag is all about the arts, the members aren’t forced to submit any of their creations. They can simply aid in the making or the fundraising of the Lit Mag.

You might not want to join the Lit Mag, but would love to support it. There are many ways to support the club, other than submitting art. For the past two years, the Lit Mag held poetry slams to get students to express themselves, have fun, and get the Lit Mag a little recognition. Each year, the Lit Mag holds holiday and Valentine’s Day card sales for a week. These cards are always one dollar, delivered to the recipients’ first period class, and comes with three Hershey kisses. All the proceeds from these events go towards the publishing of the Lit Mag. This year Mrs. Greene is thinking of doing a Chipotle fundraiser. The Lit Mag is funded by the fundraisers they have and the money the school provides, but last year something unexpected happened.

The Lit Mag failed to earn enough money to send the pages off to a publisher, so they had to print and put them together in house, meaning after school or lunch at the Media Center. It’s important that students try to get involved with school activities because it’d only make the school a happier place and make someone else’s life less frustrating.

This is the magnificent Mrs. Greene’s seventh year sponsoring the Literary Magazine, and it’ll be the seventh Lit Mag she’s produced this May. Mrs. Greene isn’t sure when the Lit Mag started, but to whomever created the Lit Mag, I’d like to thank you because in the words of Jasmine Hubbard, the Lit Mag is “the place where you can share your work and not be judged by what you say.”

Though the Lit Mag is a very small club, there’ll always be people who find joy in what others call “hard work.”  And a warning to anyone who’s thinking of joining the Lit Mag: Word Publisher is your frenemy. You’ll hate it at first, but you’ll learn to love it by the end, only to hate it again the next year and repeat. It may be easier than regular Word, but it’s a trickster, and that only increases the fun in what is the amazing Lit Mag.