WALL Literary Journal celebrates its 25th edition this fall

One of WALL Literary Journal’s promotional flyers for 2025. Sara Yalda | WALL Graphic Designer

WALL Literary Journal, Saddleback’s student-run literary and arts publication, will be printing its 25th edition this fall. Celebrating this quarter-of-the-century feat, this year’s edition will place special emphasis on embracing the present and nature. 

Considering the connective thread tying this year’s edition together, Editor-in-Chief Aidan Hunt reflected on the “oddly present voice that a lot of the pieces have compared to the previous editions.”

“Last year’s edition had a very heavy focus on moving on from the past, and the edition previous was growing towards the future,” Hunt said. “These ones are very often stuck in the moment, where the immediate growth is seen from there.”

The most exciting part for Hunt has been the hands on approach him and the rest of the staff have been encouraged to pursue in cataloging submissions. For him, the challenge of creating a cohesive issue with varying and diverse submissions has given a new insight into the creative process.

“I’m used to throwing together something that I’ve created in a certain order,” he said, “but now it’s the individual pieces and compilation of it all, working with everyone who has all of these talents and are contributing.”

When asked about any difficulties he’s had with the staff this year, Hunt got quiet as someone entered a room behind him. 

“He just walked by,” Hunt said, laughing. “There was one instance where they leaked the spreadsheet to some of the people who got submitted—the poetry editors. Three people had access to the poetry finalist spreadsheets.”

All of the poetry finalists were listed on the document. Hunt hopes that one submitter in particular who did not get accepted didn’t see the document. 

Hunt emphasized that in general, however, this year’s staff has been uniform in their drive to create a compelling issue. 

“It’s really a cohesive group that has very few issues,” Hunt said. “Everything’s going really smoothly, to the point where I feel like I’m the one who has to catch up sometimes.”

Hunt’s praise of the of the WALL staff behind the scenes reflects the cohesion within the pages as well. Readers of this year’s edition should expect this togetherness to shine through, with pieces varied in form but consistent in themes of growth and embracing the current moment. 

“They should expect a really strong expansion on previous editions,” Hunt said. “This one is coupled with the last two, where they have their distinct voices but all talk about different tenses of time. They should expect really strong art and really strong personal narratives.”

Hunt’s most anticipated pieces are a “piece that’s the encapsulation of one’s immediate processing of grief as they reconsider their religious habits,” and “a poem where someone talks about the difficulties of being trapped with a relationship or roommate scenario, where you feel like a poison frog is leaking their presence in your space.”

In its brevity and extensive opportunities for publishing, Poetry plays a vital role in WALL. For the 25th edition, Zoejean Gardner and Jacob Hoffman are currently working as poetry editors.

Gardner is using her time with WALL to gain experience before a prospective career in publishing. “I thought this would be a fun trial run,” she said, “like the driving ride at Disney. Like, let’s see how we like this.”

Hoffman’s experience prior to joining WALL gives him a unique toolset as a poetry and art editor. “I went to UCI for around a year,” he said, “and I did illustration and computer science. I wanted to look into a journal project for the illustration and art. It’s pretty cool to look into the poetry and see that it was a form of art as well.”

Both of them voiced their appreciation for the rest of the staff, as well as the responsibility in sorting through so many submissions. “It’s been cool to collaborate with so many people and get different opinions and interpretations on all the works,” Gardner said. “I didn’t expect this many poetry submissions, and it’s been cool to see everyone’s talent and writing.”

“Seeing the amazing work that students have—that’s what I absolutely love,” Hoffman said. “Not really edit, because I’m part of poetry and we don’t really edit poetry, but being able to look at that work and have a sense of this is amazing, this is selected, and this is a really good piece that is going to be part of the journal.”

When asked if there were pieces they were excited to share, Hoffman responded, “my piece is pretty good.”

“‘She Fights’ is one of my favorite poems selected so far,” Gardner said.

Fiction is the cornerstone of any student literary publication, and with limited publishing space, fiction in WALL represents the leading voices at Saddleback. Maxwell Javaheri and Sean Mclay are the fiction editors for this year’s edition. 

Javaheri found fulfillment in reading fiction so close in origin to where they study and live. “It sounded interesting to read local works of students around us,” Javaheri said. “I wanted to see what it was like to have a career in literary magazines or publishing.”

Prior to joining, Mclay was reached out to by faculty advisor Professor Gina Shaffer about staffing for this year’s edition. His response, summarized by him, was “hell yeah, might as well.”

The experience has given him insight into his own writing as well. “Reading relatively new writers’ work,” Mclay said, “even though some of it may be flawed, is making me notice new things about my own writing. It’s fun reading a bunch of new stories.”

Javaheri’s struggle, a common one voiced by editors across genre, has been balancing which pieces to include within the journal. “There’s a lot of good pieces that aren’t the same or as good as the other ones,” Javaheri said. “With some development, they could really fit in, but there’s just no room. It’s pretty sad.”

Considering what they’re most excited to share, Javaheri emphasized a story titled “Nature’s Music.”

“It’s one of the best works we’ve received this semester,” he said. “It’s well written, It’s relevant, It’s interesting, and it connects with nature, which is nice.”

“The piece I’m most excited for is ‘You’ll Be Fine,’” Mclay said. “It’s so relatable. It’s a glimpse into this peaceful moment of two young people talking about the struggles of the potential after college.”

Personal narratives and other nonfiction pieces are frequently representative of the parts of WALL most unique to Saddleback. They encapsulate student stories totally unique to them and their lives. Lila Mukasa and Saul Schindler are the personal narrative editors for this year’s edition. 

Mukasa’s motivations for joining WALL also stemmed from an interest in print media. “I’m a journalism major,” Mukasa said, “and I wanted to get experience working with different types of journalism.”

Schindler’s motivations were less intrinsic to the format of the journal, sourcing from a more general interest in creative writing. “I’ve always written poetry for fun in my free time,” Schindler said. “I showed some to my English professor, and he recommended the class to me.”

“Getting to read through peoples’ personal narratives has been really rewarding and interesting,” Mukasa said. She enjoyed “reading about peoples’ personal experiences, what they’ve learned through their experiences, and how they’ve transformed.”

Schindler’s most valued moments this semester has been between him and the other editors.”For me, it’s been a lot about the class environment,” he said. “It’s been the most social class I’ve had thus far. I’ve gotten along well with the other editors, and it’s nice to be surrounded by people who understand writing as well, if not better than I do. It can be very humbling.”

“We’ve come across so many pieces that have potential,” Mukasa said, “but it can be hard to make the choice about which ones should go in the journal and which ones shouldn’t. There’s so many that have potential.”

“I absolutely agree with Lila,” Schindler said. “Saying no to something that’s clearly very personal for someone is extremely painful. It’s the worst part of the whole thing.”

Since personal narratives were a crowded category this year, it was difficult to pick a favorite for each of the editors. 

“I like ‘Grief Calls God,’ myself,” Schindler said.

“I like a piece called ‘Goodbye Letter to Opiates,’ ” Mukasa said. 

Graphic design is the practical connective thread of the journal. The Graphic Design interns collect and make into reality the selections of editors. Iris Kim and Zoe Mccuen are two of the graphic designers for this year’s edition.

Mccuen affirmed that in the graphic design department, in order to get an associates, you must have an official internship. She reached out to Professor Shaffer personally about the position.

Kim had a similar story on starting as a graphic designer. “It’s part of the requirement for my certificate,” Kim said. “I learned about it from my counselor that even though it’s unpaid, it’s a good exposure to see what graphic design is like.”

“I’m learning a lot,” McCuen said. “A lot of the design work I’ve done in the past has been more illustrative and it’s never been editorial, so I’m excited to share what I’ve learned. It looks very clean and professional, so I’m excited to see it printed.”

However, a graphic design team of four can also have its limitations. “Sometimes it can be difficult to keep everything looking consistent,” she said. “We’re all talented graphic designers and have our own view and perspective. We’ve found a good balance, but it can be difficult finding a way to work together.”

Kim affirmed that everything runs smoothly “as long as we come in on a good compromise and we make sure the journal is published in a good way and as an archive.”

Gina Shaffer has been the faculty advisor for WALL for the past 13 years. Reflecting on the changes she’s seen in the project over the last decade, one of the first things that came to mind was the visual appeal.

“When I started in 2012,” she said, “we had a different size and we didn’t have a graphic design staff. We now have an internship connected to WALL that allows us to have graphic design students who are creating the layout and doing the cover. The quality of our visual representation has really blossomed.”

With this increased visual appeal, publicity and exposure naturally became the next priority. “We’ve established a stronger presence on campus through the public readings and greater visibility,” she said. “We could always have more publicity—we never have enough, but I definitely think that WALL has broadened its horizons. We’ve been winning national awards since at least 2012.”

Advising a project like WALL requires flexibility from Shaffer, but that doesn’t stop her from leading the effort with distinctive values and goals each year. 

“I have four important words,” she said. “I call them the four C’s: communication, connection, creativity and community. Those words are really embodied by the WALL staffs every year. What’s different is the zeitgeist of each year. The staff in 2020 was dealing with a pandemic, so what’s different is the themes that evolve from the work that comes to us each year.”

On October 23, during the second Wordfest OC, there will be a public reading for WALL and a celebration of its 25th edition. “I plan to reach out to past staff members and have them try to make it to the event,” Shaffer said. “I want to make sure that they’re honored. We’ve been around a quarter of a century, so we’re definitely worth celebrating. We’ll have a cake with 25 candles, how about that?”

“As long as I can be faculty advisor, I want to continue enjoying being part of this creative enterprise,” she said. “It’s such a special class. There’s nothing like it. Every year is different, I get a different staff, and I’m so inspired by the students. I’m really impressed with the intensity of emotion and beauty that they’re able to capture.”

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