By Chase McCann
The steely gazes of Sean Connery and Clint Eastwood stand out against pop-art canvases. Brightly-painted and beastly-looking tigers adorn a grand piano, with faces warped as they spill over its lid. A roughly-textured clay fist, with its index and pinky fingers point upwards as to resemble bull horns watching over this art gallery.
Rarely do you find a place with so many distinct and eye-catching elements, but the room’s many inhabitants felt right at home, and they owed their meeting to a publication called Thread Magazine, a University of South Florida student-run publication for undergraduate artists.
“We’re a literary and arts magazine operating under Bulls Media, which is a branch of student government,” said Coen McGarrah, the magazine’s co-editor in chief. “We accept as much student work as possible, let the body grow, and see how they develop.”
Along with McGarrah’s co-editor Rachel Kandl, McGarrah oversees the open mic night Thread Magazine hosts at USF’s Center Gallery at the beginning of every semester.
Although most students who participate tend to perform poetry, any kind of performance art is not only accepted but encouraged. This inclusive nature extends to the publication itself— a wide variety of mediums spanning across multiple fields of art have been included.
“We typically tend to publish poetry [and] prose, but we’ll publish plays, music, comics [and] things like that if they get submitted,” Kandl said. “We try to be as open and inclusive as possible.”
The magazine, which is now nearing its 10th year in publication, has published 22 volumes with an ever-evolving roster of undergraduate artists. Due to limited space not every submission can be published, but Thread Magazine finds room for any prospective artist in its community at functions such as this one.
Not every participant majors in the arts either. Nico Burnett, a student majoring in biomedical sciences, said he enjoys writing poetry in his spare time.
“A friend just kind of dragged me there,” Burnett said. “I was originally just gonna go home, but I ended up reading something. I was super nervous at first because I hadn’t done it before, but I felt kind of good that I actually got up there and presented.”
Run by students and for students, Thread Magazine’s editors intend to preserve it as a space for earnest expressions of identity. Psychiatric care, familial trauma and queer culture were among the topics discussed in the poetry performed on open mic night.
Some students, such as an English major in attendance who publishes under the name Robin Graves, said they simply feel more comfortable sharing when they know they’re in likeminded company.
“It’s almost a liberating kind of experience to go into it knowing everyone else is in the same sort of boat as you,” Graves said. “You’re not standing in front of a board of tenured professors or some big conglomerate magazine. Having a student-led organization helps so much to ease the pressure off.”
Thread’s editors intend to maintain this welcoming environment in accepting submissions as well. In particular, McGarrah stressed the importance of having something to submit at all over something perfect.
“Don’t be afraid to submit something you think is imperfect,” McGarrah said. “Sometimes people get really bogged down in this feeling that if it’s not quite good enough, it won’t make it. But we help edit after the fact, and something that is as close to perfection as you can get is the best thing possible. Really, getting your name out there as much as possible is what’s important.”