Literary Magazine Makes Debut at a Local High School

"The Troubadour" is Lynnfield High School's brand new literary magazine. This collection of poems and short stories, all submitted by LHS writers, is the brainchild of the Editor in Chief, Jeff Paul. The project is almost completely-student run. Although Paul waited until this past fall to begin work on the upcoming first issue, the idea has been years in the making.

"I've been working on the idea since seventh or eighth grade," said Paul in an interview on November 27. "I was thinking about going to a private high school, when I realized that schools like the nearby St. John's Prep and the Phillips Academies both had literary magazines. LHS did not." When Paul made the decision to come to LHS, he was glad to find that his ideas for what would become The Troubadour would also find a home.

Since Paul's arrival at LHS, The Troubadour has grown to a club of over ten members. "Hopefully," remarked Paul, "we'll have more members join for the next issue." With about fifteen submitted pieces for the first issue (scheduled to be released on December 7 at the time of the interview), the publication of the magazine is divided into four groups: editing, creative art, finances, and production. "While the purpose of the groups is efficiency, anybody can decide their own level of involvement by joining up to two groups or submitting pieces," said Paul. Each writer, depending on the length of the compositions, is limited to a maximum of three to five pieces, with an individual submission maximum length of three to four pages. Paul asks for pieces that "send a message; thought provoking pieces with substance. We don't want empty pieces." Each issue will take roughly three months to complete, estimates Paul.

Upon entering the club's meeting on the next day, I could not help but notice two things: First, the teacher adviser, Ms. O'Reilly, sat alone in a corner while working on her computer, only speaking to interject a rare suggestion. She is doing just what Jeff Paul wants her to: "Practically nothing." My observations proved what Jeff said in the interview true. The Troubadour, explained Jeff, is "almost completely student run." Additionally, I was struck by the fact that about 90% of the members of the club were freshman. Three of the four group leaders are freshman, as is Paul himself. When reminded that most of the programs at LHS are led by captains and presidents who are upperclassmen, Paul replied that age is not a factor in the functioning of the group. "It's not like a freshman will say, 'Senior, go do this,' and dominate that way. Everyone really works well together," said Jeff. Paul also predicts that more students from the higher grades are likely to become members after the first issue is released.