Every Wednesday of the school year from 2:15 to 3:30, our school’s literary magazine, “Labyrinth,” holds a meeting to further the progress of their yearly publication.

But what exactly is “Labyrinth”? The Farmingdale Public Schools website sums it up well, defining it as “a publication that contains artistic works and writings from the student body and is designed by students using the computer software, Adobe In-Design. Students are provided with an outlet for their creative works—drawings, photographs, paintings, stories, poems, and essays. They also have a hands on experience in publishing a professional quality journal.” Essentially, students submit writing to the magazine, and if accepted, their piece will be paired with a piece of artwork (also made by the student body), then eventually turned into a page or two of the actual magazine. Works submitted range from both traditional and more radical poetry to short stories and memoirs, but acceptance is not guaranteed: all submitted works go through a small selection committee of students. One of these students, Brian Benavides, describes the process as “simple, yet strict, since we only have so much time to review pieces, but we can’t accept them all… we decide pretty quickly whether or not we accept a piece or send it back to the author with some constructive criticism.” If a piece is accepted, it gets paired with artwork created by students, often from the school’s art classes. This is where the club’s other half comes in: the artwork team. Aside from pairing the art and writing, the artwork team also creates the pages of the magazine with Adobe In-Design.

“Labyrinth” is an award winning magazine recognized on the national level, so if you’d like to be a part of it, consider submitting some writing or attending one of their Wednesday meetings.