Mary Harrison, staff writer
Berry’s art and literary magazine, Ramifications (RAM), is currently recruiting artists and authors for a special edition focused on diversity and inclusion. Submissions can be about any topic, but they must be created by artists and authors who are part of minority groups on campus.
According to Kayla Slack, RAM online editor and lead editor of the Diversity and Inclusion issue, this edition of RAM differs from the typical fall and spring issues because creators will be solely of diverse backgrounds.
“I think it’s about making it equitable for everybody,” Slack said. “It’s about giving them their own space [to talk] rather than being, kind of, pushed out of other spaces because, so many other people are in them.”
Inspiration for the issue came from Slack’s interview for a RAM staff position this spring, according to Slack and student publications adviser Kevin Kleine.
“They asked a question in the interview, about how to get more diverse voices [featured in the magazine],” Slack said. “I told them, ‘you just have to ask for the diverse voices.’”
According to Kleine, Slack’s emphasis on the need for diversity and inclusion in RAM’s staff, creators and content inspired himself and RAM editor-in-chief, Asa Daniels, to create a specialty issue devoted to minority perspectives.
According to Kleine, who has advised RAM, the Carrier and Valkyrie lifestyle magazine for 33 years, Berry’s student publications have produced content focused on diversity and inclusion in the past, but they have never dedicated an entire edition to content by minority authors and artists. Kleine sees this special edition as an effort to keep RAM timely and socially relevant.
“I’m really excited that Ramifications is going to, highlight, a group that really deserves a voice, that may have been underrepresented, [and] have been marginalized in lots of ways, particularly in creative circles,” Kleine said. “I’m RAM’s biggest cheerleader for this effort.”
Diverse creators can be anyone representing a perspective that differs from mainstream Berry culture, Slack said, including Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC), people with disabilities, neurodivergent students, first-generation college students, immigrants and anyone from a non-Christian spiritual background.
According to Slack, those not from these communities are asked to wait and submit their piece for consideration in RAM’s regular spring issue next semester, which does not have unique submission guidelines.
The final product will be similar to the 32-page magazine RAM produces twice a year, other than the diverse-only creator pool. However, the size of the issue depends on the volume and quality of submissions, Kleine said, which could be a challenge given Berry’s demographics.
Slack plans to release this special edition early in the spring semester. This will not interfere with the magazine’s spring issue, which will be released on regular schedule in mid- to late spring. RAM’s fall 2021 issue was released before Thanksgiving Break.
Ramifications is relying on clubs representing diverse groups on campus, such as LISTEN for LGBTQ+ students, to publicize this opportunity to their members. Senior Kalista Shields, co-president of LISTEN, feels that having a diversity-focused issue of RAM is an important step to showing Berry’s minority communities that they belong on campus.
“I wish we lived in a world where diversity issues are like the norm and not like a specific thing, but I think that this is a great first step, because, on campus, a lot of people who are in minority groups do feel pushed out of spaces and that their stories aren’t being told,” Shields said. “I’m a lesbian and, Hispanic and it can be hard to find a place to fit in, just because of cultural differences.”
Shields said that representation in the arts is important in raising awareness and understanding of diverse points of view both on and off-campus.
“When you write something, when you do art, a lot of your own personal story is put in there, and even if it is fictional, it’s still so important to have those voices,” Shields said. “It is so important to have that exposure [to minority lifestyles and ideas], because if Berry College is going to send people out who are well-rounded and good members of society then we need to have people interacting with as many groups that [are different from] them as possible.”
RAM accepts poetry and prose pieces, photography, artwork and musical pieces. Those wanting to submit a piece for consideration are asked to email their creation to ramifications@berry.edu by tomorrow, Dec. 3.