Hey Fusions! At last weeks meeting Emily came up to the front of our meeting to let us know whats going on -- there are elections next week!  WE also talked about quite a few possibilities for interviews for magazines including Bodega, Lunch Ticket, Slate, Lumina, Brevity, Rattle, Story, Parcel.

A Visitor: Chris Liek!

Hey Guys and Gals!

At last week's meeting we had our special guest -- Chris Liek -- come by to talk to our FUSE group about a few things.  Chris has informed us about one of the many literary highlights in his life, one of the major ones being that the editor of Granta wanted to set up a meeting with him during the fall of next year.  Big steps!  Chris also works at Columbia and New School.

As for updates, we have raised 161 dollars and 26 cents, roughly rounding out to 107 dollars in profit!  Nice job guys!

At last weeks meeting we met to discuss an update on the fundraiser for FUSE.  Also, our very own Steph Heinz and Kristen Brida also came to the front to discuss job searches and internships.  Kristen also gave us good advice on when to back out of a search when things start getting fishy.  

Dr. Roth visits FUSE

At last weeks meeting for FUSE our very own Dr. Roth, Professor of English and Director of the Jewish Studies Program, payed a visit to talk to us about how he started out and got to where he is now, as well as some of the business involved in publishing and editing.  Dr. Roth started reading quite early and found a love of books and literature in his father's Jewish book store (Which also happens to be one of the biggest in the U.S.). One very comforting detail that Dr. Roth shared with us was that he didn't think that he would end up where he was now, and that goes to show that we never know where we are going to be in the future.  He also shared with us some of his experiences after college (taking off two years to take time for himself before grad school).  It was an honor having Dr. Roth visit FUSE.

End of the Semester!!

It is the second to last week of the semester, and since next week is finals week, today will be the Susquehanna FUSE chapter's last meeting of Fall 2013.  The semester has been an extremely eventful one for our wonderful, not-so-tiny club of undergraduate student editors.  We have reviewed several journals, discussed several more together as a group, hosted ice cream socials, tea parties, book swaps--the list goes on and on.  But the best thing about any college club worth its budget, ESPECIALLY FUSE, is that the events are going to keep on coming.  Next semester is sure to bring with it even more collections of undergraduate writing to read and review, many more creative and fun fundraising events, and even more excuses to just escape homework for a while and hang out with some like-minded peers every week.  Here's to a good semester, and another to come!

Fresh Yarn

Hello Writers, Readers, Editors and other blog viewers.  Today I would like to show all of you the joy of an emerging genre.  Though it may not seem like it, Personal Essays are on the rise.

What is a Personal Essay?
It s a piece of writing  that addresses a given topic from the perspective of the writer.  The theme and main ideas are supported by examples from the writer's own life.  The piece usually gives the reader some idea of the writer's abilities and personality.

Here is one website in particular, that allows you to explore over seven years of personal essay submissions.  Deciding to read a set of personal essays allows a reader to uncover something special, written by numerous, otherwise unknown authors.  Although some are of a higher standard than others, my examination of the website enlightened me on how interesting the authors are as people and not simply as writers.   http://www.freshyarn.com

Although Fresh Yarn is currently on a hiatus from accepting new essays, their archives provide for some excellent reading.  Maybe the essays will inspire your own personal essays!
Happy Reading!

Book Swap!

This week, SU FUSE has been in the lower level of the Degenstein Campus Center doing a BOOK SWAP, featuring such classics as the above, as well as popular titles like Twilight and Artemis Fowl.  The Book Swap is actually an incredible idea that was thought up as a way to do some fundraising for the club, all at the same time as promoting FUSE ideals (namely books, and reading, and stuff like that). 

The way the swap works is that anyone can come and trade a book of their own, and a $1 donation, and swap that for one of the fabulous titles available at the FUSE table.  Don't have any books your willing to donate to the cause?  No worries!  For the still incredibly low and incredibly reasonable price of $2, anyone can buy any of the books at the table.

I had the pleasure of manning the table for a while today, and it was pretty cool.  I leafed through a few books while I sat, and most of them seemed really interesting.  Definitely a cool idea to do some raising of the funds!  Go FUSE!