In my years at Union College, there are few things that have been more rewarding to me than participating in the Idol club. Compounding this fulfillment is my involvement as Editor in Chief. It has been my primary goal to construct this book in its physical form: to make it aesthetically pleasing, interesting, and worthwhile to read. My other, more arduous task, however, is to make it a testament to you: the student body of Union College. If ever there was a time when people were frustrated or irritated by my countless emails and flyers for submission, I apologize, but I only want to ensure that this book is the best representation of Union's talent, and there sure is a lot of it. I am proud of this product, and proud of everyone who contributed. The passion and creativity I have found in this position and at Union in general is difficult to replicate, and it is surely something I will miss. I hope you enjoy this small piece of the beauty that our school embodies.
For the past 135 years, the Idol statue has decorated the Union campus. Even though it's original purpose was not to be a canvas for the student body, it has become an important expressive outlet. Each year sports teams, clubs, fraternities and sororities, and the like file out in the middle of the night to deface the college property. Paint buckets and brushes in tow, each group aims to leave their mark on the Idol. Because of this tradition, the Idol is now covered with over a hundred years' worth of paint that makes the image of a lion's body unrecognizable. The image of the lion upon the pedestal has become insignificant to the typical Union student who's target has become throwing globs of upon the bottom in order to leave a part of themselves and their creative expression forever at Union, as if they would not be able to do it any other way. Each of us will leave a mark on Union in more ways than one. We each, however, will share the common bond of painting the Idol (possibly multiple times over our college careers) which is a permanent canvas for the proud Union student. Paint on, Union. Keep expressing yourselves in any way you can, it is what makes you unique.
On behalf of The Idol Editorial staff, working on this endeavor has been one of the most mentally stimulating experiences. We have had the opportunity to work with an impressive and expansive array of materials and mediums produced by students. Because of this, The Idol is not solely a literary magazine, but more accurately a promotion and reflection of the artistic talent on our campus. This year, we had the privilege of excitedly celebrating 100 years of this talent. In addition to the submissions that we received during this school year; we have published old works from the archived editions within the same binding. In doing so, we aim to honor the talent of today, remember the talent that has built Union College up to be such a dynamic institution, and inspire the talent to come in the next 100 years.
This year, the editorial staff of the Idol, five graduating seniors, have had the material for endless themes that we could have imposed upon this edition of the Idol: Social change in the form of environmental responsibility, as inspired by the new bikes hare program here at Onion College; The electronic elements of a now blossoming age of a new kind of art and culture; The possibilities and challenges that we are about to face in our new lives post graduation. But all this has left us feeling strangely full with a sense of void. In the end, however, it is the void for which art is created. We create art to sound in the silence, to fill the white pages, to brighten the shadows. Our cover this year, rather than imposing our own idea of a theme on artwork created by many different artists in varying circumstances, is a contemplation on the void. This is the blank page, waiting to be filled, by artists now, at union College, and throughout the years to come.
The direction that we, the editorial staff, have taken with the Idol this year is a modestly experimental one. Putting aside for the moment the thematic and message-oriented approach that editors have taken in recent years, our primary goal has been the straightforward presentation of the art as art. To this end, the submissions have been arranged not thematically but by author, alphabetically, in an attempt to highlight the importance of the individual works. It is our hope that this format will enable you, as a reader, to appreciate each work on its own terms.
It is with historic enthusiasm that we present the Idol in its 80th year. As editors and contributors, this marks our final publication. With this in mind, we dedicate this publication to broadening horizons. The crew and its Muses work to create an Idol that highlights various artists and engages their artistic intentions. This year's submissions are politically charged and playfully witty, sardonic and subtle - along with a dash of our favorite topic: Romance!
In accordance with change and tradition, we hope to bring an artistic consciousness to Union by bridging the gaps between academic and artistic excellence. By composing a publication such as this, the Idol crew works to ensure and promote artists on campus. We hope that our small contribution will push other artists to create beyond the pages of our magazine.
This is the Idol's 78th year of publication. It is an honor to be able to continue the tradition begun three generations ago. Our goal as always has been to reach beyond the boundaries of department and major to celebrate a community of students rich in creativity. The Idol embodies the true spirit of a liberal arts education by enabling students to share their creative achievements regardless of course of study.
We are proud to present the 77th edition of The Idol, Union's only art and literary magazine. This year's cover emphasizes how The Idol has long been a part of the Union tradition, a tradition that we are delighted to pass along. One of the benefits of a liberal arts education is that students have the opportunity to pursue academic interests that extend beyond their majors. The Idol strives to recognize the wide range of literary and artistic talents within the Union community, and to compile this creative energy.
This issue is the 76th edition of the Idol. Many people say that things change over time. Like Union, Idol also changes. Every year the editors experiment with different designs and layouts to further the creativeness contained within the Idol's pages. This year we experimented with graphics on the pages and changed the front. Although creative changes are implemented, the purpose of the Idol does not change. This publication serves as a point for creativity and the ability to share it to the community. Union is a community whose members share many different talents, in and outside the classroom. Unfortunately, sometimes talents get little attention. We strive to change this to enable students and the faculty alike to express themselves. In times of peace and in times of war expression is a way for people to deal with the world around them. Our main goal is two-fold: to show the Union community how talented and diverse we are and to give individuals a foothold to furthering their interests.
For 75 years, Idol has represented a dynamic campus voice bounded within a stable publication. Idol continues to preserve the tone of its time by reflecting Union's creative expression, and channeling this voice through each edition. Much like the art between its covers, the bounds of the Idol consistently look to be stretched, expanded and redefined. While celebrating our 23rd annual edition in color, the insertion of a translucent page has also contributed to Idol's increased aestheticism as a physical entity.
We believe that the Idol of 2001 has continued the tradition of widely representing the Union College community. Our hope is that the audience to which the Idol is exposed continues to grow each year. We are excited to produce the first Idol in which color is used to depict the art work. The addition of color has allowed the Idol to achieve a higher level of aestheticism. We hope that in the future the funding provided for the Idol only continues to grow, as well as the support for the publication of such a literary magazine. Publishing the Idol, we are proud to be a part of the contribution to the Arts here at Union College. The members of the Idol would like to congratulate those whose works are published in this year's Idol. And a special thanks is extended to those who put a lot of time and effort into this publication.
As the editors of the Millennium edition of The Idol, we are proud to continue the tradition of providing a medium through which the expressive talents of the Union College community can be channeled and recognized. Due to the increased participation of Union students this year, we were able to present a wide spectrum of work that we feel reflects the diverse talents of the student body. This year we were fortunate to obtain the funding that will enable the artwork in next year's Idol to be represented in color. This is just one of the many goals we have outlined for raising the standards of The Idol to accurately reflect the talent of its contributors. We want to thank all of those who contributed and we hope that this 73 year-old tradition remains with the Union College community far into the future.
As graduating seniors affiliated with The Idol for three years, we are especially proud to present our 71st edition. We have seen many dedicated members come and go, and we applaud the efforts of all those individuals who have helped us achieve our goal - representing Union's creative and talented student body. We hope that this tradition, beginning in 1928, will continue far into the future.
We are very pleased this year to present our 70th issue to the Union College community. Since 1928 The Idol has been a voice for those who wish to express themselves creatively. It gives us great pride to continually be able to showcase such individual talent that often goes overlooked. Despite many limitations this year, we have achieved our long-standing goal of incorporating color into our publication. We can only look towards greater improvement in the future.
Since 1928, The Idol literary and art magazine has featured creative works of literature and art by Union College students. This 1997 year has been a particularly exciting year for us. The organization has expanded its vision by opening the magazine to faculty submissions, hosting a poetry reading by a published poet, instituting the Idol awards for the "Best Art Submission" and "Best Literary Submission" and hosting an unveiling reception for the artists and writers published in the Idol. There were many internal changes to promote and support a progressive Idol organization.
A Union College tradition since 1928, The Idol literary magazine features the creative literature and artwork of Union College students. This 1995-1996 year we are proud to announce that the Idol has made yet another improvement. The binding has been upgraded from the standard staple binding to perfect glue binding for better readability. We thank the students who submitted their work for this edition of the Idol.
The Idol is a bi-annual magazine that published art and literature produced by Union College students. We continue to encourage all students to submit literary and art works of various kinds. We solicit your help, as coeditors, to expand and improve the quality of this publication by submitting any comments, suggestions, and/or becoming a part of the Idol staff.
The literary and artistic works produced by the students of Union College during the academic year 1993-1994 are culminated in the 55th year of the Idol. As a literary forum, the Idol presents, perhaps, the finest creative works among Union Students. The Idol is ever changing and improving as evident by layout changes herein. We are indebted to our illustrations staff and the very talented poets, authors, artists and photographers of Union College.
The Idol, a bi-annual publication, offers an opportunity to the many struggling young artists and poets to present their creative endeavors. Thank you to all who have contributed their time, energy, and insight into the human psyche.
