Crusader takes on a new name
The previously known Crusader to take on a new name.
by: Tara Kingland
Waldorf’s literary journal, the “Crusader”, received a face-lift this summer and a new name, the “Waldorf Literary Review”.
As part of her summer internship, Senior, Marisa Donnelly worked on creating a blog/website for the Creative Writing and English departments. During the internship Donnelly and Professor Tim Bascom began discussions on changing the name of the literary journal.
The journal has gone through at least three name changes since its inception. Bascom feels that changing the name of a publication shouldn’t be done lightly, and it wasn’t just a simple process deciding to change the name.
According to Donnelly, the decision to change the name of the journal was to establish a more ‘literary’ and professional feel.
Upon researching the idea of a name change, the committee found that people thought the name “Crusader” felt more like a sports mascot name and it wasn’t as literal as it could be. Also, the word ‘Crusader’ sometimes has negative connotations. It was the hope of Donnelly and Bascom that changing the name to “Waldorf Literary Review” would create a positive identification for the college.
One of the names that was considered during the process was ‘Winnebago’. “That name was already taken though,” Bascom said, “plus people would just think of RV’s.” While researching, Bascom found that many existing journals tend to have a name that reflects the region or the school it’s published in.
With ‘Waldorf’ now included in the title, there is a new sense of pride for the school. “It also sounds more professional,” Donnelly said, “as highly acclaimed journals are often called ‘Literary Review’ or something of that nature.”
Donnelly feels the new name was a good move, but not everyone is completely happy about it. Senior Molly Maschka is bummed about the name change because she was so used to calling it the “Crusader”. Although she is bummed about the name change, she’s hopeful it will bring in more submissions to the journal and make it more popular around campus.
While people may be confused about the new name, Bascom feels it’s just a new chapter in the life of the “Crusader”. “The editorial staff is excited about putting a new face on the “Crusader,” Bascom said. “We have come to a new level of reaching out to the Waldorf community as well as the Forest City region. Our hope is to make it more recognizable and more accessible.”
The “Waldorf Literary Review” is a literary journal produced by students taking CWR490: Literary Editing, which is an invitation-only, upper-level creative writing course. The journal features art, photography, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, playwriting and other genres. Each year the journal runs a cover contest, high school writing contest and Salveson Prize contest in poetry and prose.
While the name change may create some confusion about what happened to the “Crusader”, the “Waldorf Literary Review” is still the same journal, but it now has a more refined name. You can find out more about the journal at http://waldorfcollegewriting.com/waldorfliteraryreview.