Welcome everyone to the official Lux Undergraduate Creative Review Blog. Here, the editors will be sharing long-form information about things they’re interested in, and we will be providing a more in-depth look into what we do at Lux. After reflecting on our experiences during COVID-19 before the start of the 2020-2021 school year, we decided to provide more opportunities for communication and engagement with you. So, with this blog, we are hoping to give you insight into all things Lux-related and give you a more personal view into Lux and the people behind the publication.
Starting off this blog, it seems fitting to discuss Lux’s vision and how this vision has evolved to adapt to our virtual school year. There are a few values that Lux strives to embody every year, and that we have been doing our best to demonstrate over the course of this semester. These values include (but are not limited to) (1) inclusion, (2) diversity, (3) community, (4) passion, and (5) constant improvement. With the virtual nature of this semester, it has been all the more important that we stress these values and put in extra effort to make sure that we are contributing something of value to the community. So how have we done so far this semester? Though we have to some extent struggled with extending all of our opportunities equally to ASU undergraduates, specifically in making sure that everything we provide is accessible to students at all campuses, we are continually trying to figure out ways to ensure that all students can benefit from what we offer, whether it be copies of the publication, participation in events, or sharing opportunities to get involved in creative projects both at ASU and in the greater community. So, if you’re at another campus and are finding it difficult to find a copy of Lux or to join an event, let us know! And we will figure something out!
Like every year, we have also placed emphasis on the diversity that our publication seeks to showcase. Our publication is meant to be accessible to all undergraduate students - all undergraduates may submit and all forms of creative expression are welcome. With this in mind, what we value in creative work is a sense of passion. We want to see passion radiate from the pages of our publication and all that we do as a university organization. At Lux, we have also taken the obstacles of this semester as a challenge to grow and improve. From taking a critical look at what we have done in the past, this year we made a commitment to extending our online platform (for both the publication and general engagement), providing opportunities for students of all creative backgrounds and interest, and helping students extend their voices and share their perspectives through means beyond just our publication.
So far, this semester, we have been working on planning fun virtual events so that we can all have a community to lean on. We have had a number of different events including watercoloring, open mic, and DIY Halloween decorations, and we also have a few coming up later this semester. In November, we have scheduled a chalk event on campus as well as a joint event with Business of Fashion to talk about the evolution of mask fashion and to decorate masks! We have also expanded our social media presence, posting updates more frequently and doing live interviews with creatives at ASU and the local community. We have also been working closely with Changemaker Central to distribute supplies for our events and to let people know about great opportunities for undergrads.
But of course, none of this would’ve been possible without the support from all of our readers, Barrett, and the editing team, which I am proud to say is absolutely amazing this year. Our editors are driven, passionate, and so talented. You’ll probably see them or their work featured at other Lux-unrelated events. For example, Carolina (our associate literary editor) and Chris (our fiction editor) will both be sharing their work at the ASU Undergraduate Writers Showcase on November 19th! Working with all of our editors this semester has been a great experience, and I am looking forward to working with them throughout the rest of this semester as well. Given their talent and dedication to their craft, all of the editors are amazing people to talk to about their work and getting involved in the community, and they will be giving out some useful advice and suggestions as we go through the submissions later this semester.
In just over a month, our inbox for submissions will be closed, and Lux will be moving into the next phase: reviewing and editing submissions. So, many of you will be hearing a lot more from our editors about specific pieces, in addition to hearing from Lux as a whole about events and opportunities. But even as we move into this next phase, we plan on still providing lots of events so that we can get to know all of you and so that you can relax, do something fun and creative, and meet other undergrads with similar passions.
So, with the fall semester of Lux winding down, I’d just like to say that I am looking forward to finishing up 2020 however best we all can, and I am looking forward to seeing what the spring semester has in store! We will be announcing every time we release a new blog post, so stay tuned to hear more about various things going on in the creative world and with the Lux staff.
Best,
Rachael Kha
Editor in Chief
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