Gabriella Plue always knew that she loved to write.
She wanted to join a publication during her college years, but she didn’t have any editorial experience. She liked expressing opinions in her writing far more than following essay prompts and rubrics, as she was often forced to do in high school.
She joined Cal Poly’s chapter of Her Campus — a national pop-culture-centric platform dedicated to empowering women — during the fall of 2020 and immediately felt welcomed by the team. Now, she is the chapter president and encourages members to express themselves, just like she did when she started as a writer.
“We really value different students’ perspectives on things, and there are no limitations on what you can and cannot write, especially if it’s your own personal experiences,” she said.
The chapter was founded in 2012 and now is 40 members strong, and the team is comprised of all women. They have been able to join regardless of past editorial experience using the interest form in the club’s Instagram bio.
Members of the team write articles on topics ranging from dissecting and comparing both “Mean Girls” movies to tips for surviving finals.
Her Campus has allowed Plue to write articles about musicians that Frank Ocean fans would enjoy and the future after the 2020 election.
“I obviously love editorial and love all types of magazines, but I have known that there are different rules with different publications, what you can and can’t discuss, because there are larger entities involved within it,” she said. “But Her Campus specifically, anyone can kind of talk about anything.”
Student-run publications like Her Campus aim to give students the ability to share their work the way they want to.
Another student-run publication is .wav, a collective that publishes its own digital and printed magazine, .wavzine, showcasing local talent. Head of Marketing Lily Masturzo joined after realizing she wanted to develop her marketing skills and help musical and artistic talent be recognized. Now, she is working to define what .wav is.
“Our main aspect is uplifting creatives and giving them platforms to show off their talents,” she said.
The .wav about page says that the group was founded in 2020 by six students who wanted to create a collective for artists and musicians to share their passions. Now, there are roughly 130 students in the organization, and the team is still growing. Interested Cal Poly students can apply to the group and contribute to the creative collective.
According to Masturzo, .wav prides itself on evolving from a magazine to an organization that spreads the word about rising talent.
They hold events like their annual “Boiler Bang” in collaboration with the Shabang Music Festival at the San Luis Obispo Guild Hall on Broad Street. The events are EDM-based shows featuring sets by local DJs that can attract hundreds dressed in rave and festival gear to the Guild. By day, a dingy, dated hall, the venue gets transformed into an electric atmosphere with flashing lights and a disco ball at the center of the ceiling. They’ve also put on shows featuring local bands such as Earthship and Plywood Love.
“We’ve kind of established ourselves over the past few years as the place to come if you want to get into the local creative scene,” she said.
In addition to publications about culture and music, students also rally around art.
.RAW Journal of Art & Design is run by students and functions out of the Art and Design Department. It was founded in 2017 and was started as a class project by professor Lana Caplan. Now, it is 15 students strong, and it can be found online on JSTOR or Digital Commons or as a printed issue around campus. New members primarily join through word-of-mouth or hear about the publication through the department.
The journal is published each quarter, with the yearly issue published at the end of the school year. The journal features a variety of mediums like digital art, collages, photography, paintings and other types of art.
The haunting yet vibrant cover of the 2023 annual issue invites readers to be immersed in the team’s best creative works. .RAW’s photographers capture American obsession with Europe, the West Coast versus Western ways of life on the Central Coast and imperfection on camera. Student artists’ portraits made with acrylic and oil paint convey great emotion. Digital art pieces intertwine art and the modern world, and poetry complements several of the pieces.
.RAW Journal Co-Editor in Chief Sarai Devi Dasi has submitted pieces to the journal herself, ranging from video pieces to photographs to Photoshop-based work. She said she dreams of starting her own feminist art collective, and she is using her time at .RAW to build her skills.
“That’s where .RAW would really help me in the future, having this knowledge about how to run the journal, how to run a magazine, collect submissions, and all that stuff and also host a collective space for people to share their artwork,” she said.
As an art student, she feels her peers’ work should be recognized because she is constantly inspired by them.
“I think it’s really important for people to understand and see the art and design department, and that students are actually making really awesome work,” she said.
.RAW hosts release parties each quarter celebrating each of their issues, where the community gathers to see the most recent issues. This gives people the first look at each issue and allows students to celebrate their work.
“I feel like it’s really important to showcase people’s work and have that available to the public,” Devi Dasi said.
Creativity blooms in the student artwork throughout .RAW Journal’s issues, the shows held by .wav and the trendy stories from Her Campus. These student publications have one thing in common: they allow students to be truly free in their work.
Correction: This article was corrected to change a job title.