Outdoors Mag: World at Fingertips

On Feb. 25, a Facebook page was created for The Middlebury Fireside, which calls itself as “Middlebury’s new, premier publication for the outdoor enthusiast, environmentalist, nature photographer, or artist.” The page is currently on the sparse side, but the six students involved have given a lot of thought to what a publication like this could look like and do for the campus and greater community. The current editorial board contains students across all four years, outdoor interests and publishing skills.

“I felt that this was a niche that wasn’t filled yet here: focusing on the local scene,” said Ben Harris ’16, a board member for The Fireside and the brainchild. “We envision this being a combination of people writing or photographing their local adventures or experiences in the outdoors, and we would also be willing to publish anything that’s farther afield.”

“I think we were really struck by the fact that there is currently no place on campus where students and community members can share their experiences with the outdoors,” said Evan Gallagher ’15, a fellow Fireside board member. “While we do have publications that focus on other aspects of the Middlebury experience such as Sweatervest, Blackbird, Middlebury Geographic or Translingual Magazine, the exploration and adventure subculture is relatively underrepresented and we thought it was very strange that such an important community lacked a literary space that it could really call its own. Plus, a lot of other schools that are comparable to Middlebury have established successful magazines that address a similar goal, so we know that it’s a workable idea.”

The Middlebury Fireside is in the process of becoming an official student organization, which explains the dearth of advertising on campus.
“Once we get approval from the Finance Committee, we’ll start putting up posters across campus,” Harris said.

“We’re currently working with the SGA to figure out whether or not a publication like The Fireside has a realistic chance of becoming successful on a long-term basis,” Gallagher explained. “The main challenges, at this point, are figuring out exactly what differentiates us from other similar publications and determining what our relationship will be other like-minded student organizations, particularly the Mountain Club,” he added.
In the meantime, the group has reached out to like-minded organizations and students on campus, such as the Middlebury Mountain Club and the students in the Adventure Writing course from this past J-Term.

Emma Erwin ’15, an outdoor enthusiast, was very excited by the prospect of an outdoor magazine at the College. “I actually already submitted some contributions for the first issue,” Erwin said in an email. “I would love to help work on the magazine at some point in the future.”

“Every person that I have talked to has been sold on the idea from the moment I mentioned it,” Gallagher said. “Based on what I’ve seen, a lot of Midd Kids are sitting on several years’ worth of outdoor-themed work — photos, essays, journals — that they haven’t shared simply because there hasn’t been a space in which to do so. For people like this, the prospect of a magazine where outdoor-themed writing and art is actually the focus seems really exciting … and, for many, long overdue.”

At the same time, Harris stressed that the magazine isn’t just for the seasoned outdoor Middlebury student.

“We don’t want to intimidate people who are new to the outdoors,” he said. “Middlebury is the place to get involved with the outdoors. There are so many offerings here for people of all skill levels.”

In the long term, the group hopes to get submissions from across the campus community.

“Peter Lourie, who teaches the Adventure Writing class in J-Term, is interested and our faculty advisor, [Atwater Commons] Dean [Scott] Barnicle, has some outdoor stories that would be great to include,” Harris said.

Once they’ve established a high quality print publication, The Middlebury Fireside board also hopes to expand its presence to other mediums.
If the conversations between the Fireside board and the SGA’s Finance Committee were to go awry, both Gallagher and Harris expressed a commitment in making the Fireside happen in another format. Considering the work they’ve put in so far and the strong support they have received across campus, this conclusion seems unlikely.

“Our campus is full of awesome people who have all been on incredible adventures,” Erwin said. “I think an outdoor magazine provides a really great forum to share some stellar stories. It’ll be really cool to see how it turns out and draws on the outdoor enthusiasm that is so prevalent at Middlebury.”

For more information on the magazine, go to go/fireside.