English Clubs and Organizations at Macalester

by Patrick Coy-Bjork ’24

Are you an English student looking for a club or organization to get involved with this semester? Lucky for you, this is a plethora of Macalester Orgs themed around reading, writing, and everything else having to do with English. In this feature, I’ll highlight a collection of English-related Orgs here on campus. Feel free to reach out to any of these organizations with the emails listed below!

Macalester Writing Club is an Org which gives a space for writers to share their creative works, and get feedback for any medium of writing. Co-leader Birdie Keller (‘25) described how Creative Writing Club is “a great way outside of class to find other people who like to write! It’s awesome to hang out, share ideas, and get motivation when I’m feeling stuck.” Birdie also mentioned how they typically have snacks at the club as well, which is a huge plus. You can contact Mac Writing Club at [email protected].

Continuing with the theme of creative writing, we have MacSlams! MacSlams “gives students a venue to learn about and participate in slam poetry.” The group holds monthly slams as well as workshops to help improve both their writing and performance of slam poetry. Their email is [email protected].

Students interested in comedic creative writing should check out Macalester’s sketch comedy group “Bad Comedy.” For Leah Prinz (‘24), “being in Bad Comedy means I get to make people laugh, but I also get to laugh a whole lot more myself. The best moments are when the whole group loses it at a line, and you know that somebody has struck gold.” Bad Com holds auditions for new members at the start of every fall semester. You should also keep an eye out for all of Bad Com’s events, including their big sketch show at the end of the semester! You can contact them at [email protected].

Another opportunity for comedic writing is Macalester’s humor magazine “The Hegemonocle.” In the style of other satirical news organizations like The Onion, the Hege is a staple of the Macalester community. Publishing issues quarterly, the Hege is always looking for new contributors! Reach out to them at [email protected].

If you have more of an interest in traditional journalism, consider writing for The Mac Weekly: Macalester’s independent student newsletter. Existing for over 100 years, The Mac Weekly serves as a valuable opportunity for anyone “interested in writing, editing, layout, photography and web design.” It is also a great way to stay in touch with campus information and participate in a forum for debate. You can reach them at [email protected]. 

For students hoping to get their creative work out to a wider audience, consider submitting to Chanter! Chanter is a literary publishing magazine featuring both written and visual work created by Mac students. You can submit work at bit.ly/SubmitToChanter, and you can email them at [email protected] with any questions. The deadline to submit for Chanter’s Spring 2023 edition is February 28th!

If you’re looking for a good reason to read more this semester, you can join “A Novel Idea,” a book club here at Mac. The lovely people over at A Novel Idea sent in the following note: “[we are] a small community of people who enjoy reading or want to get more into it without the pressure of a class environment. We try to read a book per month which is decided through a survey containing a selection of approximately 5-8 books of various genres we found interesting. We meet twice a month to discuss the reading while eating some banana bread. Everyone is welcome so don’t hesitate to stop by if you want a break from homework while still feeling productive or email us ([email protected]) to get the announcements.”

Finally, “The Tuesday Night Club” is a new English ORG led by Nina Rogers (‘25), Aldo Palacio (‘24), and myself. Named after an Agatha Christie short story, The Tuesday Night Club is a book club dedicated to reading mystery novels. If this sounds interesting to you, email any of [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected] for more information!