kate wiseman, “afterglow”
libertas arts and literary magazine
so there are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older
fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says "morning, boys. how's the
water?" and the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them
looks over at the other and goes "what the hell is water?"
that's not my story. that's a story david foster
wallace told when he was giving the
commencement speech at kenyon in 2005. his
point was, as he said, that the most obvious,
important realities are often the ones that are
hardest to see and talk about. end
quote. david foster wallace died recently. he
hanged himself. he was an iconic figure in
american literature. there's not a point to that
story. maybe his struggles to see and talk about
those important realities went from the hardest
thing to the thing that was too hard. few
writers attack reality with their whole being the
way david foster wallace did.
the first libertas was published in the spring of
1996. the first band of student writers and
editors came together in dr. denham's kafka
seminar. it was the first time that class was
offered in translation, and as dr. denham
says, it was a class to remember. because it
was already past the time to apply to the
activities tax council for money to support the
first publication, dr. kuzmanovich offered to
fund the first year out of his own pocket. dean
shandley graciously stepped in on behalf of
davidson college to relieve dr. kuzmanovich of
that duty.
the first years of libertas look more like an
alternative newspaper, and that's what it was: a
publication aimed at voicing political and
artistic concerns. their mission statement
included two goals: one, that libertas would be
a forum "for extensive and intelligent student
and faculty discourse," and two, that it would
be a place where students could "experiment
october 2008
with writing, photography, business, and
graphic design." in the older issues, the
columns line up neatly and the typeset is far
more uniform than what you see in
today's libertas, which is not to say that one is
better or worse, but we do regret that the first
objective seems to have been eroded by
increased dedication to the second.
in those first few years, a few authors stand out
as frequent and powerful contributors. zac lacy
(class of '96) is one of them. his last piece is one
that was reprinted from the semester before,
called "waving the white flag." the article
stands as the unifying piece in a two-page
spread in memory of zac lacy. an article printed
at the same time described him, in the then-
editor of the davidsonian's words, as a writer
who blended casualness and seriousness, a
great sense of humor and razor-sharp
analysis. end quote. the same editor said that
zac lacy set the bar for student publications: "to
write critically and constructively; to have as
one's goal making things better, and not more
antagonistic; to recognize the process as an
integral part of the result." all of these things
were published in memory of zac lacy because
zac lacy committed suicide the year after he
graduated — perhaps because of the consistent
persecution he endured as an openly gay man
at davidson college, a subject he addresses in
many of his articles. it's possible, too, that the
hard work of seeing and talking about reality
was simply too much for him.
it's been eleven years since zac lacy's death, and
few, if any, of today's students are aware of this
painful part of davidson's history. the role
of libertas on davidson's campus has changed
since then, too, moving from being a source of
critical analysis of our community to an arts
and literature magazine. the davidsonian does
an excellent job of covering college news, and
therefore we are no longer needed to fill that
void. one side effect, however, is that the
magazine is taken less seriously than it should
be, and this open space is invaluable for readers
and writers alike. you don't have to be heavy to
make serious points, as the writing of both
david foster wallace and zac lacy amply
demonstrates, nor is there any particular
obligation to be serious on these pages. but no
matter what the content of these pages or the
tone, we pledge to you, dear world, to make it
good. we pledge to make libertas sincere when
it ought to be, creative – always, fun – we hope,
but above all, we promise to keep on writing.