Webb Literary Magazine Celebrates Campus Creativity

When Dr. Elizabeth Cantwell, working with Webb students, founded the literary magazine afternoon activity in 2019, she wanted to bring together voices and perspectives not always shared in the classroom. 

“The first group of students that I had with me in the afternoon activity all worked together to create a mission for the magazine and think about what they wanted this publication to be,” shared Dr. Cantwell. “The students especially talked about wanting it to be a place that really is celebratory of the different ways people on campus express themselves outside of academic work.”

This vision for the magazine was also to be inclusive of all campus voices: students, faculty, and staff. 

“The students were really psyched about the idea of faculty and staff being able to submit…because they are a big part of our community and it is important to celebrate everybody,” she said. 

After a short break due to the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, the magazine returned in 2022. Breakfast is now in its third issue.  

Dr. Cantwell begins this work each year by introducing her students to the literary magazine format. Students look at high school and professional publications, talk about what they like in these publications, and what kind of work they value. The final step is understanding how to edit student work. 

This year, the Breakfast Crew—the literary magazine’s student editorial staff—received some 50 submissions of poetry, short stories, photography, art, and multimedia productions from across the community. The Crew worked through the spring quarter to evaluate and edit submissions for publication. 

In addition to being featured in the magazine, writers and artists also were able to receive feedback on their submissions. “We usually offer some thoughts to writers and artists if there are things that we talk about as a group…and usually the students are receptive to it. It’s more about celebrating the community and expression than saying who’s the best poet on campus,” said Dr. Cantwell. 

Readers can experience Breakfast on their website or grab a physical copy from Fawcett Library while supplies last!

The 2023 Breakfast Crew is:

Editor in Chief
Jackie Shugert ’24

Assistant Editor
Jerry Qiao ’25

Website Manager
Gabby Diaz ’23

Assistant Website Editor
Eric Zhu ’25

Publicity
Leia Albornoz ’25

Art Editors
Noe Chock ’23
Caitlin Delgado ’25
Stephanie Liu ’26

Fiction Editors
Hanbo Xu ’25
Sophia Ma ’26
Harper McNevin ’26
Emma Liu ’26

Poetry Editors
Pai Sinpatanasakul ’23
Priscilla Centeno ’24
Alexis Mumbo ’25
Eric Luo ’25