And Diaspora is not the only campus outlet for minority voices and concerns. It joins the ranks of literary magazines like Yisei and East Wind, directed towards Asian-American audiences, and the Jewish magazine Mosaic. These, like Diaspora, attempt to highlight subjects pertaining to specific cultural groups in an atmosphere often dominated by more mainstream magazines.

Mosaic Editor Michael D. Goldhaber '90, explained that the resurrection of the Jewish magazine after its demise in 1973 coincides with "a resurgence of interest in Jewish identity. It's a way of building community that was overlooked in the late 70 s, early 80 s," Goldhaber said.

Community Concerns

The focus on community is not unique to minority magazines, however. Non-selective forums like Wallpaper and the first-year publication, The Fifth Floor Journal, often stress serving a need in the community as much as producing quality art work.

By targeting first-year students, The Fifth Floor Journal, now in its second year, provides an outlet for those writers, poets and artists who opt not to produce for the higher-pressured publications.

In his capacity as this year's "chief coordinator," Daniel A. Torop '93 leads the journal by organizing coffee houses, in which students read and present their work in a relaxed atmosphere, and interactive workshops, in which contributors fine-tune each other's work for publication. The journal frequently has postering campaigns to attract a broad range of first-year talents and styles.

Wallpaper aims by its very medium to provide a service to the community. Wallpaper publishes broadsheets of poetry and stories that members of the organization post around campus.

The publication was started by Eric Hsu '91, who said he based it on New York City street art broadsheets that he would see on his way to school in his hometown.

The publication is unique in its ease and inexpensiveness of production, Hsu said. He said it also differs from other literary publications, which aspire to be documents for posterity. Wallpaper, Hsu said, tends to publish for a more casual audience, and hopes to "publish as often as submissions require."

Hsu is currently waiting for an Undergraduate Council grant, but intends to finance the publication himself "until the funds catch up."

"Anyone who submits will get some commentary back, whether or not it's published in Wallpaper," Hsu said.

"I'd publish anything and everything if I had my way--poems, short stories, cartoons, from writers all over the Cambridge area," he added.

A Mainstream Darkhorse

Few publications are as ambitious as Wallpaper in soliciting diverse submissions, but a desire to represent student voices previously silent on campus motivated students to start the third mainstream literary publication, The Harvard Quarterly.

"Last year, Adam Brook ['90] and Matt Steinglass ['91] thought there was a certain gap in the Harvard literary scene between artists and publishers," Quarterly Managing Editor Seth L. Sanders '90 said. "Artists tended not to know about what was going on in terms of the mechanical aspects of publication. With the help of grants and the [Undergraduate Council] we started the Quarterly."