The new issue of the storied Harvard Advocate came out early last week, sporting a fresh, leafy cover and a hell of revealing table of contents. The masthead is conveniently printed on the opposite page, and if you check the names through with your index finger, all but half a dozen contributors are members of The Advocate’s editorial board. Call it incestuous or call it harmless, but if nothing else, it’s just undeniably kind of awkward when the face of J. Enzo A. Camacho ’07, a member of the Art board, appears in two of the eight pieces chosen for publication. A total of five times! This means five Enzos (more Enzos than you’d expect). According to Features Editor Ben F. Tarnoff ’07, The Advocate membership is well aware that they’re the ones making most of the stuff they print. But submissions are evaluated blindly, and every time, it just so happens that the best stuff comes from within. Tarnoff hopes this will change under his guard. “It’s something the executive board members talk a lot about,” Tarnoff says. “I think occasionally the Advocate may have this reputation as being cliquish or elitist, and the editors these days are trying to encourage people to look beyond that reputation.”
Tarnoff points to the upcoming Contest Issue, which will not include any work by Advocate members, as a good opportunity to expand the magazine’s talent pool. The Contest Issue solicits submissions from non-Advocate folks and awards prizes in art, poetry, and prose.
On a totally unrelated note, Tuesday Magazine just put out their third issue. The cover and design are as stellar as we’ve come to expect. And for better or for worse, there are no Advocate members listed in the table of contents.
