By Professor Melody Gilbert

NATCHITOCHES – After a semester spent writing stories all about love, Northwestern State University students in Professor Melody Gilbert’s COMM4230 class are ready to share XOXO Magazine: Love in Demonland with NSU, the Natchitoches community and beyond.

On Tuesday, April 25, students in the class handed out copies of the magazine on campus, and the digital version is now available to the public to view from anywhere in the world at  https://xoxomagazine4.wordpress.com.  (See QR code below.)

The magazine reveals stories written by NSU students who share a variety of experiences about love, including articles about losing love, a grandmother’s love, international love, self-love, love and work, dating apps and planning a wedding after planning a funeral.  Managing Editor Abby Nelson said, “When we first began, I thought it would be cool to take on the editor role, but I didn’t realize how much work it would require,” she said. “But in the end, I am so proud of what we created.”

Gilbert is proud to have seen the class progress through all stages of magazine production in just one short semester. “These talented aspiring journalists produced XOXO Magazine from concept to completion, including writing the stories, designing the magazine, producing podcasts, and creating a website,” Gilbert said. “It’s quite an accomplishment to do all of that in such a short time.”

Senior Daviion Telsee wrote a story about the special kind of love that he has with his grandmother for the magazine that was also recently published in the Natchitoches Parish Journal. He said the response to the story has been incredible. “I am so pleased that the story about my grandma seemed to touch so many readers,” he said. He also enjoyed the experience working with the students in the class a team. “We created a lifetime bond and we learned so many skills that will last forever,” he added.

The students were also coached by writer, guest editor and 1977 NSU graduate Denise Lewis Patrick.  “This is a very bright group of students, and it was a wonderful experience to advise the class on their stories,” Patrick said. “I am thrilled to be able to visit the class in person from New Jersey, and I appreciated the opportunity to work with them to help shape and edit their love stories.”

Co-managing Editor China Brown said that producing a magazine from scratch was something she enjoyed doing with the other COMM students. “I worked hard to make sure that everything my classmates and I envisioned for the magazine would become a reality,” she added.

COMM4230 Magazine Production is a course offered in the Department of New Media, Journalism and Communication Arts.  Students in the class include China Brown, Matthew Carter, Hayes Fawcett, Naydu Daza Maya, Abby Nelson, Nehemiah Riggs, and Abigail Whitam,

For more info contact Professor Melody Gilbert at gilbertm@nsula.edu.

QR code to read the online version of the magazine: