Poetic Matrix Press Special Project
The FM. Literary Anthology
Celebrating 10 years of Literary Harassment
Madera High School students collection of poetry and art over 10 years, Madera California
Faculty Advisor: Darren Klassen
Editor: Devon Peterson
Published by Poetic Matrix Press
185 pages, price $16.00
ISBN 978-09789597-2-2
Proceeds from the sale of FM. Literary Anthology will be donated back to the FM. Magazine program now at Madera South High School, Madera California.
Description
The FM. Literary Anthology is a special project of Poetic Matrix Press done with the purpose of celebrating the unique literary and artistic work of Madera High School students. FM. Magazine, a credited program, put out monthly over its 10 year history and under the tutelage of Darren Klassen has given voice to a host of young people. The ongoing support of the school and district administrations have given students a forum to express their concerns and explore their artistic inclinations. Madera is a small city in the San Joaquin Valley of Central California and not noted as a center of literary activity, this Anthology proves otherwise.
Anyone can enjoy the unique and sometimes irreverent humor hence the subtitle "...10 years of Literary Harassment." Teachers will find support for their own program and can see the fruits of a program that has a long and productive history.
Poetic Matrix Press has taken, as one of its commitments, placing contemporary poetry into youth programs, schools, and libraries. We have donated 100s of books to a variety of programs in Central California. The FM. Literary Anthology project is another way to encourage the reading, writing, and artistic work of young developing talent. If teachers and administrators have questions about our project please contact the publisher via email.
Excerpts from faculty advisor Darren Klassen's introduction:
What does "FM." stand for?
...
F.M. stereo was an idea. "Yes, Words in Stereo." I thought, "Is it possible to write in stereo, to make words as loud as music?"' With this idea, the volume was up to 11. I pitched the title to our first editor Emily Conrad and she loved it. For the simple sake of pretentiousness, I removed the first period in F.M., and simply called it FM. Magazine. That was it. The name has stuck, and the theme of Frequency Modulation (F.M. Stereo) has been the backbone of who we were then, and who we are today.
Literary magazines in general have a tendency to be high-minded and, for my money, a bit elitist. When asked about teaching the class, I jumped at the chance. I wanted the magazine to counter what I viewed as the form's elitist "norm." For good or for ill, in my mind, the magazine was to be created by and for young people.
...
The magazine has evolved over the course of 10 years. Initially, the mother of one of my students owned a print shop, so we printed on glossy paper in blue and green ink. Later that evolved to glossy paper and black & white ink. Eventually that evolved to black & white on plain paper, and ultimately, the Madera Unified School District print shop gained the ability to print a full-color cover. The format hasn't changed since.
...
Though many have hated our unconventional and rebellious style, we have won many awards and walked with many giants over these 10 years. 1st-3rd Place at the Madera and Fresno Young Writers Conferences, Teen Magazine, Fresno Poets Association, San Joaquin Valley Writing Project, California Association of Teachers of English, California Association for the Gifted, among others have recognized our efforts to push our artists to excel.
Excerpt from editor Devon Peterson's introduction:
"Is Your Soul Hungry?"
We here in FM.—we've got style, you know? It's something you can't fabricate really. It's like a flare and a spark got together and made an electrical fire and now you've got to bust out the ABC fire extinguisher ‘cause the regular one doesn't work. Or something. It's an unspeakable thing, it's what je ne sais quoi would be if that's what you said to get backstage at a Miles Davis/George Harrison/ Che Guevera jam session. It's like the exact opposite of strained peas.
FM. is where you go when you don't know where to go. It'll sober you up, give you a shave, and teach you the rudiments of several highly sophisticated graphic design programs so you can make that picture of Tupac look just right (man people love Tupac) . It's also what you read when you don't know what to read, but the outcome of that experience is less definitely positive. We've got the whole range of human emotion in our magazine: from being sad about a boy to being happy about a boy to being inexplicably hungry at late hours. It's a tour de force of the human condition and can cause acute aphasia if taken in over-large doses. It is neither for the faint of heart nor the faint of butt.
...
What this all boils down to ultimately is that I, and we, hope you enjoy the fruits of our leisure. Cheers.
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