For many students, torn notebooks and faint memories are all that remain at the semester’s end, but students in Spanish 400 will finish with a complete publication of their work that may become a new addition to SU’s periodicals.

The premiere issue of SU Latino, a Spanish and English journal written and edited by students in this spring’s Hispanic Journalistic Practices courses, debuted this week around campus, said Rebecca Mishkin, a junior Spanish, geography and Latin American studies major and contributor for the publication.

“It’s not too academic, and maybe not even politically correct, but it is honest, real and from the heart,” said Tere Paniagua, professor of the course and editor of the journal. “It was created for Latino students and the Latino community as well.”

Students chose their own topics and wrote, peer-edited and occasionally translated the articles as a main project of the class, Mishkin said. The chosen topics, including pieces about Latinos in the media, bilingual schools and Latino athletes, had to be relevant to Latinos on and off campus.

“It’s one of the most articulated, intellectual and informative publications I’ve read here,” said Pedro Cuperman, an associate professor of Spanish. “It definitely fills a void in campus literature.”

The idea for SU Latino originated when Paniagua, who is new to campus this year, suggested that students create a publication to showcase all of their work, Paniagua said.

“I wanted to turn the classroom into a newsroom,” she added.

Paniagua met with Silvio Torres-Saillant, director of the Latino-Latin American Studies program at SU, who wanted to make SU Latino the official publication of the program, Paniagua said. New editions will be produced each semester the course is offered.

Mishkin said that because the journal is targeted to a Latino audience, creators debated whether to write all of the content in Spanish or write some in English as well.

“If it were all in Spanish it would limit readership,” Mishkin said. “But it worked out well to keep just the last page in Spanish. The English articles still capture the Latino themes.”

Cuperman said the most successful approach would be to write all informational articles in English and let artistic pieces, such as poetry or short stories, be written in Spanish.

“Otherwise, instead of being exclusive, it would become reclusive,” Cuperman added.

Alberto Rigau, a senior graphic design major and graphic designer of the journal, said he was disappointed the journal did not have more articles in Spanish.

“I understand it’s hard with the audience here but I’m hoping in the next two publications the class can be geared toward a 50/50 split of English and Spanish,” Rigau said. “But I’m really pleased with how it all came together.”

Published on April 23, 2003 at 12:00 pm