MCC’s Literary Magazine The Dead River Review Debuts New Issue

Middlesex Community College’s online literary magazine The Dead River Review (DRR) debuted a new issue on Thursday, May 4. Open to Middlesex students, faculty and staff to share their creative voices, the magazine also provides MCC students the opportunity to work on the publishing side of the industry, from reading submissions to putting the final copy together.

In the DRR Creative Writing and Publishing course, Lexi Perry – a Creative Writing major from Haverhill – got hands-on experience with the editorial process by working on this latest issue. It was a valuable opportunity as – after she graduates from MCC this spring – she will transfer to UMass Lowell and pursue a career as a journalist or content writer.

“Every submission was unique in terms of craft/ theme/ structure etc. and it was inspiring to see students' creative talents,” Perry said. “Publications are impressive achievements to include in resumes, professional bios, and portfolios, and having this magazine for the MCC community is important for having those opportunities for the student body and for having a creative outlet for students to express themselves.”

Radiologic Technology student MacKenzie Taylor, from Ayer, plans to work in healthcare. With a passion for writing, she took the class as the only non-Creative Writing major. Interested in being part of a literary journal, she enjoyed the collaborative process of working on the magazine.

“Each person brought fresh perspectives, commentary and support to one another and the works we were tending to,” Taylor said. “As a very independent person, this experience has pushed me to depend on and trust my peers more than I have ever been used to.”

A Creative Writing student from Lowell, Tariq Brathwaite is interested in continuing studying at UMass Lowell and working as a writer in some capacity in the future. On the editing team of DRR, Brathwaite helped organize artwork, poetry and fiction writing.

“It is not about saying no, it’s about noticing the potential in someone’s work and letting the worker know there is something there,” Brathwaite said. “We can pull the edits, but in the end, it’s all about the person and what they can get from what we say. Meeting people and understanding them made me learn even more and that will get me to my goals.”

Led by MCC Creative Writing Program Coordinator and Professor Tom Laughlin, MCC hosted a Dead River Review Catch and Release Party and Reading on the release day. The community was invited to enjoy readings and presentations from the new issue.

“Creative Writing and Publishing is the capstone course in our Creative Writing Program,” Laughlin said. “I’m proud of these students who worked hard through the complete publishing process of soliciting submissions from the whole MCC community, communicating with creative writers and artists, making thoughtful and careful editorial decisions, designing and creating each individual page of this online magazine, and helping to organize a release party and reading to celebrate this issue’s authors and artists and the richness of their work in this great new issue!