The Pendulum 2020 Edition Goes Online

As St. Luke’s moved to online learning this past spring, the Upper School Literature and Art Magazine student staff members put on their creative thinking caps to reimagine this year’s Pendulum.  The editors, Brody Menzies ‘20 and Lily Tencic ‘20, shared the following about their process of transitioning from a print to an online publication: 

“This was certainly an unusual year for The Pendulum, that much goes without saying. Every year there is this kind of uncertainty that looms in regards to what the future of the magazine will look like, and with every graduating senior class comes a round of fresh new faces with talents, interests, and personalities unknown. The challenge for the editor is to figure this out and begin to understand the strength and character of the new editorial board and the high school at large. 

​For the greater part of the year everything felt great with our new editorial board. We were having productive meetings with good attendance, ideas were flowing freely, and it seemed as if we were on good pace to create a magazine with an interesting theme and strong content. 

Then, of course, March came and brought with it an entirely new and different world. 

​It seemed as if the world had turned upside down and very quickly The Pendulum fell to the back of everyone’s minds as we struggled to cope with our new normal. However, as we slowly adjusted to life indoors, (and thanks to the intrepid Mr. Flachsbart and Ms. Yankura) we once again began to think about the profound moment in which we were living, and how, just maybe, we could find a way to make meaning out of the tragedy around us. 

And so, thanks to Zoom, we began to meet again. We resumed all the normal aspects of Pendulum meetings: critiques, edits, peer reviews, and writing exercises. In the end we came up with this: our literary magazine. Different in shape and form than years past and slightly abridged, but with the same spirit and creative ability as any other year.”

As Pendulum co-advisor Ms. Yankura added, “Thanks to the tireless efforts of our editors, we have the opportunity to delight in the creative efforts of our student writers and artists.”

Many thanks to The Pendulum editors, advisors, and all the staff and contributors who participated in this year’s publication.