Several years ago I was at a Willamette Writers Summer Conference and I met David Kopp who was a speaker on Christian publishing at the event. Dave is an editor with Multnomah Publishers as well the past faculty adviser for the student newspaper at Multnomah University. He still has family that works at the school.

I remember thinking  then about his connections with Multnomah University, and pondering how that would be my dream job — to be faculty adviser for a student publication at a university.

Flash forward, and here I am, helping launch the new student publication, Muse Magazine at Multnomah University, serving as faculty adviser and editorial director. . . I love how God works.

I highly value student newspapers.

My own journey as a freelance writer for The Oregonian newspaper began with a seed that was planted during my years on the  staff of my college and high school newspapers. The opportunities I had as a student journalist to write columns and stories as well as serve as a copy editor laid the foundation for the professional opportunities God has given me today.

Writing for the student newspaper gave me roots.

And, when aspiring authors ask me how they too can get their words into print, I always go back to those roots.

In fact, when I first approached The Oregonian to freelance for them, they asked for clips from places I had been published. In addition to presenting stories I had written for a weekly newspaper, I shared articles I had written for The Beacon, the student  newspaper at the University of Portland, where I was an undergraduate English major. The stories I had written as a student mattered to The Oregonian newspaper.

Since then, God has opened the door for me to pen hundreds of stories on faith, family and culture for our city’s daily newspaper as well as the Huffington Post and Christianity Today.  There simply is no greater feeling than seeing God use the words He has given you to make a difference in this world.

And one of my greatest joys is helping others – especially students–find places where they too can be published. I love connecting people.

Which is my goal as editorial director and faculty adviser for our school’s new student publication, Muse Magazine. Connecting students with stories. Connecting students and faculty. Connecting the University and the Seminary and the Degree Completion Program by sharing all of their stories in Muse Magazine.

We are excited to present  this online student publication to the world! Much dreaming, laboring, time, energy, effort, planning, and prayer has gone into what  we will be presenting each month.  The fall 2011 Journalism department that I oversee –which includes my Newspaper Workshop—is happy to collaborate with the communications department of STUGO to bring this new voice of the students of Multnomah.

We hope to engage readers and draw in more writers. We hope to be a place where students can voice their thoughts, feelings, ideas, prayers, and musings.  And, most importantly, we pray it would bring honor to our Lord Jesus Christ and represent Multnomah well.

Students need a voice, a place to express their thoughts and feelings, to ponder life and God and culture; they need to know that their voice matters.

This new student publication is a starting point for conversation and dialogue and questions and stories. It is starting point for reflecting on life and engaging one another. It is a starting point for us all.

It is a new beginning. Fresh Roots.

Here is the link to Muse Magazine! November

Muse November 2011

And our first edition, October  Muse October 2011

And, Multnomah University released the following press release! Multnomah University MUSE press release

I'd love to have you join me in the journey of our stories so please keep in touch by adding your email address here.

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