Photo provided by Zach Haines
Written by Hunter Harding and Steven Mynott
The Island Fox is a student-run creative and literary journal at CI that began in 2005. As an upper division course, creative writing emphases and minors work on the team to conclude their time in the program. The small group of students work together over the semester to build a journal that displays the creative talent at CI, pushing through the many challenges that arise in the world of publishing.
Following the arrival of the journals the team gets the opportunity to celebrate their hard work through the reading event, where published authors and artists speak about their pieces and share their creative inspirations.
Photo provided by Zach Haines
Emmie Johnston, senior English major, served as one of the co-managing directors for the Island Fox team this year. She expressed what an amazing experience it has been getting to work with such an amazing group of people. “I had only dreamt about doing something like this,” she said. “It has been a labor of love, but we made sure to put everything together and get it done.” Now that the project is complete and the physical journal is finally here, Johnston said that the feeling is surreal. “We put so much, like, tears, sweat into doing this, and I’m just so happy that it paid off, and everybody’s able to enjoy this event,” she added.
The other co-managing director for this year’s team was Ayden Noland, junior English major. He told The CI View about what this process has meant to him, “This process has been really enlightening, I think, just to the publishing world as well as, um, just like creative writing, like in the real world,” he said. “I think it helped illustrate the importance of teamwork, collaboration and as well as, what passion can do in a team.”
Noland also talked about how the final published journals were delayed in shipping and almost did not arrive in time for the reading event. The day before the event, Noland explained to the shipping company how urgent it was that the journals be delivered as fast as possible. It was not until the evening before the event that the journals arrived.
Ayden Noland
Photo by Steven Mynott
Sam Levinson, senior English major, served as the reading event coordinator and solicitations director for the Island Fox. Organizing the reading event was an up and down process for her, but she showed great appreciation for the rest of the Island Fox team being so supportive and helpful. “Everyone’s been very hands on,” she said. “Which has made this event go by really smoothly.” She took the opportunity to thank everyone who came.
Typesetting director and senior English major, Lilly Pantoja-Hartley, said that the experience of being part of the Island Fox team this year was a whirlwind. “It’s very chaotic,” she said. “But in the best sense of the word. It is an experience that I feel that those who want to publish and write should definitely do this well.”
Lilly Pantoja-Hartley
Photo provided by Zach Haines
Senior Psychology major and creative writing minor, Reise Hogg, worked as co-editorial director. Hogg reflected on the skills the position taught her, “I had no experience with Google Sheets or Excel or any of that stuff,” she said. “Now I think I’m pretty good at using that.” Hogg stated that being a part of the Island Fox improved her ability to work as a team and built her self-confidence. “I think I’m better at communicating with people,” Hogg said. “It made me feel like I could be more outspoken. Like, I could actually have a say in things.”
Several CI faculty members shared their praise for the Island Fox team. Stacy Beauregaurd, English lecturer, said, “I think it’s amazing. It’s really well organized. I’m really impressed with all of the creative work and the collaboration that everyone has done and how beautifully put together everything is.”
Kim Vose, associate professor of English, has had the experience of running the Island Fox program as faculty advisor in the past, and shared what it was like to attend the event now as an outsider, “Because I’ve done it in the past, I know, I know the effort that goes into it. I know how stressful it can be. And so I’m just impressed that everyone was able to pull this together in this beautiful space that it’s out in the community instead of just being on campus, and it’s just a fantastic event.”
For the first time, the event held a zine-trading table. Attendees had the opportunity to bring copies of their zines to share with others, giving authors and artists not published in the journal a chance to showcase their work. From fiction to activism, the spread of zines provided a rich creative experience for everyone in attendance.
Another first for the event was the addition of the English Club table, represented by the club president, Scarlet Murillo, a junior English major with a minor in psychology, and next year’s club treasurer, Daneille McCarty, a junior liberal studies major. The CI English club offers a reading club, open mic events and weekly meetings for anyone interested in reading or writing.
They both shared how beautiful, artistic, wonderful and inspiring the event was. “I think the poems and short stories we’ve heard so far have been amazing, and I’m just so happy to be a part of this community,” Murillo said.
“I’ve really enjoyed hearing different people’s writing, both, like, nonfiction and fiction. It’s just been very inspiring because I also enjoy writing and reading” said McCarty.
left to right: Scarlet Murillo and Daneille MCarty
Photo by Steven Mynott
Joseph Garcia, a CI fall 2025 Sociology graduate, spoke about two of his photography pieces published in the journal during the reading event, Dream Glow and Our People. In an interview with the CI View, Garcia explained the context of his piece titled Our People, saying that it was unplanned and taken at a No Kings protest. The photo depicts a sign reading “our people are hardworkers not criminals“ and “stop deportations” with both the American and Mexican flag sticking out from the top. “I was taking pictures that day,” Garcia started, ”but for that one, there was a woman kind of like leading a chant, but she also had the sign up.” It was a spur of the moment shot that told a story relevant to today’s climate. When asked about his experience speaking, Gracia stated, “You know, it felt really good.” In his speech Garcia stressed the hope that this photograph will remind its viewers that as people we are all one.
The 2026 Island Fox reading event celebrated the dedication of the team and the talents of CI’s creative community, bringing together authors, artists, friends, and family. Be on the look out for next year’s submissions for a chance to be featured in the journal.
