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Seeing Elan put together Coffee House has been my most rewarding experience on this  publication. Although, events like Homecoming required similar amounts of work, and the work was all worth it, Coffee House is so unique to DA and the creative writing department that I am exponentially more drawn to it. 2018 marked my third year attending Coffee House. I was a member of the core team involved with planning the program, and did everything from help generate ideas for decoration to physically setting up hours before the performance. (Compare that to freshman year, when I didn’t even know Elan put on the event.) The night-of, I was immensely proud of our department. I honestly wish I had invited more people. Coffee House has always been such an immersive and moving display of the creative writers here…I don’t know of any other school that displays student talent so uniquely and so beautifully. Students from all departments (but primarily creative writing) create original performances such as poems, spoken word, songs, skits, dances, etc. have a night to showcase their work on a DA stage. Obviously, as an Elan member, I felt proud about what we accomplished. But, more importantly, I felt proud as an artist. The vulnerability and bravery expressed that night is inspiring in ways I never could have imagined. One piece made me cry, every time, without fail—even at rehearsal. Staying after school, struggling with the details, cleaning up after…it was all worth it. I am always moved by this experience, and can’t wait to help again next year. - Olivia Meiller, Junior Editor-in-Chief

The most rewarding parts of being on the staff of Élan, surprisingly enough, are the ones that involve projects that connect to the literary and artistic community of Jacksonville beyond the scope of the school out of which we are based. As nice as the work we do for Douglas Anderson is, that world is a microcosm unto itself, and it has an insular feeling as all schools have to some extent. Élan, however, has made efforts to broaden its impact as an entity. We are not relegated to just the school with which we are affiliated—we gladly extend our reach into the city itself. This extension makes the work that we do feel a little bit more real. When we have the power to step outside of the school bounds and engage with the community as an independent entity, there is somewhat of an affirmation of our editorial work. Last year, Élan and Yellow House, a local project stewarded by Hope McMath, had a wonderful collaboration. Artists and writers published in the magazine were given the opportunity to have their work displayed in a gallery installation at Yellow House. In the subsequent weeks that Yellow House hosted this beautiful gallery, they hosted an event for young writers in the community, a family event that would allow both Élan and Yellow House to touch base with our youth and actively engage such writers in a meaningful way. Although at this point I was not on the Élan staff, I did get to collaborate with staff members as the co-head of the Douglas Anderson Spoken Word Club. It was my pleasure to conduct with my fellow co-head (Ashley Chatmon, now Junior Marketing Editor of Élan) a few spoken word exercises to expose the crowd to a new form of expression. Spoken word is medium with which many young writers are unfamiliar, so it was a great honor to be the ones to introduce the form to a new crowd. This experience meant a lot to me because it showed me how creatively a space can be used and how such a space can be used to meaningfully interact with the community around us. It taught me the power of community outreach! To stand in front of a crowd of completely new, young faces and discuss writing is a privilege that I now greatly treasure. This means a lot to me as an artist—if I had been say half my age and been told about spoken word and its endless possibilities, I’d have been doing what I do now for a lot longer. It is tremendously endearing to be that person for somebody, and I’m more than glad that Élan was the intermediary for that interaction. - Conor Naccarato, Junior Poetry Editor

A large factor in why I wanted to join the Elan staff is because it is not just a small group of teens publishing work by and for its own host school. It eclipses the landscape of Douglas Anderson and carries its own merit as a part of a global art community. Not only that, but it is deeply involved in the local art community, with a focus on the youth. Civil service devotees who invested in the youth of Jacksonville taught me at a young age to love this city. Moreover, they taught me that Jacksonville’s growth depended on the nurturing of the community that inhabited it. I wanted to put the message I learned about getting what you give to your community in action through my work in this organization. In November I had the opportunity to participate in a workshop at Lavilla School of the Arts. As a daughter of two teachers, I was deeply drawn to the idea of working with young people. My love for reading seriously shifted to a love for writing in middle school, and I hoped to help stir this same reaction in someone at Lavilla. This event entailed nearly a whole school day for the members of Elan. We worked with sixth, seventh, and eighth graders who were already involved in their middle school’s creative writing program. A major focus of these workshops was to lift up these young creators and show them that their art is incredibly important. We wanted to encourage them to keep creating, as the goal of writing is not to please an audience, but to share a piece of ones unique voice and experience. The existence of Elan proves this truth. People want to know what the youth has to say, and they have for thirty years and counting. As we analyzed example writing and heard these students share some of their own, I was shocked by the depth of their insight. I reached a point where I felt I was no longer teaching, but having a genuine discussion with fellow members of the next generation of artists. I also got a chance to share about my personal journey with creative writing, Elan, and how both have affected who I am not just as an artist, but as a person. I already knew that my personal growth walked hand in hand with my identity as a writer, but having to put it into words made me realize how rare and important the environment of Elan has proven to be. - Ashley Chatmon, Junior Marketing Editor

It is January of 2018: a new year, but the same eager confusion wrestles within me. I am good at writing, yes. I am good at that. Is there anything else? I am good at knowing good art. At picking it out of tons of other submissions. I know the brand of Elan. I have a lot of ideas. I am ready to step foot back into that classroom and make every one of those ideas come true. I have yet to figure out how to become connected to the community, but I will figure it out. This is the mindset I had when I returned to school last winter. However, when I did step foot in that classroom, the way in which I moved through life would be changed forever. When staff advisor, Tiffany Melanson, sat me down alongside three other staff members offering us the opportunity to curate an art gallery at our local Yellow House museum, there was something inside of me that buzzed and sang. We would spend the next few months leading up to the day preparing for what felt like an endless journey, but I do remember some of those moments so vividly. Hunched over old editions of Elan, our backs in the shapes of a ‘U’ decisively choosing a quote from each edition. In that, reconnecting with the ghost of our editorial past. Weaving ourselves into the history of Elan, its evolution that went beyond our four minds, those four walls, or the gates of Douglas Anderson. The numerous days when we didn’t think we would have enough art to fill a gallery. And then, it appeared as if from a stork: our baby had arrived, framed and matted, and she was beautiful. When the day came, I remember the crunch of the gravel under my yellow heels. As I walked up the creaking stairs, my stomach felt like it had fallen out from beneath me. Through the door of this small, yellow house was my blood, sweat, and tears over the past months. This would be the peak: everything lied in this house. Walking through each room and hallway, the walls were lined with visual art and poems I’d come to know and love. The book had come to life. It was there, breathing and moving through the space like blood through the human body. We had made Elan a body: Yellow House the skeleton from which it hung, the art and writing the flesh and blood, and the history of Elan and the staff, its beating heart. It was something to be touched, felt. Something that no longer lived on book shelf. As people flooded into this body, I was stunned at their response. Everybody moved through the space pulsing with questions and in awe of the way the words from the pop-up readings attached themselves to the walls of every mind that would hear them. That night, Elan earned something every artist hopes to earn: the captive attention of its audience. The ability to say why it is and what it loves. Since that day, I have been fighting for that, not only as the Marketing Editor, but as an artist myself. - Lex Hamilton, Senior Marketing Editor

Before I was on the Elan staff, I had heard about their community events and how powerful and inspiring they had been. When the opportunity for Elan to be at Color Me Kona came around, I knew I wanted to be a part of that team. Color Me Kona is a festival that fundraises the Kid’s Mural Project, which aims to uplift and empower underprivileged youth around the city. It includes art instillations, vendors, live performances, interactive mural painting, and an overall really inspiring environment. Elan was a part of the vendors at Color Me Kona, and it was more rewarding than I ever thought it would be. Being a part of the Elan staff already meant a lot to me, but this experience changed my view on the impact the Elan staff can have on the community. We all made a big effort to have an interactive and eye catching booth that would draw people in and it worked. We had a wide range of people come up and learn about what Elan is and I think the most inspiring part of it all was seeing how impressed people were when they learned about our magazine. Not only are we making an impact on those around us in the community, but I think we are inspiring them as well. This event inspired me a lot as an artist. The vendors that we were surrounded with were so creative. The art that decorated the park was amazing as well, the whole environment was inspiring in itself. The artist that were there cared about what they were creating and it was obvious. It was really special to be around all those artists and when the event was over I became even more excited about future Elan events that I can be a part of. It really takes being at an event to understand how impactful Elan is and how important it is in this community. Events like Color Me Kona give us an opportunity to let people know we are here and we are engaged with the community. The success of Color Me Kona gives me so much hope that we will make even more of a lasting impact at other events in the community in years to come. Without Elan I would never be able to experience events like Color Me Kona through the eyes of someone that is making an impact in the community. It prides me to be a part of a staff that is working to make Elan an even more important part of the community than it already is. My time on the Elan staff will be spent working hard to ensure we continue to spread our impact through the community with each event to come. For me, Color Me Kona is the start of my part in community engagement in Elan, and I’m excited to see what comes next. - Anna Howse, Junior Fiction/CNF Editorc

Coffee House was one of our first big events this past year that focused on community engagement. This show included a group of hand picked students, some doing duo pieces, others doing solo. The students practiced hard, as well as those on Elan, to put together the show and make it the best they could. In this event, many students performing shared personal writing pieces of their own with the audience. Many outsiders came to Coffee House and were able to witness these performances, which not only promoted writing, but the work of Elan as well. I watched Coffee House from audience seats the two years before this one, and in this one I didn’t only perform, but was behind-the-scenes as a part of Elan as well. Seeing Coffee House from these two new lights was interesting because on one hand, I was getting ready to perform what the audience would be seeing on stage, and on the other hand, I was helping create what would be seen by the audience offstage (i.e. decorations, objects being sold, etc.) At first there was a lot of pressure I felt from both sides because all I could think about was how perfect everything had to be. In reality, it didn’t have to be perfect, just attention-grabbing and something to show that I cared as both a performer and as an Elan member. It’s important for Elan to have community engagement events like this because it helps let our name be more known and to be seen for the work that we are doing, like events we put on or take part in, and the book that we create. Community engagement also allows Elan to further connect with the art world around us and opens our eyes to the new opportunities that can be given to us, and the opportunities we can give right back to our community. Being in events like Coffee House as an Elan member shows me the connection we allow ourselves to have with our art community and how we deepen it to gain more interest from those in the community. In my mind, it is so exciting to see a group of people from the same community come together and enjoy the same thing for the same or similar reasons. Especially after events like this, when the performers are told how well they did, or when members a part of Elan are told how well they do with the book or putting on the event. It’s heartwarming to see that connection and to feel that success, that voice ringing in my head, “Yes, we have touched someone else, someone else sees us.” That voice in my head, and little things like being congratulated on our work in our community outreach projects only excites me more for the events we are to do in the future. The fact there are always people who recognize us for what we do and they feel connected to us for what we do is so rewarding and it is one of the best feelings I have while on Elan. - Catriona Keel, Junior Digital Media Editor

My favorite event that Elan held within the community that I was able to participate in was the Yellow House gallery last spring. I was assigned the role to be the visual art manager. This required helping pick art that had already been published in the book and then going to find permission to display the art before hunting down the physical copies of the pieces. Though the art procurement process was one of the most tedious aspects of the entire gallery, I had a lot of fun in the process. Seeing the gallery come to life as result of my peers and I’s decisions on specific pieces was incredibly gratifying. Each room had its own theme and, all together, it created a culmination of what it means to be find oneself as a young person and as a young artist. It included art not only from Douglas Anderson, but from the Savannah Art Academy in Georgia as well. It took us about five months to complete it all, but it was definitely worth all the effort through the numerous setbacks and unnerving deadlines. One of my fondest memories of the event was sitting outside with some of the younger kids and making art with them. It was great seeing the artistic youth of the community and feeling as if the gallery was inspiring them to continue on their route to becoming a skilled artist in their near future. A lot of families attended the event, and there was not a single person who did not look entirely engaged with every piece of art and writing on the walls. Our work had paid off tenfold. As a staff member, I began to fully understand the importance of my role in Elan, as half the book is visual art and there are only two editors every year to manage it all to be cultivated into a colorful and lively edition. Art and writing grant viewers two unique ways to feel an emotional tug, and that tug is what the entirety of the Elan magazine strives for. Art, since the beginning of its existence, has been made specifically to tell stories and create strengthened bonds within all walks of mankind. Art tells stories in a way that allows colors, shapes, and strokes to become their own undefinable words. Realizing the importance of art has allowed me to become more determined to pursue the arts as my future profession. Though I am a creative writer at Douglas Anderson, I have a passion for drawing that has only grown exponentially with my role in Elan. I have made it a personal goal of mine to have my art displayed in a gallery and be able to see someone react to it with the same emotion I watched people react to the student created pieces of art in the Yellow House gallery. The gallery only proved yet again how important art is to every aspect of life and, more importantly, the complex expression of it. - Kathryn Wallis, Senior Art Editor

What art has taught me is there is a story to everything, and every story starts somewhere in its own unique way. From there, the story unfolds a journey, or a realization. Artists write, paint, create music, etc., to release that message in a way that expresses his or her being and connects to someone. Art is a compilation of different perspectives coming into a concentrated form. By being in Elan, I have been able to understand this greater than I ever have before. As one of the Art Editors, I have to pour over visual art pieces, select a handful, then pair the works to writing pieces. Looking at these pieces are always mesmerizing. They all have such power; they all show a struggle and a journey. I realized throughout this year that the quality of the art isn’t what is considered; it’s the meaning behind it. It’s about the artist expressing his or her past or internal self. I officially learned about Elan in my Sophomore year of high school when I attended an event called Yellow House. It was an exhibit dedicated to the writing and visual art of young artists that had been accepted into Elan. Seeing the amount of raw, emotional talent and dedication that had been put into those pieces was just indescribable. I realized, then, how much art affects others. To the artist, it’s releasing something in their bones. To the person pouring over their work, they are discovering something in their bones. We look at art and we learn of a world we didn’t even know about. Elan’s community engagement is important for these moments. They give young, aspiring artists something to look to; to know their art has a place somewhere. That, yes, their art does have purpose besides filling up flash drives or small studios. One of my poems was in that exhibit, and that was very impactful. I finally realized the worth of my own art to others. I realized even my art could connect people. These are the lessons Yellow House taught me. My goal as a fellow Elan staff member is to continue doing those meaningful projects, because in the future, as it did me, someone is going to attend and have a personal realization. These projects also help develop my ability to handle huge tasks and take on new responsibilities. Coming into Elan, I knew I would be gaining a lot of meaningful experience that I could take with me into the working world. Elan has done more that I originally expected; it has showed me the power of working as a team, how to properly communicate, and how to effectively reach an audience. Elan is about reaching out and expressing the importance of art. Elan has given me the opportunity to put passion into what I do. I am working towards a meaningful whole. As I observe more art and look at the stories of others, I learn about my own story as a person in this world. I am always picking up the pieces and building something different – something that will help me in the next chapter of my life. With those tools, I create art. I absorb new art. I look for new perspectives, and from there, new beginnings arise. - Reece Braswell, Junior Art Editor

Élan’s community engagement is an extremely important part of what this student magazine does because of the outreach. As a small class, we are always looking for ways to connect with our audience, and interact with them in ways that produce a positive outcome. These events that Élan has participated over the past year (Yellow House, Color Me Kona, LaVilla workshop) have boosted our image to the local literary community. Élan shouldn’t be an invisible face to the public. To me, engagement and outreach to our audience is something that makes me proud to be on the staff; when explaining what we do to a crowd, I know that we are making an impact in the literary world, even if it’s just a small one. This year, as a junior, I have had the honour of being on the Color Me Kona team. Before the day of the event I was building with anticipation and excitement at the thought of putting Élan out there; during the event I was proven right. Several people came up to our booth to look through our magazine, and ask questions. Élan was showing itself to others in a way it has never done before. Being on a field with other artists’ work felt like we belonged there. My role felt completed; my hard work helping the team paid off in a wonderful, successful way. The process of building a mural, making bookmarks, and coming up with ideas for audience engagement took a lot of team effort, but the results were more than I would’ve expected. It made me excited for more events (soon, they are coming soon). I want Élan to be at every local literary event there is because without engaging, and participating with our audience (and the people we have not reached yet), Élan will never grow farther. As a member of the staff, I want this magazine to succeed in bigger, better ways, and I truly think that doing community events will help with that goal. As a writer, I felt encouraged seeing other artists so deeply involved in their art. Color Me Kona was truly the place Élan needed to be. - Luz Mañunga, Junior Digital Media Editor

Onto of being a large publication which posts a student produced book every year, and two online editions to be read by anyone on the internet, Élan tries to be a part of the local community more than any literary magazine I’ve seen do. We try to reach outside our four walls and spread out throughout the community. My experience working with the staff to connect and engage our audiences has taken me outside of the editorial room and into middle schools, libraries, art museums, and even skateparks (I know what you’re thinking). What we call “community engagement” in Élan is truly one of our biggest tasks where we sit down almost every day to discuss why we want to get out and what our main goals are with each project. Being on the Élan staff has taught me more about enriching the lives of people around us and people who are interested in our work than I ever thought possible. Like I said, we’ve visited middle schools to have discussions on literature and have held events in art museums that let us personally capture an audience that is truly interested in the work Élan is publishing. One of the most impactful events we held was one that I personally was the personal in charge. Kona Skatepark, the nation’s oldest running skatepark, holds an event every year in which artist in the community come together for one day and celebrate what makes them inspired. The event is called Color Me Kona and artists of all mediums – singing, dancing, writing, drawing, photography, etc. – join for this special event to inspire the youth in Jacksonville Florida and this year Élan was proud to be a part of it. With our booth and stack of books prepared, the staff stood outside in the blazing sun (and even a little rain in the morning) and talked to dozens of people who we are. Not only did we sell our books, a very important part of any international literary magazine, but we also were able to bring a deeper understanding to why what the Élan staff does is important. I felt like my role in the event helped not only open the minds of children, teens, and adults, but also open my mind to the possibility of connecting with people on a broader scale. Leaving that event after roughly ten hours reminded me of how much I deeply care about Élan Literary Magazine. It is more than just how many books we sell and if anyone from the event wants to now submit to Élan. I became truly excited about all the growing the staff had done in those ten hours. Everyone’s faces were eager to talk to complete strangers (mind I remind you, we are a staff of writers who can tend to be on the introvert side of things) about not only Élan but writing and why it matters to them. We all felt accomplished when people began to gather around and listen to what we had to say about our trustee staff. When I came into the editorial room the next week, I was ecstatic to share how amazing community events, like Color Me Kona, matter in our society and to me. - Valerie Busto, Senior Fiction/CNF Editor

Despite only being a part of the staff for one semester, being on Élan has shown me how much work goes into the events I took for granted in the past. For instance, at Douglas Anderson’s Coffeehouse event, I have been both on the stage and in the audience, but never behind the scenes. When the first discussion of Coffeehouse took place months before its fruition, I was forced into a completely new role as a key organizer for the event. The onlooker, upon hearing that the event took such a tremendous effort over a long period of time to create, might think that Coffeehouse’s final night would be disappointing after so much hard work. I had the same fear. As artists, we are radically afraid of things getting “stale;” we hate tedium because, ideally, our work is never tedious but always spontaneous and exciting. The work for Coffeehouse was not always spontaneous or necessarily exciting in the moment. Instead, Coffeehouse demanded a different type of thinking; we needed problem-solving and logistical mindsets, careful calculation and foresight. It slowly developed a different type of thrill: as point A, the first discussion of what Coffeehouse should be this year, receded, point B approached. In the end, the pleasure wasn’t entirely in the final performance—of which I was a part of—but also in the entire plan’s realization, coming together like a well-kneaded dough. Coffeehouse was my first taste of community planning in Élan. Indeed, I had never really been a part of planning events ever. It felt like I had a real impact on my community because I did important things for Coffeehouse; my absence would have changed the final product. It was not necessarily glorious work but it put a sliver of my own identity into 2018’s Coffeehouse. Of course, that may be a narcissistic way of looking at an event that was planned by many people, but I think being a writer and performer is a little selfish by itself. I also performed in Coffeehouse with my fellow Élan member, Shelby Woods. The event changed me as an artist because this performance was my most ambitious yet, and I was performing alongside some incredibly skilled artists (because I was both a performer and a staff member, I worked with the rest of the cast more than perhaps most of my peers). The pressure was on to make this Coffeehouse the best I could realistically produce. I pushed myself, that much is true. The performance rapidly closed in on us, but the décor was planned, the lineup established, the backdrop painted, the performers rehearsed. The final night may not have been as exciting as my first time on that stage last year; I had performed once before and it had singlehandedly changed my perspective on sharing my work. But with this wide-eyed glamour stripped away, I was ready for next year’s Coffeehouse, which—if everything comes up roses and perfume—will be better than ever before. - Noland Blain, Junior Managing Editor

As a self-proclaimed writer, I want others to be just as passionate for the written word as I am. Being a part of Elan has allowed me to voice my own passion for the work that is done within the confines of Elan. We aren’t just a literary magazine. Elan has solidified who I am as an artist. In my first two years at Douglas Anderson, I didn’t truly consider myself an artist. I as a person who wrote. I wasn’t a writer. Yes, my work was meaningful to me and affected me, but I didn’t think it had a large impact on anyone else. I didn’t even let my parents read my work. As I became a member of Elan, I realized that I had to take myself seriously. If I didn’t think I was a writer, then I had no right to be reading other writers’ work. My third year at Douglas Anderson was when I wholly and entirely considered myself not only a writer, but an artist. In the Spring of my junior year, Elan was given the opportunity to curate an entire gallery. This was one of the most defining moments for me. It was recognition from my own local art community. Hope McMath is well-established and was giving a staff of high school students the chance to showcase other high school students’ work. It was a point of realization that what we were doing in Elan was so important. I was asked to read at the opening of Yellow House and I think that opened another door for me as an artist. A group of people I didn’t know gave me their time and attention to listen to a poem that I had written. There was no caveat. Everyone at this event was there because they wanted to be there. It was people coming together to enjoy art and take it all in and I had a role in making this happen. Being able to walk through the gallery and seeing adults two or three times my age appreciate work or to see children half my age looking at a piece of art was absolutely heart-warming. What I was doing with my time on Elan impacted people and I could see them interact with the gallery and publication that the staff and myself put so much energy into affected them. It is hard to get a sense of recognition, I think, because Elan publishes online and then a final print book. Doing these community events allows the staff the chance to see our impact in person and to truly take in what we are doing. We put together a book. A staff of high school students that have to balance everything that it takes to be a teenager make a book, which is amazing. I forget the magnitude of what I am doing sometimes. I forget how much this affects other people and not just myself. - Winnie Blay, Senior Managing Editor