Catching the Steam

Late last year, the first edition of Princeton's The Public Journal was published, containing a range of creative non-fiction pieces, all written anonymously by students. Street sat down with its editor-in-chief, Will Palley '10, and its treasurer and creative director, Laura Robertson '10, to chat about The Public Journal's start, what you'll find when you crack open any one of its four brightly colored covers and why it's more creative than all those other confessional websites you've already seen.

Q The Public Journal started at Cornell a few years ago. How did you get involved and how did the Princeton version get its start?

A Will Palley: I met the editor-in-chief of the Cornell edition a few years ago, and I was struck by the concept. It seemed like a great vehicle for students to express themselves, and it got lodged at the back of my head. Then I took a class about discourse and I thought, "This makes a lot of sense!" So that prompted me to launch it here at Princeton.

Laura Robertson: What was exciting to me about The Public Journal was that it was a unique outlet: It wasn't fiction, but personal thoughts and narratives - real things that have happened to the writers. You don't see that anywhere else, let alone published in this beautiful format.

Q What makes The Public Journal unique from all those other online confessional sites like FML and GoodCrush?

A WP: One thing that I really love about the publication is that there's a spread. It ranges from very short, candid, one-line confessions to incredibly well-crafted pieces of prose. There's not a fixed format or limit to what you write.

LR: Mixed in with all of the shorter stuff that you could find on sites like FML, we have longer submissions and illustrations that people have really taken the time to craft into something. It's truthful writing that people have spent a lot of time on.

Q Though it's still about confessions, it seems that The Public Journal has very different goals from the popular online sites.

A WP: The Public Journal is meant to be an enjoyable experience for both the writer and the reader. There's a catharsis involved when you write and submit, but there's also a sense of enjoyment when you read the pieces. Also, different from the websites, we don't put anything malicious or libelous in the publication. Overall, we envisage it as - and hope it will be - a very positive publication, for both reader and writer.

Q What role does anonymity play in The Public Journal?

A WP: The great thing about The Public Journal is that it does offer a lot of anonymity. The submissions come via e-mail and only the editor-in-chief knows who wrote what. From that point on, the piece is completely anonymous.

LR: It's a unique kind of anonymity. At the beginning of each issue - and only if the author wants us to - we print a list of the issue's authors, but the names are not linked to the words. You still own what you write, even though your name isn't written directly above it.

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Q Many of the stories are very personal. Why do you think that people like to share stories anonymously that they would never share in real life?

A WP: I think a lot of the thoughts and feelings and desires that are articulated within The Public Journal are experienced by a lot of people. They're powerful and you want to express them. The Public Journal offers a vehicle for that expression.

LR: You could say that's its main mission. On such a small campus, we wanted to give people a place to have that outlet, to have a place to let the steam come out - and we catch it and put it into print

The Princeton edition of The Public Journal printed its inaugural issue in November 2009. For more information or to submit a piece, visit @ princeton.edu/~pj

Interview conducted, condensed and edited by Guy Wood.