Making the newest marks on the Tufts literary scene are PostScript and Melisma, a political journal and music magazine, respectively. While PostScript is breaking ground as a new politically-focused publication for independent opinions, Melisma was founded in 2004, but is recreating itself with a new emphasis on music. Both publications, however, seek to fill gaps in the literary scene that its members see at Tufts.
"[PostScript] is a political magazine," Austin Berg, a senior and one of the founders of PostScript, said. "It came out of there not being any alternative political voice at Tufts besides dominant, 'progressive' discourse, and I think a lot of kids were frustrated by that that they didn't have a place where they could voice opinions in a supportive environment."
While PostScript hopes to provide an environment for open political discussion, Melisma hopes to cover Tufts bands and the local music scene, according to Rebecca Sanai, managing editor of Melisma.
"The music scene at Tufts seemed to be dying down for the past few years," she said. "There were less shows on campus and fewer opportunities for student groups to get exposure. We wanted to showcase that Tufts really has an amazing music scene; although it's small, there are people who are interested. If we bring attention to it, it will only benefit the music community in general."
PostScript currently exists only as an online forum, but will be releasing its first print edition before the end of this semester. According to Berg, the articles featured in the magazine will focus largely on political discussion, aiming to establish the journal's presence on campus.
"We've got an article on tuition increases [and] there's an article on political dialogue at Tufts, which makes sense because it's the first issue of a publication designed to foster better political dialogue at Tufts," Berg said. "[There are] a lot of different perspectives. There's nothing specifically in this issue that would be called conservative; it's mostly independent [perspectives]."
Although the first issue of PostScript is still being assembled, Berg said he hopes the magazine will be successful on campus.
"I got good responses on the first article posted online on political dialogue at Tufts," Berg said. "So if the whole thing gets feedback as good as that, I'll be happy."
Berg also discussed his disappointment with the current status of the literary scene on campus.
"Kids are afraid to write what they feel because of how polarized things are about certain issues," he said. "I'm trying to fix that with [PostScript] ... I think that if you're able to create a well-respected political journal where different swaths of opinions are accepted, then there's not much need for other avenues to express political thought."
While PostScript is just picking up steam, Melisma has made a transition of focus. The magazine has narrowed down its previously broad emphasis on arts and culture to focusing strictly on music. Established in 2004, Melisma has gone through periods of success and struggle, and has changed how often it prints several times.
"I think it was very underground for a long time; not many people really knew about it," Mitch Mosk, the current editor-in-chief of Melisma, said. "It was run by small groups of people and small groups of friends."
One of the problems that limited the success of the magazine over the years was the lack of focus, according to Mosk.
"Looking at previous issues, it sometimes ranged from being a 20-page magazine to an 80-page magazine," Mosk said. "We changed the title from being music, arts and culture to just [a] music magazine."
According to Mosk, Melisma staff members needed to carry out numerous changes to the magazine this year to rejuvenate its presence on campus.
"The executive staff determined that music, arts and culture were already covered by other publications," he said. "We wanted to really hone in on one aspect of the Tufts sphere that could not only be our niche, but also what we've covered so far which is the Tufts music scene and the local music scene."
Another important aspect to reestablishing Melisma on campus was recruiting more writers, editors and publication designers, according to Mosk.
"When I became editor-in-chief this year, it was myself and two or three managing editors," he said. "Marketing is a huge thing. Nobody heard of Melisma last year. To most people, Melisma is a new magazine, but that's just not true. It's been around for 10 years. We put on a really big campaign to writers and staff members alike to say, 'Hey, this is a real thing and you're going to know our name.'"
Sinai echoed Mosk's emphasis on Melisma's outreach as being critical to its success.
"I'd say just the name Melisma is more well-known than it was before," she said. "We're working on getting a stronger community of writers, but it's hard because people don't know if they can write about music."
Her exposure to Melisma began during a campus-wide push to bring back the vibrant Tufts music scene of previous years.12
