During my final semester at the University of Alaska Southeast, I was offered the opportunity to complete an internship with Tidal Echoes. I had heard of the literary and arts journal during my previous years at UAS, but this was my chance to complete both a Bachelor of Arts degree and also peek behind the curtain of the publishing world. Since the end of August, I have been this literary journal’s voice for the public of Southeast Alaska.
One of the first tasks that I completed as an intern was designing a poster to spread the word about the journal’s open call for submissions. I leafed through the 2024 edition of Tidal Echoes to find one eye-catching artwork that would stand out on billboards. It was difficult to choose among all the gorgeous submissions from the previous year, but I ultimately decided on “Forest Cove” by Holly Morris. The color choices and linework reminded me of stained glass and I felt that it reflected the beauty I see in Juneau every day. My old Macbook presented some technical issues while designing the poster, but thankfully the librarians at Egan Library were able to show me some formatting tricks. After the new posters were printed, I spent a couple of weeks navigating the different businesses of Juneau and pinning up the posters. I had never participated in a project that required advertising so I learned a key point about my hometown, which was that bulletin boards are a huge factor of communication within communities. Every event in Juneau needs to be advertised for residents to know about current happenings in their hometown.
After I had put up posters all over Juneau, I transitioned into mailing posters to other Southeast communities. It would take far too long to list every small town that I reached out to, but I am sure that I covered all of Southeast with the dozens of emails that I wrote. Some businesses responded immediately and showed a lot of interest in spreading the word about Tidal Echoes. I had never met any of these business owners or employees but I felt that we both shared a passion for writing and art. I also imagined how exciting it must have been for those residents to spot an opportunity to extend their voices beyond their small communities.
Another task that I accomplished was arranging a classroom visit at Yaakoosge Daakahidi Alternative High School. The submissions for Tidal Echoes were not limited to only UAS students, so I extended invitations to all the schools in the Juneau area to inquire about potential interest in classroom visits. I spent hours writing and sending emails to the staff of elementary, middle, and high schools. Within hours, Yaakoosge responded and eagerly invited me to visit their English classrooms. I visited them a week early to drop off posters and broadside flyers, and they were beyond thrilled to have materials to spread the word before my official visit. When I did stop by the scheduled morning for the classroom visit they directed me upstairs to their meeting room. I saw about 30 students inside and I swallowed my fear of public speaking. My feet were shaking as I introduced myself and Tidal Echoes to all the people standing in front of me. My worries were thankfully unwarranted. My audience was kind and they asked a few questions about the submission process afterwards
I also did a classroom visit at UAS and it happened to be for the same English Professor that I am completing my internship with. My classmates and I knew each other already, but it was exciting to tell them about an opportunity to share their writing and artwork with the publishing world. I am blessed to be in my own community of strong writers who deserve to share their pieces with a larger audience.
The most challenging task I have been given as an intern was to conduct and transcribe an interview with a librarian/poet at Egan Library. I knew the interviewee in advance of our conversation because we had been working together since January so I saw our meeting as a casual chat. I spent about a month drafting and revising questions before they were polished enough for the interview. I then discussed our options of conducting the conversation with the interviewee, either in-person or online, and we both decided on in-person. We met at one of Egan Library’s study rooms, which had just been repainted with a mural of fiddleheads and devil’s club. I asked for the interviewee’s permission to record, which he agreed, and then we began discussing his new book and process for writing poems. This was the first ever interview that I had scheduled but I hope future ones will be identical to this one. It felt just like a chat between friends who both love reading and writing and whose journeys as creators had collided for a moment.
The transcribing process for the recorded interview has been a huge learning experience. Not only did I need to write down each “like” and “you know” to keep an unedited transcription, but then I needed to make a polished version that removed all of the intentional stutters. Keeping another person’s voice in-tact is a skill that I have not practiced often but this task has taught me to preserve their specific thoughts and cadence.
Completing an internship with Tidal Echoes has been an exciting and sometimes exhausting journey. There have been days where the workload is light and easy, while other days it feels like dozens of dictionaries are weighing on my shoulders. Despite that, I am so grateful that I accepted the opportunity to have this internship be the final course that I complete for my Bachelor of Arts degree. I feel that my development as a writer has been significantly challenged and shaped into a stronger form than before. I am almost at the finish line, I just need to keep my strides strong!
Amy Kelleher is a student at the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau who graduated with an Associate of Arts degree in 2021, and will be graduating with a Bachelor of Arts by the end of 2025. She has enjoyed storytelling since childhood and continues to experiment with different creative writing styles. Her favorites include memoir, scriptwriting, and short stories. When she is not drafting new stories, she can be found crocheting plush animals and failing to untangle knotted skeins of yarn for projects.