By Julian De Ocampo ’13
THE ROUNDUP
Contrary to popular belief, print media is not dead.
All it takes is one look at Brophy’s numerous student-run publications to realize that this form of media is alive and well.
Each year, students work tirelessly to print copies of BLAM, The Brophy Literary and Arts Magazine; The Tower, the annual yearbook; The Roundup, a monthly school newspaper; and The Roundup’s satirical counterpart, The Wrangler.
All publications are written and compiled by students of all grade levels with oversight from faculty advisers.
BLAM, moderated by Mr. John Damaso ’96 and Mr. Chad Unrein, is an annual compilation of student-submitted prose, poetry and art with the purpose of drawing attention to Brophy’s artistic talent.The arts magazine is now in its third year of publication, with the first issue established by Mr. Damaso in 2009.
Prior to BLAM, Brophy published a yearly literary magazine called The Tower.
After the yearbook took over the name, the publication underwent changes in name and format before finally settling on the name BLAM.
In addition to its annual release, BLAM also sponsors a live reading of poetry and prose by students at each year’s Fine Arts Extravaganza.
Although BLAM’s release is limited to once a year the publication encourages students of all grade levels to send in their work year-round.
This year’s edition of BLAM will carry a “retro theme” in contrast to the sleek, modern look of past issues.
The release of BLAM is followed shortly by the annual release of The Tower yearbook.
Each year, The Tower is purchased by hundreds of students looking to reminisce over the past year. The Tower is created over the course of the year by Mr. Joe Klein’s ’86 yearbook class.
The yearbook gets its start in the summer, when students attend a yearbook camp to learn about the publication tools and decide on the year’s theme (this year’s theme is “Back to Basics”).
Then, students from the camp teach the rest of the class and the work begins.
Each month, the team works to create a quota of pages and spreads, culminating in The Tower’s release either at the end of April or the beginning of May.
Although the majority of the staff is in the Yearbook class, outside sources such as The Roundup or Photography classes provide some of the pictures that go into each year’s edition as well
“Those that are interested in graphic design, taking photographs or any type of publishing, then this is perfect for you,” Mr. Klein said.
Like The Tower, The Roundup aims to capture snapshots of Brophy life.
The Roundup is assembled each month by Mr. Mica Mulloy’s ’99 Journalism and Photojournalism classes.
This year 23 students write a minimum of two articles each month for The Roundup, with some students far exceeding this number.
Although the majority of articles written are produced by Mr. Mulloy’s classes, any student wishing to write or take photos for The Roundup is free to e-mail student editors at roundup@brophybroncos.org with ideas.
Of course, The Roundup is often paired with its satirical doppelganger, The Wrangler.
Moderated by Mr. Damaso and Mr. Steve Smith ’96, The Wrangler uses humor to parody the latest happenings in Brophy culture in the vein of satirical publications like The Onion.
“Comedy in general allows people to say a message,” Mr. Smith said. “It’s kind of like how Jon Stewart on ‘The Daily Show’ can say more than typical news actors.”
All contributors to The Wrangler post funny headlines to the publication’s BlackBoard page. If one gets enough approval, then the headline gets written into a full article.
After the publication is laid out, Mr. Damaso and Mr. Smith look over the paper to ensure its quality.
The Wrangler is published quarterly, with special editions for events like the Summit on Human Dignity.
“If you have an eye for comedy and notice things on campus that are ripe for satire, and you’ve had ideas amongst your friends but you don’t necessarily know what to do with them, then we would love to have you on The Wrangler,” Mr. Smith said.
