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Reprinted from the Daily Mason Gazette, February 17th, 2004.
After reading pages and pages of legal documents in tiny print, it is refreshing for a law student to pick up something creative and fun to read. That's the mission behind The Scrivener—A Creative Journal, the George Mason School of Law's new literary magazine.
According to creator and Editor-in-Chief Nick Simopoulos, the idea for the journal came after one night of heavy studying. "I was talking to a bunch of fellow students, and we all thought something was missing from the program," he said. "We needed a way to blow off steam, a creative outlet of some kind. George Mason is known as an intellectual law school, but there is creativity in law, too, and that needed to be represented."
The journal was first published last spring with the mission to "not only promote creative writing and thought among law students, but also to provide law students with an interesting, fun, and exciting respite from the everyday required law school reading." The staff publishes a variety of short stories, essays, poetry, and artwork.
Simopoulos's goal is to publish an issue each semester, accepting submissions from law school students across the country. The fall issue included stories, poems, and essays from George Mason law students as well as students from Cornell University and Georgia State University. The Scrivener also hosts an annual Ariston Creative Writing Contest, open only to George Mason law students.
"A creative mind is a much healthier mind," says Simopoulos, who is a third-year student at Mason. He hopes that the journal will continue after he graduates in May. "There are a few other journals like this in other law schools, but I think Mason has the capability to be the front-runner."
The journal mainly publishes law students' work, but Simopoulos welcomes anyone to submit to The Scrivener. For more information, e-mail cjournal@gmu.edu.