Honors 300R Ethnography: The Denizens of Leading Edge by Daniel Friend 1 Acknowledgements Special thanks to Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Dave Doering, Linda Adams, and Peter and Karen Ahlstrom for taking enough time out of their day for me to buy them lunch; to Chen‘s Noodle House and La Hacienda restaurant for being good enough to tempt them with; to Emily Sanderson, for babysitting the Ahlstrom girls; to Emily Adams and Nyssa Silvester for running things at the magazine while I was off interviewing people; to Joe Vasicek, Neal Silvester, Daniel Teichreib, Erika Bishop, Sarah Seeley, Caitlin Walls, Benjamin Keeley, Alan Manning, and Amber Thomas for taking the time to contribute; to Camilla Parshall, Evan Witt, Benjamin Blackhurst, Arielle Myers, and even Genevieve Busch for using facebook (albeit under duress for one of them); to Melva Giffords, Jonathan Langford, and Douglas Summers-Stay, for emailing someone they had never met; to Incubus, for providing great formatting music in If Not Now, When?; and especially to Deirdre Paulsen, who encourages all good things. This project needed all of you to make it what it is. 2 Table of Contents Part I: The Ethnography Abstract Introduction Literature Review Methodology The Site The Culture Conclusion Alphabetical Index of Informants Works Cited Part II: The Collection The History of Leading Edge p.14 The Divine Influence in Leading Edge Founding History by Dave Doering and Linda Adams Leading Edge Yields Latter-day Saints by Melva Giffords The Leading Edge—Thoughts and Memories by Jonathan Langford Success Stories of Leading Edge p.42 The Class that Made It Big by Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Peter Ahlstrom, and Karen Ahlstrom Brandon Sanderson’s Wheel of Time Introduction by Douglas Summers-Stay Engagement Stories from Leading Edge p.74 How the Ahlstroms Got Engaged by Karen Ahlstrom Today Is Unexpected Proposal Day by Nyssa Silvester The Culture of Leading Edge p.79 Changes through the Years by Joseph Vasicek Shirts, Sniffs, and Smirks by Daniel Teichrieb Tales from the Slushmeister by Neal Silvester Not the Typical Person by Caitlin Walls The Lingo of Leading Edge p.98 Adjusting to Leading Edge Lingo by Daniel Friend 3 How I Found Leading Edge by Sarah Seeley Workplace Preparation at Leading Edge p.103 Valuable Experience by Benjamin Keeley Diving into the Slush Pile by Emily Adams 3 Questions about Leading Edge p.106 Getting Published at Leading Edge by Evan Witt Learning to Love Giving Feedback by Benjamin Blackhurst Genevieve’s Rant by Genevieve Busch The Greatest People by Camilla Parshall Amber’s Three Answers by Amber Thomas Three Answers from Arielle by Arielle Myers Current Events at Leading Edge p.116 Hands off the Slush Pile by Alan Manning Appendices p.123 Appendix A: Staff Letters from the Beginning of the Funding Crisis Appendix B: Letter from Chris Baxter on Proper Cover Letters Appendix C: My Funding Crisis Letter to the Dean Appendix D: Dan Wells’ Leading Edge Card Game 4 Abstract This corpus of interviews with current and former staff members of Leading Edge documents the ways that this journal‘s unique work environment has prepared students for the editing workplace, enriched their time as BYU students, and fostered the development of a unique BYU subculture. These benefits of the Leading Edge project are convincing evidence that Leading Edge deserves continued funding from the College of Humanities and the Department of Linguistics and English Language. Introduction Leading Edge is Brigham Young University‘s journal of speculative fiction (mainly science fiction and fantasy). Under the distant supervision of a faculty advisor, the publication is entirely student-run, and is set up just like a professional publishing house. This organization allows editing students to gain applicable experience while still at college. Leading Edge enjoys semi-professional status through paying its contributors (authors, poets, and artists), and is by far the most widely-read of BYU‘s student journals. It is also a social gathering-place for the many students who volunteer to run the magazine. Despite all these feats, however, the administration of the College of Humanities has decided to obliterate the journal‘s funding. After struggling to uncover the reasons for this unexpected and uncommunicated severance, I realized that part of the problem comes down to a deep-rooted issue that plagues nearly all BYU departments: administration has almost no connection with the student body it governs. This is mainly by design, but here is not the place to belabor the particulars of BYU‘s administrative policy. The point here is that had the persons who made this decision known anything about the students it would affect, and how negatively it would impact them, the decision made would have been different. Perhaps if these same persons can come to understand and appreciate the flourishing subculture of Leading Edge, as well as comprehend the beneficial effects it has had and continues to have in their educational experiences and in their lives, the decision do defund Leading Edge might still be reversed. As I begin this project, I must admit unabashedly that not only am I an insider of this subculture, I‘m in charge of it. I came to BYU specifically because of the editing program and the chance it offered me to work on Leading Edge, and have been volunteering for the magazine since I arrived. After only a few months of consistent attendance, I was made Fiction Director. When an Editor position opened up, I was handpicked by Amanda Brown, the outgoing Editor, to replace her. Now, as Senior Editor, I effectively call the shots of the day-to-day running of the magazine. Although this could potentially cause my informants to feel that they are being pressured by the boss into contributing something to this project, I‘ve tried to avoid that as much as possible. Luckily, Leading Edge is home to an atmosphere of camaraderie and friendship, and I felt that my friends took the time to help me because they are my friends, not because I‘m in charge. Although nobody ever declined to participate, there would not have been negative repercussions had they chosen to do so. My position as Senior Editor also means that I‘ve been around Leading Edge for longer than any of the senior staff (and the slush room staff, too, except for Joe). 5 An outsider attempting to tackle this project probably would have gone about it a different way, or at least asked different questions. It‘s possible that an outsider to this culture would have been better able to note some of the quirks of the staff that differ from social norms than I have been able to. However, as an insider, I know exactly which questions to ask the current staff, and I know which things will be of importance to all generations of Leading Edge that I might interview. These items, if not brought up, will likely never make it in to a cultural description of Leading Edge. The advantage this insider knowledge gives me over an outsider in defining this subculture cannot be overestimated. Literature Review There are not very many outside sources on Leading Edge, and those few that do exist are written from a literary history perspective, not an ethnographical one. Hence, this study is the first one to exist that examines Leading Edge as continuing culture, not as a magazine. There is, however, some literature worth noting. In December 2010, Joe Vasicek published an article in Mormon Artist entitled ―The Class That Wouldn‘t Die.‖ This solid piece of journalism chronicled the beginnings of the sci-fi/fantasy community at BYU, and the beginnings of its organizations: Quark, the club; Life, the Universe, and Everything, the symposium; and Leading Edge, the student journal. He interviews and publishes the recollections of several prominent members of Leading Edge staff, some of whom I would also like to interview. Apart from this article, I could find no other documents relating to Leading Edge other than the issues of the journal itself until Linda Adams referenced a history by Barbara Hume in a the prologue to a science fiction anthology edited by M. Shayne Bell. Although Linda considers it inferior to Joe‘s work, I have included it here as a reference. It has the double-edged sword of being written by someone who participated in the events, and so is about as reliable as Ms. Hume‘s memory. Despite whatever flaws it may have, it‘s a perspective of Leading Edge history that‘s worth recording. Methodology I‘ve always been a strong believer in the principle that if you want to know something, you ask the person who has firsthand knowledge about it. You don‘t ask their peripheral contacts, and you certainly don‘t ask their enemies. The way to get information is to go to the source of that information. In this case, that means talking to people. I prepared myself for my interviews by coming up with three questions that I feel best show why the subculture of Leading Edge is worth preserving: 1) How has Leading Edge enriched your time at BYU? 2) How has Leading Edge prepared you for work in the publishing world? 3) What is your most memorable experience at Leading Edge? The first question is designed to show how volunteering at Leading Edge is intellectually enlarging and character building, how it forms friendships, and helps students academically. The second question focuses on the skill set developed at Leading Edge, on that leads to lifelong learning and service. In fact, any conscientious observer reading the 6 responses to this question that are given later on will realize that Leading Edge fulfills the goal of the College‘s ―Humanities +‖ program, ―developing a skill-set that will be identifiable and attractive to employers,‖ and did so decades before this program was introduced.