Photo courtesy of Krishiv Malhotra

After over a century of history and a brief pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gemini, Mount Greylock’s literary magazine, is returning to the school. Dating back to before 1929, Gemini has survived name changes, school closings and openings, and decades of an ever changing world. Past issues of the magazine can be found in the Mount Greylock library, including an edition from 1929.

Mount Greylock had not yet been established in 1929, and Williamstown students attended Williamstown High School, while students from Lanesborough attended Pittsfield High School. The literary magazine of the high school was called Taconic and was published by Williamstown High School. In 1962, Mount Greylock Regional High School was founded and joined the two towns together, along with Hancock. Despite all the changes in the public school system, the magazine was preserved and the tradition carried on.

Eventually, the magazine’s name shifted to Gemini. The oldest copy found in the library of the magazine under the name Gemini was published in 1962. Formerly published twice a year, Gemini will be published once this year during the spring semester.

Yeshe Rai, a sophomore spearheading the revival of Gemini, said that the magazine is a place to submit “poetry or creative writing like fiction, stories, plays.” He added that art is welcome too, “like watercolor, photography, paintings, sketches.” The magazine strives to be a welcome place for talent to be showcased and it is open to many different forms of creativity. 

In school, students are expected to complete assignments with guidelines and instituted parameters. Gemini aims to foster a sense of creativity and lets artists and writers explore and share their talents and works. 

Mateo Whalen-Loux, a sophomore, said he plans to submit a piece of his art to Gemini this year. He said he enjoys using the Desmos graphing calculator to create works of line art and thinks that “it seems fun” to be able to submit something to Gemini for publication. Beyond just contributing a submission, Whalen-Loux suggested that “Gemini should run an art contest as well as a magazine and give a snack pass to whoever wins.” 

Regardless of whether a competition is introduced to the school community or not, Gemini is bringing back a way to showcase and publish student work. To submit to Gemini, send material to mountgreylockgemini@mgrhs.org, where the pieces will then be reviewed anonymously. If the submission passes the review, it will be published in the paper. For the 2023-2024 edition of Gemini, submissions are due January 30th. 

Throughout a world that has seen inflation, wars, and new technology, Gemini has remained a Mount Greylock staple. Now returning to the school community, it will encourage a celebration of literary and artistic works. The magazine “is pretty open to anything,” Rai said.