What’s a muse?

A muse is a guiding spirit or a source of inspiration. Chaucer first used the word in its contemporary context, but it has its origins in Greek mythology. We think that Cornell University is a pretty good example of a muse.

Who started The Muse?

Members of the Mortar Board National Honor Society at Cornell originally conceived of the idea and started The Muse in fall of 2004 with its first publication in spring 2005. The following year, the publication became its own seperate student organization and is funded in part by the SAFC and support from various departments and offices on campus.

I am not a graduating senior this year - may I still submit to The Muse? As The Muse is intended to highlight the experiences of graduating seniors over the last four years, we are unfortunately only accepting submissions from those students who are graduating in May or August, or have graduated in the preceding December.

This sounds like a great project, and I would love to help out, but I am not a senior! What can I do to help out? All interested underclassmen are highly ncouraged to help us with the reviewing, editing, and publishing process of The Muse. All inquiries should be directed to editor@cornell-muse.com. You will be, of course, more than welcome to submit during your own senior year.

What if I am a graduate student?

While we will accept graduate submissions, the focus of this publication is on the undergraduate student experience, and as such, undergraduate submissions will be given priority.

And what if I am staying on to do graduate work here?

Then you may submit, of course.

I am an artist. Are you accepting any artwork for publication?

While we cannot make any promises for inclusion, as The Muse is foremost intended to be a literary outlet, we will accept and review submissions of personal artwork. We will only accept artwork as a .jpg attachment at 300 DPI or greater. Black and white submissions only please. We apologize, but due to the nature of our publication we will not be able to publish any photographs. For those graphic artists interested in helping with either the front of back cover design, please email us to talk about joining the staff.

I haven't written anything at Cornell except lab reports since my freshmen writing seminar. Do you really want me writing for your publication?

Yes! Too often we feel that not enough stories from East Hill get heard. While we are more than happy to publish English majors, engineers, horticulturalists, and Hotelies all need a voice too! Our goal is to get people writing and reading about the myriad forms of the Cornell experience, and our associate editors will be more than happy to assist you in making your own Cornell story come alive in the pages of our book. Moreover, in keeping with the spirit of our publication, we strive to publish every submission we receive!

I absolutely hate Cornell and everything about Ithaca and if I submitted something to your publication it would only talk about how miserable I am.

While we possess some empathy for your misery, we have a hard time believing that you received nothing from your time at Cornell, and think that you could find something at least mildly constructive to say if you really sat down and thought about it.

When will The Muse be ready for public consumption?

We typically have copies of the publication ready for distribution by Slope Day.

What gives, are you guys obsessed with Cornell or something?

Isn’t that already a given, now is there anything else?

Yes, who do I contact if I have any additional questions?

Please don't hesitate to email editor(at)cornell-muse(dot)com at anytime.