A couple weeks ago on a friday afternoon, I attended a “Hike and Write,” one of many events hosted by Pace’s CHROMA magazine. 

“We are the literary and arts magazine of Pace…if you are interested in reading, writing, art – anything creative – we are the place for you.”

That’s what President and Managing Editor of CHROMA Nicolina Barone said to me as we set off on a hike with about fifteen others through the woodland trails cresting the hills above campus. As we walked, we talked and I got to know more about her involvement in CHROMA.

“My goal this year as president is to truly put CHROMA on the map… as a student, it’s not that common to hear of your work getting published. It usually requires a great deal of effort,” Barone told me on the trail. 

“What CHROMA tries to do is give everyone an outlet and a voice… since the beginning of the semester we have doubled the number of members we began with just in the [first] two weeks”

Just as she finished saying this, I tripped on a rock on the trail. 

‘That was Scary,” She said

It sure was. If I hadn’t regained my footing, my camera would have broken my fall. 

I looked around and noticed that the group had stopped. English Professor Dr. Jane Collins, leading the hike, was identifying the pattern of mushroom growth on a tree near the trail. Earlier on, hike-and-writer Anthony Moretto noticed how the beehive boxes by the farm were beginning to repopulate after being wiped out a few years prior.

“I’ve been all through these parts of the woods… looking for deer antlers in the late winter when they fall off,” Moretto said as we walked together. 

Later on during the hike, he saw a deer in the distance, he mimicked a doe’s bleat to get its attention. It looked our way, and in the stillness, I took its photo (which you’ll be able to see published in the next edition of CHROMA) and then it trotted off.

“I’ve seen all of this but… you know, the beautiful thing about it is that it never loses its awe. It’s about the same every time.”

I took Moretto’s words as inspiration as our group gathered under the environmental pavilion near the farm to write. We spent time generating haikus and poems based on the experience we had.

When everyone was finished, students read their writing aloud to the group. All writing samples collected from that day are being compiled in one piece of collective writing that will be published in the next edition of CHROMA. 

“Anyone, not just our members, is able to submit to our journal,“ Nicolina Barone told me. 

I was actually encouraged by Nicolina to submit to the journal in the past, and from the submission process to see my work published, I enjoyed the experience and will submit again this year. 

“A lot of people have expressed concern that they don’t think that they’re going to be the next Hemingway or Picasso and they don’t want to submit due to that… we are really trying to enforce the idea that we don’t care if you’re good or even great at anything. If this is something you like – if this is a passion of yours – we want you in the club, and we want to create a really close-knit community to inspire and help each other for the future,” Barone said.

To submit or find more information about CHROMA magazine and future events, go to chroma.pace.edu or follow their Instagram @chroma.pace. Submissions for the journal are open from October 1st to November 1st at 11:59 PM.