Looking for a place to publish art, stories, music compositions, poetry, photography and more? Muse Magazine, also known as the Pretty Words Club, may be the perfect place.

Scott Sorensen, ‘22, one of the magazine’s student leaders, said that he and a friend 

revived Muse because they felt the school lacked a place for creative individuals to publish their work. 

Sorensen, who has long been interested in poetry, wanted the magazine to be a space for “open conversation about mental health” and other personal topics that might not be published as often in Breezes. 

“Personally [in Muse], I’ve been able to dig into my own mental health, my own 

relationships and my own life in a way that I wasn’t able to in Breezes,” he said, comparing his experience running the magazine to editing for the newspaper last year. 

The approach to publication for Muse and Breezes is also different. 

“It’s a lot more creative and has a more open approach,” he added, since topics can be published by any Minnetonka student whether or not they are in the club. “I think we’re really unique in that we’re such a free form space […] and I love it for that reason”. 

Stuart Pease, the club’s advisor, feels similarly. 

“I think what draws me to it is the ability to have conversations, personal ones, that we wouldn’t have in the classroom. It feels more like a small community than a class,” Pease said. 

In addition to forming a sense of community, helping students understand the publication process was what drew Pease to the club in the first place. 

“I initially became involved with the magazine because I have a Masters in poetry and, 

while I was in that program, we did a lot of workshopping…it got me thinking about how it could be applied here at MHS,” he said. “I was intrigued by the idea of helping students get familiar with the workshopping process…and helping them work through editing and preparing their and others’ work for publication”.

At any given club meeting, members can be found brainstorming ideas, catching up 

about their week, sharing stories open-mic style, editing projects, planning magazine layouts and more. The creative nature of the magazine, as well as its relaxing, biannual publication schedule, allows students to have fun developing their work before it is put out for the school to view. 

For those who are interested, Muse is currently accepting new members to help put together its Winter magazine edition. 

“In the future, I’d love for the club to expand from its current core group of about ten to more like fifteen or twenty, and for the magazine to have a larger online presence so that people can share their work even if they don’t come into the physical meetings,” Pease said. 

To express interest or ask questions, contact Pease by heading to room 2428 or emailing him at [email protected]. Students who have art that they want published in the Winter edition can submit it to the submission dropbox after joining the Muse Magazine Schoology course with code S9RN-TR35-7XW8S.