Linda E. Monacelli – President
Hello! My name is Linda Monacelli, and I am the Editor-in-Chief and Poetry Editor of Seeds Literary & Visual Arts Journal of NEIU. I am an English, Secondary Education major and have been a member of Seeds since its official launch in January 2011. I chose to join Seeds because I wanted to meet people, and I didn’t want to work on my art, poetry and painting, in a vacuum. I deeply believed, and still do, that art is neither inspired nor created in solitude.  Without doubt, seclusion for an artist is important, but far more important are the inspiration and support of community.

Our vision at Seeds involves bringing together local writers and artists to form an active and nurturing creative environment where art can happen and become a collection that people can admire, enjoy, and study. We want to inform budding writers and artists that their work is important, and we want to help them get their work published, perhaps for the first time in their creative careers.

We are now collecting submissions for our fall/winter journal. The deadline is Friday, October 12th, no later than midnight. Anyone interested in submitting work may view the official guidelines at seeds.submittable.com/submit. Please feel free to contact me at [email protected] with any questions, comments, concerns.

Rachel L. Deahl – Vice President
Hi, my name is Rachel Deahl, and I’m the Vice-President and Fiction Editor of this budding journal. I’m an English major with an ambition to be a paid, published author. I started at NEIU in Fall 2010 looking to be part of something great, and I found it at Seeds. As a senior now, I have seen the great work that Seeds has done through promoting events such as “More Business of Being Born,” with Ricki Lake talking about birthing activism, and creating an artistic community for the student body through publication in our journal. Seeds is another step in my writing career where I get to collaborate with great creative minds. My future ambitions include graduating with my Master’s in Creative Writing, Writing and Publishing, or perhaps a Master’s in Communication.

Before transferring to NEIU, I graduated in fall 2009 with an Associate of Arts Degree in Literature, with Honors, from Wilbur Wright College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago. At Wright, I was a layout designer, officer, and literary editor of The Wright Side, the school’s literary magazine. In addition to being an officer of Seeds, I am the Treasurer of Sigma Tau Delta Phi Upsilon, NEIU’s chapter of the International English Honors Society, Secretaryof SGA, and a member of the National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS).