AVO Preface: If The Dream Has Never Been Soul-Stirring

I have been pondering over a question: what have we done voluntarily and innovatively as a group of students? Alternating between school and homes from nine to five, we are either coping with today’s homework or tomorrow’s assignment, proceeding with the formulae drawn up by the school and the society. We are artistic and creative individuals. Our school’s Byng Arts program, though filled by talents in music, drama, and visual art, only function didactically: all the programs promote arts under the teaching of a school teacher. We have our own management competence and action power. Multitudinous school clubs link closely between school life and the outer society through fundraising and public service activities. However, none of them presents a sense of innovation. Fundraisers as mentioned, merely resell merchandises to the school and benefit from price difference. Following the path of others, how can we find our own values?

AVO, a school magazine that integrates arts, photography, fashion, and student life I would imagine receiving the first print of this magazine. I would picture it in my head to the minutest details: the sight of the photographs, the smell of sweet ink, and the touch of the glossy pages. In my mind, it refines.

You might ask: why is the magazine named «Avolution»? The answer is simple: she starts with «art» and leads a «revolution». Such a definition cannot be found in a dictionary, because our existence is needless to be defined. AVO is a group of trend advocates who worship culture and art, bounty hunters who capture the beauty in the campus, thinkers who love meditating, businesspersons who rely on their own effort, and magicians who transform the scattered words and pictures into volumes of gorgeous masterpiece! AVO is free to get, not because we fear that nobody would bother to take a look, nor because the magazine itself is valueless. Its cultural value, on the contrary, is embodied as the audience grows larger. We want your opinions; we want you to speak out.

I can still remember contempt and suspicions that we had encountered when we, a group of students with common ideals, were proposing the magazine idea to the entire school. People asked «Our school’s already got yearbook, what’s the point of such a magazine?» Somebody even directly pointed out that our motivation is no more than a little fame and an attractive résumé. In many ways, I love such straightforward criticism, because it makes us clearer about our aims, clearer about why we are achieving the dream. Perhaps after enjoying the whole magazine, you can find out all the answers to your question about AVO.

However, publishing a magazine is not as unearned as printing a fake diploma on the sidewalk or forging some experience, nor as stressful as striving for a university or a job. Being idealistic yet realistic, we regard AVO as a career beyond the classroom; every step that we put our energy on is not only stayed on magazine-making, but also advanced into the process of self-learning.

At school cafeteria, Starbucks, pizza stores, the Library of UBC, you could find our designers everywhere working until midnight. We, as high school students, have never received professional training on magazine designing, and all the software operations rely on our endless groping. We held different artistic standards; most often we argued drastically on pixels of colours, yet sometimes we simultaneously reached a concurrence and celebrate with high-fives. We threw the designs, which cost us two weeks of effort, into the trash bin. Though very reluctant, we had to be heartless to reach the perfection. Time has passed through noisy lunchtimes, indolent afternoons, and tranquil nights, slipped over the discussions, beside the references, and beneath the computer screen. It has been four months since we first brought up the tentative idea on a presentation of Photo Club. All of these are like a dream, but the dream has never been soul-stirring; under pressures from outside and inside, we imperturbably and carefully protect our dream.

The publication of the magazine not only represents the elaboration of students’ creativity, but also showcases the entrepreneurship and the mastery of business knowledge of high school students. Since the magazine is distributed freely, which undoubtedly exacerbates AVO’s economic burden, our top difficulty is to seek sponsors. We made phone calls, sent emails, and even negotiated face-to-face. Some businesses showed their high interest, some were unwilling to co-operate, but most commonly we could not hear any reply. At that time, the whole AVO team was nearly desperate. As capital is the foundation of any project, with far insufficient capital, the magazine had no way to be published, and all the efforts would become futile. We set up fundraisers, sold sushi, bubble tea, and wristbands. We were doing things that are irrelevant to the magazine, just for saving enough money to present our precious production in front of the public. We said, «we must publish the magazine even if we put in our own money!» One example suffices to prove our determination.

At last, I would like to express gracious thanks to our school, Lord Byng Secondary School, and our teachers. We could have done nothing without school’s support and teachers’ suggestions and guidance. Thanks again to all the students that have been working together in the magazine group.

AVO, it is a dreamlike start.