Interview – Dr. Nancy McCabe Reflects on Baily’s Beads
The shelves of Dr. Nancy McCabe’s office are lined with calico corn rows of assorted book spines, stacked vertically and horizontally—decades of an author’s expertise and centuries of literary framework giving rise to a writer’s passion. On her desk is an assortment of her recently published novels and those soon to hit readers’ shelves. The uppermost shelves, once home to many works, are empty. She has begun the process of passing the torch, and with it, her collection of literature. A team of staff members from Baily’s Beads sits across from her, there to capture her feelings on the history of Baily’s Beads and her advice to the publication’s future staff.
Dr. Nancy McCabe, Professor of Writing at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford and former advisor of the Baily’s Beads literary magazine, was first hired in 2001, where she took over as the advisor for Baily’s Beads. “That was just part of my duties,” she tells the magazine’s staff. Before her stint as an advisor, the magazine was advised by an adjunct professor while being offered as a class. To first learn more about the magazine, Dr. McCabe initially joined the group working on it. The following year, she officially took over as the magazine’s advisor.
Throughout the thirty-year history of the magazine, the Baily’s Beads has undergone a litany of changes and encountered its own unique issues. “Every staff has done different innovative things,” Dr. McCabe shares. “One year, they all decided they wanted to do a comic book themed issue.” She motions to a copy of the issue placed on her shelf. The pages large and colorless but teeming with passion. “That created a lot of issues because it cost more to do a nonstandard size,” Dr. McCabe says. “So, this one was expensive. We did no internal color because we couldn’t afford it once we did the larger size.” She goes on to discuss the different ways the staff have attracted artistic submissions, a task the magazine originally struggled with: “They designed one competition that was a ‘day in the life of Bradford.’ People checked in on Saturday morning, and we checked out cameras to people. Then, they took pictures around Bradford and submitted those. Whenever the staff came up with new, innovative ideas, those were always my favorite times.”
One year, the magazine did a ‘Kid’s Corner’ section of the publication. This issue of the magazine took a variety of submissions from children from around many schools and is one of Dr. McCabe’s fondest memories. “My favorite submission was called ‘Oh Alligators,” Dr. McCabe notes. “The subtitle was: ‘to be sung to the tune of ‘Oh Christmas Tree.’’ So, I made the class sing it.” She laughs. That year, children who submitted pieces showed up to the magazine’s release party and read their pieces. “They had to stand on chairs to reach the microphones to read their pieces. It was just incredibly cute.”
When asked to reflect on changes in trends and the future of the magazine, Dr. McCabe gives a surprising answer. She notes that students who submit work have become more directly confrontational, confronting issues related to race, gender, and sexuality, with more work straying from typical heteronormative content. However, for three decades now, writers at Baily’s Beads have maintained a pattern, confronting social and political issues through the lens creative writing, a trend that may never change. As for the future of the magazine, Dr. McCabe offers this advice to future editors, published writers, and advisors: “It’s important that we keep the things we’re known for, like thorough editing and careful and thoughtful editing of people’s works. There’s just so much stuff that can be done. I would say that I hope that the staff never becomes stagnant and keeps looking for ways to innovate.”
The staff at Baily’s Beads offer a special thank you to Dr. McCabe for her mentoring, support, and encouragement. Dr. McCabe has influenced decades of publications with her craft expertise and industry knowledge, and the magazine would not have its long history of award-winning prose and poetry without her influence. We at Baily’s Beads hope to honor her legacy with this 30th anniversary edition of the magazine.