CornHole is one of the latest additions to Concordia’s growing list of student organizations. While some Cobbers may associate the organization with the well-known Midwestern outdoor activity of the same name, it is actually Concordia’s first online satirical publication.
CornHole was officially approved as a student organization by Student Government Association’s Student Involvement Council on Sunday, Sept. 17. Junior Emma Garton and Senior Erick Knudson teamed up to make this happen after realizing their mutual love for satirical humor.
“We both love websites like ClickHole and The Onion and we were talking about them when we came up with the idea of having something like that for Concordia,” Garton said. “I love writing and I love humor, so it seemed like a good fit.”
Similar to publications like The Onion and ClickHole, CornHole will offer a variety of satirical articles written by Cobbers. According to Garton, the website, now up and running at cornholeconco.org, will have new articles each day beginning in October.
Many students have already signed up to become regular content writers for the publication. At just over one week old, CornHole also has a fairly large group of students working on an executive team to keep the publication running. This includes writers, editors, a social media/marketing member, and graphic/web designers.
Sophomore Afton Eisch, a graphic designer for CornHole, says she joined because of Garton’s vision for the publication. Eisch will be helping to create the image content that goes along with writers’ articles.
“I’ll be making poorly photoshopped pictures to go along with the articles our writers produce. I also made the logo, the two colors in the logo are the complimentary colors to Concordia’s maroon and gold – so the logo itself is a parody,” Eisch said.
As for how to get informed about CornHole apart from their website, senior Sean Fee, the student in charge of social media and marketing for the publication, says to follow CornHole on social media. That is where most of the articles and information will be publicized.
“I am excited that I will get to see it grow over the course of the year. I also can’t wait to see the student body’s response,” Fee said.
While the articles are intended to be funny, Garton hopes that Cornhole will bring more than laughter to Concordia’s campus.
“Satire is a fun way of shedding light on some serious topics. I think we could really encourage some dialogue about issues on campus and in the community,” Garton said. “I’m really excited to see how we can we can build this up.”
The whole CornHole team is enthusiastic about the publication’s future at Concordia. As an editor for CornHole, junior Christopher Cartwright believes Concordia is especially in need of this type of publication.
“There are so many hilarious students at Concordia, and to see what kind of content they’re going to come up with makes me so eager to get the website up and running … CornHole is something that Concordia needed, especially in these times of unrest in the world. I think we all need a reminder to let loose every once in awhile and laugh,” Cartwright said.
As a published playwright for his one-act comedic play, “Awaiting Patients,” Cartwright will work with writers as an editor to create the best content they can.
“As a playwright, I have a lot of experience in comedic and satirical writing, so I’m thrilled to experience other students’ work,” Cartwright said.
Students who enjoy satirical writing may remember that The Concordian publishes a satirical paper each year around April Fools’ Day. It may not come as a surprise, then, that Garton plans for CornHole is to do the exact opposite: publish serious articles on April Fools’ day.
