Eli Epstein-Deutsch '10 Debuts
The Night Café, Prepares for Next Issue

by Mary Prager '11
04/04/2008

Likened by founder Eli Epstein-Deutsch '10 to publications like The New Yorker, the inaugural edition of The Night Café, Swat's newest student publication, debuted in early March at a reception in the LPAC lobby. Unlike other creative venues at Swat, The Night Café, co-edited by Marina Templesman '10, features longer essays and works of both fiction and non-fiction, art, photography featuring the Philadelphia scene, science in lay-man's terms, and more.

The Night Café debuted in March to wide acclaim.

 Nathan Wainstein '11, who wrote about an interview with Philadelphia playwright Michael Hollinger, found in The Night Café a freedom not offered in publications. "The best part about the The Night Café is its freedom," he says. "There's incredible room for creativity. Writers can basically do whatever excites them. Art, movies, science, whatever. That it isn't confined to the college really makes anything possible. You can really get deep into your piece, go explore cities and museums and theaters, really live your stuff. You end up with a vibrant fusion of writing."

Comprising a several-page reprieve from words, photographs by Robin Lipp '10 of a Darfur protest rally in Philadelphia offered viewers a glimpse into what Lipp describes as a "tension between action and inaction, portrayed through action." Originally for a black and white photography class Lipp took last year, the photographs represented Lipp's capture of images to match an idea. "For this rally against the genocide in Darfur, one idea that kept coming up was a sense of cynical frustration mixed with hope," she says. "On the one hand, the people were there to help end a genocide. On the other hand, there were only a few hundred people in all of Philadelphia who decided to show up. People wanted to do something, but they were caught between a desire to act and a feeling of helplessness."

Eli Epstein-Deutsch '10

Overall, Epstein-Deutsch is more than pleased with The Night Café. "The final product definitely exceeded my expectations," he says. "I think the magazine looks great, and I am generally happy with the quality of the articles. The people who worked with me are very talented and put in a lot of effort. I'm especially indebted to our designer, Jimmy Jin '10, who executed a very professional job on a somewhat insane time schedule. I am also pleased to have the wide variety of genres and styles that we do in this first issue. I'm hoping that this magazine will expand people's notion of the kind of writing it is possible to have published here at Swat."

For the next edition, Epstein-Deutsch hopes to include articles on science and technology and pieces on urban life and culture in Philadelphia. "One intended focus of The Night Café is the relationship between Swarthmore College and the city it happens to perch alongside," he says.

The submission deadline for the next edition of The Night Café is April 10th.