Club Spotlight: Pendulum
Eilena Ding / The Exonian
By ANGELA HE, MARVIN SHIM, GRACE YANG, and JADE YOO
The soft murmur of voices fills Elm’s mezzanine as Exonians share poetry and ideas around the table. Every Sunday at 10 a.m., Pendulum—Phillips Exeter Academy’s longest-running magazine club—gathers a passionate group of writers to celebrate and explore the art of creative expression.
Upper Sophie Yu, one of Pendulum’s editors-in-chief, described the meetings as a laid-back yet inspiring start to the day. “Anyone can bring in a piece—whether it’s a poem, artwork, or something else. We get breakfast, have a discussion about what we like or didn’t like, and then spend the second half writing or working on personal projects,” Yu explained. “It’s a really chill and supportive space.”
“We discuss short stories, poems, photography, anything for inspiration. We look at the techniques that the artists of old used and what motivated them, and how perhaps we could be motivated by the same things in our own art,” senior Ethan Ding, another of the magazine’s editors-in-chief, shared. “The sunlight shines in through the mezzanine windows in the early morning, so it’s a really peaceful time,” he added, attributing the productive meetings to the location.
A highlight of Pendulum’s traditions is its annual themed magazine, showcasing a variety of student submissions. This year’s theme, “Apocalypse,” fits with the winter season and state of the world, giving contributors plenty of room to get creative. “Submissions range from flash fiction to poetry to hybrid forms,” Yu said. “It’s exciting to see how creative students get with their interpretations.” As Exonians seize the opportunity to display their work, the editors play a vital role in sifting through all the submissions and arranging pieces in an engaging and cohesive way.
Amy Lin, a senior and club co-head of Pendulum, agreed, “It’s a really nice community to be in, where we all already know each other, and we feel close enough to have these discussions on pieces because everyone there genuinely loves literature and loves reading and discussing these pieces. I think the whole environment just feels very comfortable and understanding because everyone brings their own perspective but has the same passion.”
While Pendulum remains a creative outlet for its members, Yu noted some challenges the club faces. “When I joined as a prep, meetings were packed where almost the entire table was constantly filled, and then, in my lower year, there were fewer and fewer as people started graduating. So I feel like there’s a decreasing interest in that aspect,” she admitted. To address this, the club has been brainstorming ways to attract more members.
“Some people think the club is intimidating, but it’s not. You don’t need to have perfectly polished ideas to participate; it’s a space for half-baked thoughts,” Yu said. The club is also working on improving its outreach. “We’ve started an Instagram page, and we’ve been trying to up it by doing more bonding things and using our club funds toward not just printing.”
“It’s not serious, it’s not stressful. It’s not a high-pressure commitment or another thing to tick off on the agenda. Pendulum is really just a time set aside to talk together in a relaxed environment and talk about our personal experiences. The art, the literature, and the poetry that we discuss serve as that kind of bridge,” Ding continued.
Many members of Pendulum join purely because of their love for literature. Lin echoed this, saying, “Ever since I was little, I loved reading. And that led to me writing and expressing myself through writing. So, Pendulum is the perfect space to do that, where we read pieces, and I get to read multiple genres because everyone there brings different genres and different interests. I even ask questions if I don’t understand certain things.”
For Yu, Lin, and many others, Pendulum is a meaningful escape, offering a chance to be creative in Exeter’s fast-paced academic life. “This club made me feel grounded and that I had a space to write,” Yu shared. “People constantly are submitting to magazines, trying to get into summer internships, and it’s just a difficult time for you to feel inspired and motivated to write. So when I first went, it was a space for me to tap into my writing self, which was hard because balancing schoolwork, academics, and extracurriculars is difficult.”
As the club continues to adapt and grow, Yu encourages more students to join. “Despite the early hours, don’t be afraid to join,” she said. Pendulum is a space for anyone who loves art, writing, or being creative in general.
“Poetry is something really special because there’s so much meaning that is kind of limited by the way the words can be put together. It’s all about impressions and the communication of ideas or feelings,” Ding noted. “An author has a special feeling or an idea or an emotion that they want to convey that perhaps they can’t really get across through words. But through poetry, it’s more abstract, and it’s not reading a script or a novel or anything. It’s a really powerful skill and idea, and that’s what makes poetry beautiful.”
Lin added that Pendulum let her realize that self-expression or art comes in many different forms. She recalled a meeting where “everyone went around and played a song that was really significant to them at a certain point in their lives, and we also talked about the songs, such as the melody and its lyrics.” Lin summarized, “Seeing literature and doing literature in different ways is what makes up Pendulum.”
“We consider anything, and there’s always a place for art in the publication. Any short story, any essay, any personal narrative, any photographs, any art that one has created. It’s really nice to have a place for art to be appreciated. Pendulum is stored in the archives, so it serves as a place for anyone to dedicate their art and for it to be appreciated,” Ding commented.
With its upcoming magazine release, Pendulum is set to highlight the remarkable creativity of Exeter students once again.
