TRASH ART. SCAVENGER HUNT. DIY.
This is how Morgan Webb, the founder and editor-in-chief of RatTrap Magazine, describes her annual literary publication, established in 2024 in Moline. With each hand-bound page, Webb and her team breathe life into the local art scene, providing a necessary outlet for Quad City creatives, including Augustana students.
Webb said “RatTrap” is inspired by the Ida B. Wells quote, “One had better die fighting against injustice than die like a dog or rat in a trap.” In a culture that celebrates hustling and individualism, Webb said that RatTrap and its slow, intentional production process and intense community building are her form of activism.
“The act of creating is revolutionary. To take the time to create something, to spend that time working with yourself,” Webb said. “Our day-to-day doesn’t really allow time for ourselves or anything that isn’t work or being ‘on the grind.’ To be able to take that time is a revolution in and of itself.”
To make the publication feel authentic, Webb knew every bit of it needed to be handcrafted. She said she learned how to make paper from scratch and bind books on the floor of her apartment.
In 2024, Webb left handmade zines in locations around the Quad Cities, inviting complete strangers to apply to become part of a volunteer staff. Later, she said there was a “glow” that occurred when her staff came together to work on the issue for the first time. RatTrap’s first issue with a full staff was published Aug. 2025.
Several Augustana students were featured in that first issue. First-Year George Young, who had three poems published, said the community that RatTrap fosters through in-person events like launch parties, readings and yard sales is his favorite part of the publication.
“It’s all so exciting and welcoming. You’re all there in the moment. It’s a very safe space that’s hard to find anywhere else,” Young said.
That safe space is only formed because RatTrap deeply values its writers and welcomes personal stories and pieces. Although writers of all ages have submitted to RatTrap, this no-judgement zone holds particular appeal for college writers, such as Young.
Students who feel that their professors expect something very specific from their writing or fear judgment of their work have found heightened creativity in the chance to write raw, unfiltered or even shocking things freely. Junior Olivia Fleming said she grew up feeling that her love of writing stories with dark, surreal themes would never find an audience —until she submitted to RatTrap last year.
“I was told that people wouldn’t want to read my work…I felt that I had to write in a more ‘normal style’ that didn’t really feel like me,” Fleming said. “RatTrap takes this thing that I was always told was wrong and celebrates it instead.”
The theme of this year’s issue is “Liberation,” which explores writing and creativity as acts that set one free, especially in a time where everyone is trying to free or protect themselves from something. The theme is an invitation to tell your own story and the story of your community’s authentic struggles and joys.
In the midst of receiving submissions for the issue, Webb said that seeing the natural creativity of so many unique voices has been wonderful and urged more writers to get involved.
“It’s a very vulnerable thing, to throw your work into the abyss and hope that strangers like it. Do it anyway,” Webb said.
Webb hosts bi-monthly writing workshops on the second and fourth Wednesdays from 1-3 p.m. at The Atlas Collective in Moline. Submissions for RatTrap’s second issue can be emailed to [email protected] until Nov. 30, 2025.
