so many fonts... so many colors! it took me a while to find a combo of blue and orange that was not so hard on the eyes. i think this font works with the scheme, non?
this the poem that got honorable mention in the english department contest (it was from a poetry class i took in like spring 20o1 i think):
On Page Twenty-Six
On page twenty-six,
in book twenty-six,
we start our journey seven-hundred and fifty years back.
We greet Sundiata the great
hero, sun of West Africa,
king of Mandingo,
founder of Mali,
foundation layer
for an empire stretching
from the Atlantic to Nigeria.
He leads us down
to the Sundrop, which tries to lure
us through the Atlantic
and past Europe
to the Evening Primrose—its true identity—
which we avert by swimming down
to join the Sunfish:
the big mouth bass, the small mouth bass—
they get aggressive in spawning—
the blue gill, the green, the pumpkin seed—
the male fish guard the babies—
the crappies, the dwarfs, the hybridized—
whose lives can span 10 years.
For a breath,
to break from the water
and the crowding school of thirty species,
we ascend the Kansas state flower,
whose seeds we eat, whose oil we use for salad and margarine
and candy—Better than roses: we have two gifts in one,
and just imagine how amazing,
a bouquet of flowers fifteen feet tall.
We finish our snacks and practical romancing
to scale down
the yellow flower that turns to the light
into the blossoming Sung Dynasty
where the Chinese flourish—
artsy: poetry, porcelain, painting;
money: farming, trading, and tech.
Until we’re invaded
by Kublai Khan and must
make our escape
down the Sungari.
We float
carried by the Heavenly River,
the waters of the Chinese Sanghwa Kiang
that brings us through the Changpai Mountains
to the tributary’s end at Fuyi.
Then we say our goodbyes
toSundiata and Sundrops,
to Sunfish and Sunflowers,
and to the Sung Dynasty which finds
its end where our journey
concludes on page twenty-seven.
this is what the judge, Robin Ekiss, said about it:
“On Page Twenty-Six” has an ambitious historical scope that’s tempered in its frame by the musicality of words and the cleverness of a keenly observed language at play in the world.
My paper that got honorable mention in the critical essay category was "Capsizing Christian Doctrine: The Heavenly Virtues of Satan in Milton's Paradise Lost", it's too long to post here and i'm sure a lot of people would not go through the pain of reading through it, but what the judge, Kristen Kennedy, had to say will give you the gist of the paper:
The writer took on the enjoyable task of revealing Satan’s complexity as a character in Milton’s Paradise Lost to highlight a reading of the “juxtaposition of evil and virtue” that runs against most traditional interpretations of the Fall. The strength here is in the writer’s careful treatment of several key passages to create a sympathetic reading of Satan. Contrary to Christian doctrine, he is, as the writer portrays, a tragic figure charged with the burden of safeguarding the welfare of his followers who have rejected God.
this is the picture that got accepted into the Ignatian Literary Magazine (my school's mag), it's called "Clutter":
this is the poem that got accepted into the Ignatian:
Nine Days after Chemotherapy
in a January Twilight
Oatmeal thinned
by too much
milk and toast with
barely
a tear of crust missing.
Your legs—once so swollen
you didn’t
have ankles and blisters bubbled
on your thighs and burst—
are as small
as my forearms and your arms
are as small
as my wrists.
And the moaning
and the low cries feel cold
in the buzzing of too late
to be night,
too early for mourning.
I want to make you
delirious with morphine.
So your pupils dilate and you grin.
I’d press against a wall of needles
and sever
all feeling, if it meant
your bruised arms
would finally heal.
this is the piece that got accepted in the Thacher Student Show, "Meditating on the Annunciation":
), plus i got 2 books: "Good Poems" and "The Best American Nonrequired Reading." for once, "not the best, but good in several" feels awesome. man, i'm sad that i'm graduating in 9 days. well technically, less than 9 days, more like 8 1/2 days. it's scary.
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