2019 Writing Awards
Vic Bob Award
Meredith Vandebunte | Junior
"Working My Way Through" An Excerpt
Lizzie and I were leaning over our bathroom sink, side by side, applying makeup. I was
bringing liquid black eyeliner across the line of my dark eyelashes when I suddenly
blurted out, “Lizzie, I cut myself this fall.”
I don’t know what the hell I was thinking, telling her that.
She immediately stopped what she was doing, gold eyeshadow half applied to her eyes,
“Mere... that’s not...that’s not healthy”. Well, yeah. Why the fuck did I just tell you that.
“It’s okay, though, I’m better now. I promise” I desperately conveyed. “Don’t you DARE
tell Mom about this, otherwise she’ll take me home. Promise.”
*
After some sniffing around–talking to my RA's, my RD, my principal, my doctor, and
undoubtedly Lizzie– my mom had discovered the self-harm and that something had
happened to me during the fall (which she would eventually learn was the sexual assault).
Within 24 hours, my stepdad and my sister's fiancé had my entire bedroom packed up and
I was on the road back to Michigan. When given the option between flying home with my
mom or driving back in my car with my stepdad, I promptly responded, “I hate you. I’m
driving home with Chris.” And I did. I hated her for taking me out of the place that I had
made myself a home. At that time, my hometown in Michigan was not my true place of
home. It’s a town full of uptight, judgmental people and it’s where I spent my crappy
beginning childhood. And so, the entire drive back to Michigan I slept, and during the times
I was awake, I planned how I’d kill myself.
I didn’t do it when I got back to Michigan, because I knew we were going to my papa’s
house in Florida for spring break and I needed to be there. Florida had been my refuge since
I was born, my mom used to fly us there for a week or two at a time to escape my dad. After
spending a long 10 days in Florida for spring break, the sun had renewed that tiny bit of my
will to live.
Which brings me to this chair. This goddamn chair that’s really seen my life unfold
all of these years.
“Mere?” nudged Dr. Steve.
I snapped out of my thoughts of the past month. Or this past school year, actually. It had
all been shit.
“Are you ready to see the results of your psychological evaluation?” he asked. His eyes
held sadness, and I knew what the fucking evaluation was going to say. I could’ve self-diagnosed
myself a long time ago.
My parents sat at the edge of their seats, ready to receive this piece of paper. Oh my gosh,
this is hilarious. They’re ACTUALLY excited to see this. I inwardly laughed with myself.
Somewhere during all that I thoughtlessly replied “yes”.
“Well, to begin, I need to explain the criteria for a diagnosis,” He said, shifting from one foot
to another. For a psychologist, he wasn’t hiding his reaction very well.
“When something is elevated to a 60, it’s like a yellow light. It’s pretty concerning.”
My parents nodded.
“When something is up to a 70, it’s like a red light. It’s for sure diagnosable”
My parents nodded their heads, less vigorous this time.
“When something is an 80, it’s extremely concerning. Lots of red flags,”
I smirked.
“Mere’s depressive category is at a 99,” Dr. Steve finally said.
Silence hung in the room. I cried no tears.
*
“Mere, generally speaking, people cut themselves for three reasons,” Dr. Steve explained,
“for curiosity, for attention, and for relief for the deep level of sadness they feel.” I wished
my parents weren’t in the room, looking at me with that level of hurt in their eyes.
“For relief… definitely for relief” I said. And for attention, too. Please for the love of God,
someone save me. I’m dying.
Laura Bloxham Award
Bryn Cavin
Pam Parker Award
Alanna Carlson | Sophomore
“Retroactive Christian Conversion in Medieval Texts” An Excerpt
In both Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the retroactive conversion of their
respective cultures is done so well as to not draw immediate question to itself, yet a close look at
historical timelines will show that the Christianity portrayed in both texts was almost entirely
nonexistent in the cultures on which the texts center. In Scandinavia, Christianity was not
well-established until somewhere between the mid-11th to mid-12th century CE, despite missions
to the area as early as the 8th century—well after the events portrayed in Beowulf (Williams).
In his commentary on his Beowulf translation, Tolkien writes that Hrothgar’s sermon “is too
‘Christian’ in colouring for the good pre-Christian patriarch, Hrothgar” (Tolkien & Tolkien
Beowulf 308). Christianity came to Britain much earlier—around the late 6th century with the
mission of Augustine in 597 CE—yet this still means that the society about which the Gawain
poet is writing would not be majority Christian for roughly 100 years after the events of the text
("Religions - Christianity: Christianity in Britain"). Why, then, did the authors of each text so
thoroughly retcon the Christianity of their respective subjects’ cultures?
The simple answer is that this retroactive Christian conversion within literature of these
cultures had the potential to solidify Christianity’s legitimacy in periods in which each author is
writing and to pave the way for continued contemporary Christian conversion. Solid evidence for
this theory exists in the fact that each of these poems are contained within manuscripts that also
contain other overtly Christian themes and language. The surviving Beowulf manuscript also
contains a homily on St Christopher ("Beowulf"). The manuscript in which Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight is found has three more poems—Pearl, Cleanness, and Patience—all three of which
are concerned explicitly with Christian topics ("Sir Gawain and the Green Knight"). Sandwiching
these texts, which are blends of the pre-Christian religious of the respective cultures of each text
with Christian ideology and iconography—Tolkien refers to Beowulf as “a blending [of]… both
new faith and new learning (or education), and also a body of native tradition (itself requiring to
be learned) for the changed mind to contemplate together” (Tolkien Beowulf, the monsters and the
critics 19-20)—serves to couch these stories of pre-Christian cultures in Christian mythology. This
blurring of lines between Christian and pre-Christian time periods helps establish the illusion of
a longer Christian tradition in both Britain and Scandinavia than that which actually exists.
This in turn had the possibility of making continued conversion in the current time periods
of the poets easier. This seems especially true for the Beowulf poet, as some estimates put the original
composition of the poem around the 9th century CE—only about 100 years after the first Christian
missions to Scandinavian countries (Fiorentino). If the Beowulf poet’s goal was to write a poem that
might soften Scandinavian peoples to Christian conversion, Beowulf’s blending of Scandinavian
pagan traditions and history with Christian motifs seems a likely way in which to do so. In his
commentary on his translation of Beowulf, Tolkien writes that “the fusion (at any rate, that which
we find in Beowulf) is certainly not that of a pagan who remembers a few items from early sermons.
It is the product… of learning, of a man or men who could read Scripture, who had with their eyes
read the Latin words” (Tolkien & Tolkien Beowulf 307). In other words, Beowulf was likely written
by an English Christian poet who knowledgeably and purposefully wove together Christian and
pre-Christian ideas to create a poem that would help pagan cultures more easily accept Christianity.
Tolkien himself seems rather interested in this retroactive conversion by the Beowulf and
Gawain poets, and discusses the fusion of Christian and pre-Christian beliefs in Beowulf at length in
both his Beowulf commentary and his lecture, “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics.” Tolkien does
not seem bothered by this fusion, acknowledging the retconning of the Beowulf poet without
condemning it. He notes in his commentary, “Points of contact between pagan belief and Scripture…
particularly interested [the Beowulf poet]. He linked and commented on them… But he cut out the
names of the heathen deities. Why? Because he believed they were lies; and because he believed that
people like Hrothgar knew it, and only had recourse to heathen gods and their idols when under
special temptation by the Devil” (Tolkien & Tolkien Beowulf 172).
Best Multimodal Composition
Emma Torkelson
Best Lower Division Research Paper
Jacob Floyd | Freshman
"Masterclass Mediocrity" An Excerpt
Superhero films have evolved the same way all of man’s creations have advanced with
time. The original 1978 film Superman is a gold standard of this era. Current generation
blockbuster hits include: The Dark knight, Sam Raimi’s Spiderman 2, Captain America Civil
War, Spiderman Homecoming, Avengers Infinity war, and Disney Pixar’s The Incredibles
. It is clear how Superhero’s with societal flaws have merged their way into the hearts of
fans. This was well explained by Joe Quesada when he said “You have to show the human
side of the costumed character. You can't have the character in costume always have the
victory well in hand because that situation gets played out after a while” (B. Robinson).
The humanity that lies within a hero is what allows an audience to see a little bit of
themselves in the story.
Review Disney Pixar’s The Incredibles. A brilliantly animated film written and directed
by Brad Bird released in 2004. In this film Mr. Incredible (also known as Bob Par) has
lost his heroic identity and is working in a cubicle at an “Insuricare” trying to maintain
his sanity. His wife Alastigirl (also known as Helen Par), is a stay at home mom trying
to take care of her three children. The humanity of this superpowered family is shown
in the dinner table scene early in this film. We see a mother in the midst’s of exchanging
exotic facial expressions with her toddler. We then observe her second youngest child,
Dash, avoid discussion regarding his school day. Without being noticed, Dash had
pranked his elementary school teacher by using his superspeed to place a thumbtack on
the educator’s chair. Dash brings up his older sister Violet’s crush, Tony Rydinger, to evade
this topic. Violet expresses her frustration through aggressive nonverbals. Helen
desperately tries to control the situation and extinguish the tension by signaling her
husband Bob to intervene. We then recognize Bob has completely disassociated from
the family strain through the barbaric cutting of his son’s steak. Mr. Incredible slices
through his son’s dinner plate damaging the dining table. Consequently, Bob leaves the
room engulfed in his own irritations. Shortly thereafter Dash mocks his sister by saying,
“she’d eat if we were having Tony loaf,” (The Incredibles) paired with an insulting smirk
only a 10-year-old younger brother can produce. Instantly, Violet plunges across the
dining table to tackle her brother while knocking over the family cutlery. Using his
superspeed, Dash begins to loop circles around the room slapping his sister with each
rotation. Violet then creates a forcefield that Dash inevitably runs directly into, and
the mother uses her super elasticity powers in attempt to separate her fighting children.
Within seconds the siblings have broken into a full-blown brawl as Helen is crying out
her husband Bob to intervene. The toddler Jack Jack begins to scream as the disarray of
family induced chaos continues to grow increasingly out of hand. Bob fiercely enters the
room shouting “You want me to intervene?! Okay I’m intervening!” and hoists the family
dinner table with all of its members attached. With the simple ring of the doorbell this
superpower equipped family instantly returns to their appropriate dinner positions as
if nothing ever occurred. This is a comedic scene that adds a lot of value to the film. This
is because an audience can relate with the scene. The humanity of this family is well stated
by Robinson in his essay The Incredibles’ Incredible focus on the family when he writes,
“Bob wants to be a hero again; Helen wants him involved with the family and their
marriage. Their older daughter Violet is shy and awkward, but has a crush on a classmate
she can’t look in the eye; their son Dash is a show-off who just wants to fully exercise his
superspeed powers” (T. Robinson). The Incredibles are indeed Supers, but they behave a
lot like us. In this example their powers are under direct control of their human flawed
emotions. The Incredibles family may be a superpowered family, but they are also a
normal family. They have insecurities, frustrations, and anger. It is in this appeal to
human imperfections that Disney Pixar’s The Incredibles attains its ability to convey
several real-life lessons communicated throughout the film.
Best Poetry
Gabriel Meek | Junior
The Threat
Because I run, I know the stories—
race cancelled in Alaska due to bear crossing
man hit by discus during track and field event
three relay participants struck by drunk driver
University of Iowa runner abducted and killed
teen runner found dead at bottom of South Hill bluff
three killed, 264 wounded in Boston marathon bombing
Pheidippides collapsed and died after 26.2 mile run from Marathon to Athens
VA surgeon Marshall’s body found in Spokane River after disappearing during run
The day Marshall went missing, I ran
across the same bridge he did.
When I run downtown I pass people who could take me out and I think—
I wear skimpy short shorts
I have no wallet
I have no phone
I am thinner than twigs
I think, I see you, you intimidate me,
but the one thing I can tell you is
I need to be here—I have to be free.
It is possible that one day—
I will lace up my shoes
my rubber soles will hit the earth at a steady beat
180 times per minute
I will do my best to prepare
I will wear reflective clothing
I will go a way I know but
I will not finish my run
they will find me and look at my bracelet to see
who I am
who to call.
Best Essay
Alanna Carlson | Sophomore
“Non-denominational” An Excerpt
“I… I’m… pregnant,” I stuttered out, hanging my head so that I wouldn’t have to see her
face as I said it.
We were gathered in the bedroom I shared with my little sister. My mom and I were
sitting on my bed, Kevin’s mother sitting on my little sister’s bed, the pastor’s wife standing
by my dresser, leaning against it with her arms crossed. Everyone looked at me with wary,
expectant expressions, waiting for me to confess. In that moment, I felt like a chastised
toddler, being made to come clean and apologize for coloring on the wall, the adults in the
room asking me, Is there anything you want to tell me about? in that way that parents do
when they already know what you’ve done. My mom and Kevin’s already knew what was
going on, and to this day I do not know for sure that the pastor’s wife didn’t already know
as well. Before I even opened my mouth, she seemed to be looking at me with disappointment
and judgment in her eyes, though perhaps I was projecting the shame I felt onto the people in
the room, seeing it mirrored back to me in the unique way that only self-hatred can do.
She sighed through her nose in the way I’d heard her do with her own kids when she
was frustrated with them. Then, “Well, it could be worse. At least you didn’t get an abortion.”
My head snapped up, alarm and distress causing me to answer before my mind could
fully catch up, “Never!”
Her face, schooled into an impassive mask, was impossible to read. The only emotion she
showed was through the slight raising of one eyebrow as she said pointedly, “You say ‘never,’
but there are a lot of lines you’ve already crossed, aren’t there?”
I felt the shame rise inside me, my face going hot and my vision blurring around the
edges with the force of it. I gripped the comforter beneath me in an attempt to ground
myself and stayed silent. What could I even say to that? I hung my head again, trying to calm
my racing heart and waiting for the heat to leave my face as I listened to these three women
who were supposed to be in my corner discuss my mistakes and what to do about my
“predicament.” (Yes, one of them literally used the word “predicament.” No, I don’t remember
which of them it was.)
…
The final straw came a few months after I broke up with Kevin. Things had gone from bad
to worse in our relationship, and I had finally decided—for many right reasons and some wrong
ones—to end it. I felt as good as I could about the decision, believing it to be the right one despite
the dramatic and lasting effects that I knew it would have both on my own life and my then
one-year-old son.
One morning, I was checking my email before heading to school, sitting at our kitchen bar
with my legs crossed underneath me on the seat. While I was deleting endless spam, I received
an email from a church member. I remember with weird clarity the fact that the email had no
subject line, though I didn’t really mark it as odd at the time. This specific congregant was one
of the few who had not given me the cold shoulder when the news of my pregnancy became
public, and his occasional speeches were far more tolerable than most. Because of this, I did not
suspect that the contents of this email would be anything like what I found.
I clicked on the email to open it and began reading. The more I read, the more sick to my
stomach I became. I could feel my face heating. My hands began to shake. This email, sent from
someone whom I had believed was on my side, amounted to a few hundred words about why I
should “swallow my pride” and marry Kevin “for your little boy’s sake,” peppered with Bible
verses and appeals to “what God wants.”
I couldn’t even read the whole thing. I slammed my laptop shut. Leaning back until the bar
stool rocked back on two legs, I stared at our white popcorn ceiling, trying to get breathing to
slow and my mind to calm by counting the little popcorn bumps. I was disgusted and heartsick.
I couldn’t tell if the heat in my face and the roiling in my stomach were from anger or shame, and
I felt like screaming and crying and vomiting all at once. I had prayed and read my Bible and
meditated on my choice to leave Kevin for weeks before I did so, desperately trying to find a way
to convince myself that the toxic, abusive relationship we were in was better than being a single
mom. Sitting there at that kitchen counter, I flashed back to shortly before our breakup.
…
I didn’t show up for church service the next Sunday, and I haven’t been back to that church since.
Best Paper Writing I
Jake Wuthrich | Freshman
"Wildfires and Their Beneficial Relationships with Forest Ecosystems" An Excerpt
Wildfire has been common in North America for hundreds of years from naturally caused, manmade, and purposeful
starts. For decades, politicians and scientists alike convinced the public that all wildfires are bad and always have negative
impacts on surrounding ecosystems. More recently scientists have learned that wildfires can have considerable positive
effects. “Wildland fire is a natural process--it is an agent of change, not of good or evil. Many disturbance forces, including
fires…have an impact in an ecosystem” (“Fire Ecology and Monitoring,” 2017). From increased pollination, habitat
regeneration, and weeding out unhealthy trees to increased air pollution and mass habitat destruction, forest fires have
a variety of effects on a number ecosystems, many of which are beneficial to the maintenance of healthy communities.
Wildland fire is a tricky subject. It is controversial because not everyone believes it’s the right answer to the
problems that forests are facing today. In some situations, it's not. Wildfires are not the end-all-be-all solution, however,
if action is not taken today concerning spreading the truth about wildfires, our cherished national parks, wilderness
areas, and wildlife refuges will be in danger. Our future generations will struggle without these places for hiking, fishing,
camping, and enjoying nature among other recreational uses, and if strong action is not taken in favor of wildfire and its
check on forests, it will be a hard reality to face.
This research driven paper will discuss climate change and its impact on fires, how smaller fires prevent large fires,
the flora and fauna relationship with fire, ecosystems & fire and wildfires and their effect on air quality.
Climate Change and Its Impact on Fires
As wildfires have become increasingly common, largely due to increasing temperatures through climate change (“Is
Global Warming”), they have had adverse effects on forest ecosystems that are continuing to be researched and explored.
Through that additional research, scientists have learned more about forest fires in general and will be able to better deal
with them when they are undesired. Speaking of undesired fires, not all are. In national parks like Yellowstone and
Yosemite, the focus is keeping the area “protected from or relatively unaffected by human land-use and behaviors” (“Is
Global Warming”). Fires are frequently left to run their course and burn themselves out unless they pose a threat to
“homes, property or human life” which is a “tragedy to be avoided” (“Fire Ecology,” 2016) where upon which, land
management experts will determine the best course of action. Although, when fires are deemed necessary and to be
used as a tool to benefit an ecosystem, they are called prescribed burns (“Wildland Fire”). These prescribed burns help
control forest growth and keep wildlife in check as a preventative measure against large, out of control blazes. While fire
isn’t ideal for every situation, “fire is a beneficial force necessary to ensure forest succession” (“Fire Ecology,” 2016).
Forests can be greatly aided by wildfires, as destructive as they may seem at a glance.
Smaller Fires Prevent Large Ones
Trained fire management personnel or land management expert’s job is to determine how and when to most effectively use
fire to aid a forest (or other) ecosystem (“Using Fire,” 2015). Their job plays a large roll in the betterment and maintenance
of healthy wildlands and without them many of the pros of wildfire could not happen. Prescribed fires assist in keeping
ecosystems healthy, preventing larger fires, maintaining biodiversity in an ecosystem and overall preserving the landscape
through the use of smart fire techniques.
Picture a raging wildfire, eating up tens of thousands of acres and scorching everything in its path. To most people, this may
seem like a very destructive and harm causing natural (or sometimes not) event. However, the scientific community has
concluded that “fire has always been an important component in most ecosystems in North America” and that while
previously “agencies labeled all fires as bad or detrimental to the health of wildlands” it is now known that fire when
managed correctly is a crucial part of a healthy ecosystem (“Wildland Fire”). It is little known that after a wildfire, areas
can in fact benefit greatly from the effects of a wildfire. Wildfire is a tool and without it, our forest ecosystems would be
significantly lesser, both in quality and quantity than they are now.
For around a hundred years, the National Forest Service and partially the Army practiced total fire suppression, meaning
that they tried to limit any fire at all. This turned out to be detrimental to the ecosystem as a whole when “ecologists
recognized fire was a natural and unavoidable change agent in many ecosystems” and that by limiting fire it was doing more
harm to earth’s natural processes than just letting the fire run its due course. Scientists began to realize in the 1950’s and 60’s
that: "fires have occurred in Yellowstone for as long as there has been vegetation to burn, fire plays a role in creating the
vegetation patterns of the landscape, fire is a part of the ecosystem park managers want to preserve, [and] suppressing fires alters the
natural landscape and diminishes diversity" (“Fire Management”). Through this process park workers, ecologists and scientists alike
realized that fire is necessary for the health of the park’s
natural landscape.
Concerning the parks natural landscape and natural fires, without these low intensity fires that are allowed to burn, many
forest ecosystems would be much worse off. By allowing smaller fires to “reduce fuel loads” by burning off “dead standing or fallen
limbs, logs, leaves, pine needles, shrubs, excess grasses and also living trees and shrubs,” the chances that another small fire “started
by natural causes such as lightning or lava” or a fire caused by human action will grow into a larger and potentially more harmful
blaze heavily decrease without easily burnable fuel (“Wildland Fire”).