Digital Commons Network^™

Blowing Apart In The Wind, Lainey Terfruchte

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

No abstract provided.

Environmentalism: Flint Michigan Water Crisis, Zamzam Mohammed

Religion: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

This essay examines the public health hazard of Flint Michigan that affected tens of thousands of individuals predominately Black and African Americans. This event was not only systematic, but it portrayed a sense of racial bias and environmental injustice. Not only were Flint residents getting sick due to the unhealthy supply of water source but they were silenced. Unfortunately Black and African Americans felt undermined and oppressed. The underdevelopment and unethical abandonment of the city portrays how much power and authority the city officials possess. Their disregard for the health hazard proves that they care more about monetary gain than …

Anatomy: The Makings Of Me, Janey Locander

Women's and Gender Studies: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

Anatomy & the Makings of me:

(A Chapbook)

Back in 2020 quarantine took a mental toll on many, including myself. I was already overwhelmed with academics, personal issues, and an overall pessimistic outlook. For years I've struggled with my body image, and for the past year or so I've been trying to improve on my self-love and acceptance. Taking back my body and my feelings towards it by keeping centered on my thoughts, not the thoughts of others. Hence the concept for this chapbook project.

Anatomy is a look at all the squishy bits of matter and emotion I’ve been …

Crooked Smile, Kaitlin Jacobson

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

As a songwriter, I love connecting my poetry to songs. There are so many similarities between life and music, and that is just beautiful to me. I wrote this poem about very real experiences I have had, about the idea of sugarcoating reality for the sake of what life really looks like under the surface. This is similar to my songs, when my melodies are seen as catchy but the lyrics are overlooked. As a queer woman, there have been many times where I have felt silenced, or where my pain has been overlooked and my lyrics haven't been taken …

From The Child On The Battlefield, Moreen Akomea-Ampeh

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

These innocent children experience fear, broken homes, stolen childhood, hopelessness, and grime, but why should they be punished for something they likely might not have initiated?

For [Redacted], Lalini Shanela Ranaraja

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

This poem was written following the attempts of a close friend and myself to create awareness for the ongoing genocide in Tigray, Ethiopia in particular, and in reaction to activism in the age of social media in general. The digital age and related phenomena, such as hashtag activism and cancel culture, has enabled certain social justice movements to gain rapid traction while other equally worthy movements struggle to find a foothold. Simultaneously, standards of accountability and ethics continue to decline among global news media, with non-Western countries such as Ethiopia and my own home country of Sri Lanka bearing the …

Deathtrap, Blake Traylor

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

I could have titled this one "Bad Trip in an Elevator," but that would twist the poem away from its authenticity. You'll have to trust me on this one: this happened. Not in the usual sense, but in that fiction-is-truth-in-a-funhouse-mirror, postmodern Tim O'Brien sense. And hallucinogens were not involved, nor are they encouraged or condoned. (Do with that Wretched Passive Voice what you will.)

If the word "Deathtrap" didn't amuse me so much, I really could have run with the title "Tired." Or maybe "Very Tired" would have been better. And then there are always the big-hitters: "Fatigue," "Exhaustion," "Are …

Freefall In Reverse, Lalini Shanela Ranaraja

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

This poem was written as a direct response to the 22nd Vasquez Valarezo Award theme of "Discontentment." Breaking the noun "Discontentment" into its components parts allowed me to explore of the emotions and mental health states experienced by myself and my community during the "COVID summer" of 2020. Each of the poem's stanzas encourages readers to contemplate different emotional stages and the various coping mechanisms they may demand in order to regain a sense of control and stability. The poem also alludes to the value of a strong community during times of crisis, in particular the international student community of …

Treatise, Scripture, Manifesto: Reckoning With "Love Cake", Lalini Shanela Ranaraja

Audre Lorde Writing Prize

This essay was written in response to Sri Lankan-American writer and activist Leah Lakshmi Piepzna Samarasinha's poetry collection Love Cake, as part of a directed study I undertook in Spring 2021. A goal of the directed study, titled "The Empire Writes Back" was to engage with and build upon work by writers from South Asia and the diaspora, of which Piepzna-Samarasinha is a vocal member. In this essay, I explore not only the sense of connection I feel with this poet and her body of work as a result of shared experiences of otherness, trauma, and nationhood, but also …

Proof Positive, Lalini Shanela Ranaraja

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

This poem is an exploration of the aftermath of sexual assault and the myriad factors which determine how women, especially women of colour and Asian women, cope with that aftermath. I am particularly concerned with how the testimony and literature of Asian women can prompt other Asian women to unravel their own stories by reflecting these stories back to them and giving them a medium through which to have this confrontation. With this piece I attempt to communicate that the act of confronting and sharing trauma is a continuous and absolutely vital process for survivors of sexual assault.

Saying The Words, Lalini Shanela Ranaraja

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

This poem takes a viscerally personal approach to the "Time's Up" movement's philosophy of making revelations and facing difficult realities.

Freedom, Lalini Shanela Ranaraja

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

This poem explores the darker side of Facebook's role in sparking online activism and social movements.

Trapped, Anne Mitchell

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

This villanelle describes the feeling of being trapped in a body that does not feel like your own; the repetition of the form embodies the haunting thoughts of mental illness or other paralyzing fear.

Bendiciones, Lydia M. Lara

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

A poem embodying the simple yet powerful gesture of the bendicion. For many latinxs this gesture commonly occurs between older family members to younger family members as farewell, prayer, and blessings to protect the younger individual on their journies through life. The gesture of the blessing is a meaningful and deeply rooted action that carries the blessings of the ancestors who have come before us and endured colonization, dictatorship, and civil war and spiritually drives their children and children's children to fight for better in the modern day Latina/Chicana struggle. We are our ancestors wildest dreams.

When You Become A Mine Instead Of A Field, Alyssa Froehling

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

No abstract provided.

When You Become A Mine Instead Of A Field, Alyssa Froehling

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

No abstract provided.

Bendiciones, Lydia Lara

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

A poem embodying the simple yet powerful gesture of the bendicion. For many latinxs this gesture commonly occurs between older family members to younger family members as farewell, prayer, and blessings to protect the younger individual on their journies through life. The gesture of the blessing is a meaningful and deeply rooted action that carries the blessings of the ancestors who have come before us and endured colonization, dictatorship, and civil war and spiritually drives their children and children's children to fight for better in the modern day Latina/Chicana struggle. We are our ancestors wildest dreams.

Trapped, Anne Mitchell

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

This villanelle describes the feeling of being trapped in a body that does not feel like your own; the repetition of the form embodies the haunting thoughts of mental illness or other paralyzing fear.

What A Fat Girl Wants, Briana Lee

Audre Lorde Writing Prize

This piece discusses my personal struggles with my weight as an obese woman, but also addresses common aspects of daily life that countless young girls and women struggle with through the prevalence of body shaming in our society. I wanted to be their voice to make people aware of how American society wants women to be shaped and molded into the ideal female body.

Being The Other Woman: Watanabe’S Unrequited Love For Naoko In Norwegian Wood, Giselle Carter

Audre Lorde Writing Prize

Taking a look at the philosophical Other, the object of one's life that would lead to self-actualization- something that des not exist, I reflect on Naoko and Watanabe's relationship, in particular the one-sidedness of it.

The Whole World To Please, Elena Leith

Audre Lorde Writing Prize

This is a fictional piece derived from stories of women who have experienced abortions for different reasons.

'They Make It So Difficult To Love Ourselves', Elise "Alice" G. Roberson

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

No abstract provided.

Lost Weight, Alyssa Froehling

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

No abstract provided.

Lost Weight, Alyssa Froehling

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

No abstract provided.

'They Make It So Difficult To Love Ourselves', Elise "Alice" G. Roberson

Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

No abstract provided.

The Public Vs. The Private, Elise "Alice" G. Roberson

Audre Lorde Writing Prize

No abstract provided.

Confessions Of A Young Workaholic: A Letter To My Future Self, Haley C. Ochs

Honors Program: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

How a child is raised is often the main impact on their future endeavors and behaviors. In this short letter, I assess how my upbringing affected my current attitudes and how I wish to better myself for the future.

A Letter To My Future Self: Culture Shock, Kayla L. Butler

Honors Program: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

This personal essay encourages personal reflection upon entering college and the challenges that arrive for a student of color, moving from a diverse hometown to a Predominantly White Institution. There are creative manipulations of language that speak to one of the changes found upon entering the new college campus culture.

At Your Prettiest/Your Name Is, Jake Phillips

Eddie Mabry Diversity Award

This is a poem showing the progression of my feelings in relation to my gender throughout my life. I identify as both non-binary and as a genderfluid demi-boy, which means I feel my gender changes occasionally, but I usually feel male. I am a member of the trans community, specifically the non-binary portion within it, and I feel this poem accurately represents how that gender identification showed itself as I grew up, even before I realized I wasn't a girl.

The Multiple Victims Of Rape, Maureen Azar

Audre Lorde Writing Prize

No abstract provided.