Friday, June 11, 2010

Cityscape, by Michaela Savell

 Cityscape 

Sounds of the city many stories below reverberated in my ears, pulsing slightly with each beep of a horn, each siren's call. Lights were streaming outside my apartment window like fireflies, darting with a hurried fashion and unsure swiftness. My eyes closed, breathing in the putrid scent of exhaust drifting up to the open window. It stung my nostrils, making them flare in with persistence. The sun's light was fading over to the west of the city, tainting the sky with sparks of purple and embellished red.
My hair fell in curled strands down may face, giving it a fey sort of look. My green eyes glinted softly in the summer wind, taking in the city life with a bored tendency. The same lights shown, the same smells arose, and the same musty wind hit my face like sandpaper. I turned my head away in distaste, letting the light from the living room envelop me with glowing fingers. The warmth and security of my little dwelling swirled around my legs, only to be caught up in the massive drapes of crimson grasped in my hand.
I let out a sigh, observing the lights below as they seemed to drift unconsciously without purpose, without life. My mind filled with trickles of thoughts, each one either solved of forgotten in the chaos of my mind. Eyes glimmering, I looked on the world with sorrowful eyes, wondering each fate of the soul driving each small bud of light.
The phone suddenly released me from my thoughts, jerking my head upwards. It was around dinner time; surely it was just a salesperson?
I lunged for it, mumbling into the receiver as I regained my posture. “Hello?”
My other hand remained fluttered over the top of the phone, poised to hang up. However, the voice on the other line was not the confident rumble of the average businessmen. It was the voice of a young woman.
“Who is this?”
I let my hand fall to my side, taken aback. I had never heard so much vulnerability in a human being's voice, let alone from someone I didn't even know.
“I'm Amber. Who is this?”
The voice came out in more of a squeak, cracking with each vowel. “My name is Molly.”
There was silence on both lines. I could hear the woman's breathing in the background, breaking every so often with a sharp gasp. For once, I didn't know what to do. A fragment of my heart was tempted to hang up, to go on with my life. Remembrance of things long past swirled through my mind, reflecting curtly the pain I myself had witnessed, the things I had once done...
I closed my eyes, listening to the woman's breathing. I could hear a sniffle, and a delicate ping as tears fell across the receiver. My heart was beating, reverberating with each thought, each slight movement. Whispers of my job filtered through my veins, forcing my arms to shake uncontrollably.
I jerked. No. I couldn't not think of that job. It was a thing of the past, buried many years under a pile of lies and pain. I had sworn to never go back. No, never. Never again.
Yet, as I felt the woman's delicate heartbeat through the phone line, memories became more vibrant than lost vows. A weak smile was already coming into light across my face. The street sirens, the painful call of the world, was fading in and out until only silence remained. Everything was changing outside; the city lights were burning brightly against the crepuscule falling like a cloak across the high rises, snuffing out the consistency I had once known.
Molly whispered something inaudible into my ear, rippling with sound. It was pale, putrid if you will. They were the words of the hopeless.
True compassion remained vibrant in my face as I just listened to the woman on the other line, her words spilling out like a river. Her voice was filled with desperation, only to be faded out by the underlying emotion of shame, streaking the roof of her mouth. It was like I could see through a tiny window to her heart, watching as each pain and horror beat down on it with blades and axes. There were many spots where soot and ashes coated the surface, while other sections were so shattered that a thin thread of scarlet wrapped it together, desperately holding on.
“Where did I go wrong?” the woman, Molly, suddenly asked.
I breathed in the sweet words, drinking in the past. My job; the thing that I had loved.
“You can't save everyone, Amber,” my coworker said. “But those you do save are the ones that you will forever remember.”
If only those comforting words had not fallen on deaf ears. My vision was becoming blurred as one stray hair fell across my face, the circlet clinging to the moisture. Was it fear that had held me back, all of these years? Was it the regret I had so often felt, clinging to my insides like a leech? It was an emotional barrier that had been forming for years, a defense that I thought would last forever. A light flickered across my vision, igniting my dulled green gaze. It was a firefly, flickering weakly in the dusk.
I could still hear the woman on the other line, expecting me to hang up. However, I instead hung on, not letting the firefly out of my sight. Plans for tonight were forgotten, drifting to the back of my mind. I clenched the glowing bug gently in my hands as I placed into a sealed glass jar; its final enclosure.
Things were meant to be this way. Only in this moment did I realize it.

Things Are Meant to Change, by Michaela Savell


By the light of the waning moon did darkness fall. It rose and fell, turning any other light into shadow. The snow falling did not make up for the hatred in the darkened sky, but instead accepted its presence.
Yet the darkness was not a winter night at all, but the venomous stare of a young girl. Her golden hair reflected the sun, but her eyes showed her true character. She fixated her eyes on another classmate, one slouching in her seat in the corner of the room. She was singing softly to herself, nervously fiddling with a perfectly straight strand of black hair. golden hair clashed with black as the singing girl suddenly looked up, panic-stricken.
Her enemy was staring, her eyes cold with moonlight that did not shine on this bright autumn morn.
The black-haired girl bowed her head. Amanda.
Amanda was whispering something, a small sentence that made her counterpart giggle softly. Black-haired girl bowed her head, sinking even deeper into her seat. It was something about her. It had to be.
It always was, as it seemed. No one there to stand up for her. Just the notes and melodies spinning in head kept her company, giving her plain stare a spark of substance. Whether that was the cause for Amanda's jealousy or not did not matter. She was the innocent one, prayed upon by the evil one.
But who was the evil one in this battle?
For the third-grader, it did not matter. Just the hate that radiated from Amanda did.
Why? The black-haired girl wondered. Why me? Yet there was no true answer. But why couldn't the simple questions answer the seemingly simple situation?
The teacher was speaking, scolding someone for not paying attention. Amanda slumped a little, her facade broken for an instant. But it did not matter; her sadness mattered more.
But things are meant to change.
**
Elementary school faded. Middle school was a passing cloud. High school came with the dawn.
Nothing had changed.
The black-haired girl had her license, and was driving down the highway. A golden-haired girl in tattered clothes was on the side of the road, pleading for some act of kindness. Songs were playing on the radio, written by the black-haired girl herself. She was singing softly, her eyes on the road. She was not even paying attention to the side of the road, but was looking the other way.
Yet, by some coincidence, the black-haired girl turned. The golden-haired girl was wearing a sweatshirt with holes. It was nighttime, the time where darkness fell. In the light of the waning moon did the black-haired girl catch the tears on the other's face, drying with what looked to be fallen moonlight.
The darkness of night fell across the headlights of the car as the light became momentarily shattered.
Snow was falling around the golden-haired girl, yet its presence was only acknowledged. Her eyes were strained with hatred and sorrow.
It was the venomous stare of a young girl, her heart shattered beyond repair.
The black-haired girl stopped singing. The golden-haired girl stopped crying and shouting out in panic.
Both stared.
The black-haired girl bowed her head before turning away. Amanda.
Amanda was whispering something, a small sentence that could not be heard in howling of the wind or encouraged by a counterpart. Black-haired girl just stared again, forcing her eyes on Amanda.
More than anything, she wanted to drive away and leave the golden-haired girl there. This girl had to pay for all the teasing that had been uttered on Amanda's lips. She had to pay for the pain she had caused her, the black-haired girl.
Black-haired girl narrowed her eyes. Amanda had to be whispering something about her. Whether it was jealousy or not, she was not quite sure.
The songs black-haired girl had written were still playing in the background. If that were still the spark of Amanda's jealousy, it did not matter. Black-haired girl was the innocent one, prayed upon the evil one.
She turned on the ignition again, her foot ready to press onto the gas pedal.

But who was the evil one in this battle?

For the high-schooler, it did not matter. The sorrow the radiated from Amanda did.
She slammed my foot on the brakes. Why? The black-haired girl wondered. Why me? Yet there was no true answer. But why couldn't the simple questions answer the seemingly simple situation?
The voice within the black-haired girl was speaking, scolding her for not paying attention to the truth.
Amanda blinked, her eyes red and puffy from crying. She revealed her facade for an instant as her lips broke into a weak smile. The black-haired girl closed her eyes to hide her guilt. Her completely broken facade did matter; Amanda's pain mattered more at this time.
“Get in the car. We need to find you a place to stay,” the black-haired girl said.
Amanda shivered, her eyes glinting. If it were due to remembrance of the past or thankfulness, black-haired girl was not sure.
Her song hit its climax on the radio.
“You can use the blanket back there; you look cold.”
Amanda only nodded. Black-haired girl smiled.
Never in her life did the black-haired girl imagine her showing kindness towards her enemy.
But things are meant to change.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Satire by Sadie Tremblay

A Modest Proposal

Every day, girls and women are constantly bombarded by the media’s interpretation of how they should look, how they should act, how they should be. The media’s image of beauty has become something to obsess over, an impossible standard to reach for and fixate upon. The idea that a person is not enough for everyone else because of the way they look is becoming more and more popular, almost every teenage girl cannot help but let their uncreative minds be consumed by knowing that, in today’s society, they will never be pretty. Older women who can think of no better solution to their insecurities than overpriced wrinkle cream and useless beauty products are forced to look back on their glory days to see a beautiful image of themselves. Instead of doing something that will actually serve a purpose in the long run, every single one of these members of this mentality will waste their time and money on elucidations that will do nothing for them.

Being that I myself am very submerged in this cultural self esteem crisis, I am well aware of this problem’s gravity and of what needs to be done. I’ve grown up in a culture that tells everyone with a general unhappiness with their appearance that there is no better explanation to this problem that is more effective than makeup, tight clothes, diet plans, and plastic surgery. A recent physiological study was published that polled patients of prominent plastic surgeons in Northern California. Eighty-four percent of patients said that they wished that there was some kind of a way out of these drastic treatments, if there was something that they could have done early on that could save them all the time, money, and pain that treatments that they undergo now. These people represent the millions of others all across the country that feel the same way, wishing that there was some way out of the harsh routine that we all go through to fit into the definition of beautiful. I am well aware, not only of the problem, but also of how all these women feel during the course of their daily lives of inadequacy, though I can hardly sympathize because I am the only one at this point to have reached a workable conclusion on how to compound this widespread issue. So, being that I have a suggestion to solve this matter, a means of understanding the self-hating and insufficiency of the general female public, I believe that once my plan to eradicate this problem is implemented, physical self esteem issues among American women will be a brief blip in the history books.

The first step of my solution involves identifying exactly what image women strive for when they want to change their appearance. What do they see on television that makes them want to change? What is it that they think makes them desirable to men? What is it about themselves that they can’t stand to put up with, but won’t do anything about? The fact that so many women are unhappy with their appearances is not only damaging their own lives, but also affecting the lives of future generations of women who will in turn be unhappy with the way they look. So, I devised a composite image of what society tells us is beautiful. This picture of the perfect woman consists of uniform hair color, soft facial features, a slender figure, and various other details that are considered rudimentary to a woman’s good looks.

In order to make my theoretical resolution a reality, large amounts of careful planning, government spending, scientific research and development, and, as with all things that are considered progressive, time. But, I feel that all of this is worth eliminating this dilemma, since so much money and scientific research is wasted on beauty products. Animal testing is done for new eye make ups and hair products, when the need for that is nonexistent. Marketing and financing is done for hair products, make up, anti-aging treatments, plastic surgery, when none of it is at all necessary. Under my plan, though it will be expensive, the cost to benefit ratio is perfectly in balance, taking into account the hundreds of millions of dollars that will be saved.

After developing a concept of beauty, the next step is working to achieve this amongst all female members of the country. For certain women that have reached a point in their physical development and have aged to the point where they are no longer useable in the manner of eradicating the problem they are somewhat of a lost cause. But for younger women, children, and infants, there is still time to save them from feeling inadequate. This will involve, in some cases, extensive plastic surgery, genetic testing, and more. But, this is only temporary, since in a matter of a few years, genetic research will be ready to implement and can be used to edit the personal appearance of a person as they grow. This process can begin immediately after birth and will only consist of a series of examinations and injections to minorly manipulate the growth and development of the child. As she grows, the treatments she had undergone as a small child will allow her to fit into the new criteria of beauty.

When a whole generation of girls are made to be genetically similar to each other, when they eventually reproduce, their children will need less and less treatment. There will still be some need for genetic alteration considering the amount of DNA and physical traits carried on by the father, but this will be even simpler to correct than it was to do for these children’s mothers. After about five cycles of generations, the injections to modify the female children will be practically negligible.

As and added benefit to this plan, women will also all age at approximately the same time to the same degree, since the chemical treatments will not only effect their appearance, but also their general health. The treatments can be changed as scientific discoveries are made, so when certain immunizations are invented as well as existing ones, they can be included in the treatments. This will prevent many diseases and ailments early on, promoting better health among the next generation. Aging will occur at around the same time for all women treated because the chemicals used in the injections will keep cells in the body from degeneration for almost exactly sixty-two years, nearly to the day. At around this time in their lives, all women will experience the beginnings of cell death, causing their hair to grey and thin at the same rate of every other woman, and their skin to wrinkle with everyone else, and their shoulders to hunch, and their bodies to begin to loose their youthful vibrancy, and everything else that worries a woman will happen along with all of their peers at the same rate and time in life as them.

Another positive advantage would be that, over time, after generations of the treatments are used for quite some time, not only will women be uniform, but men will begin to be as well. Because of the genetic alterations made to their mothers and their mother’s mothers, and so on, their genes will no longer be diluted with external physical traits. Their minds, intelligence levels, and personalities will not, however, be at all effected by the treatments. So, even though people may look the same, they will each still remain very much their won person. This way, no one will discriminate over looks and appearance, all decisions made about a person will be solely based on the real substance of their self. They will form relationships based on interests, personality traits, intelligence, and everything that makes them individual.

Women will no longer concern themselves with harsh treatments and expensive empty promises from beauty product companies to live up to standards that they already meet. No woman will look in the mirror in the morning and see something that she wants to change if there is nothing to change. There will be no image in society that needs to be lived up to if it already is. Everyone will be healthy and happy with they way they look and the way their significant others look at them. People will be more open to finding someone to spend the rest of their lives with someone because of their personality, because looks will be entirely negligible.

It will never be questioned that one person is impossible to distinguish from another. No woman will ever look at herself and think about how it would be nice if, maybe for once, she was noticed for the way she wears her hair that day, or the color of her eyes, or the way that she looks like no one else anyone has ever seen. No man will look at the woman he loves and think that he would love her more if there was something about her that he could see from just looking, to differentiate between her and everyone else. No child will grow up in their carbon copy world thinking that they aren’t special because they are all the same at first glance. This will never happen because we all want to be what we can’t be. Every woman wants to be blonde-haired, blue eyed, skinny, tall, tan, beautiful, perfect. And every man wants to have that. Because, in this world, original is never good enough, having hair that is like no one else’s when the light hits it, or being the right size for you and who you are, or having the prettiest brown eyes that someone who loves you has ever seen, all of that will never mean anything if everyone doesn’t see you as beautiful. It will always be easier to change the way everyone looks than change they way they see each other. It’s impossible to show the world that beauty is not defined by they way you look, and that there will always be someone who sees you as beautiful. So we should just all give up on convincing girls and women that they are beautiful by paying attention to their personalities and what they are like on the inside. We shouldn’t even consider promoting individuality, and being beautiful because you’re different, instead of making the world we live in into a bad episode of 90210. And at the end of the day, being seen like everyone else is so much better than being seen as someone who isn’t good enough, no matter how beautiful you really are.

Poetry by Sadie Tremblay


Attention Passengers
In the event of an emergency
I'm not going to lie to you
The plane could run out of gas and crash
To be honest, we'll all crash too
There aren't any parachutes under your seats
But, due to the screaming baby behind you
Exploding in midair could be a relief
Don't be shocked when I tell you
The plane doesn't actually float
It's not intended to be submerged in water
If you expected that, you should have taken a boat
Worried about your baggage?
I can tell you it's probably not on this plane
For all any of us know, it's still stuck in New Jersey or on it's way to somewhere like Spain
And this turbulence you're feeling
Won't go away
In fact, the pilot is now thinking
That this flight should have been delayed
Despite all of these problems
We hope you had a nice flight
And want to thank you for choosing our airline
And apologize because your destination is nowhere in sight

Too Small
The world is too small
To be caged
Locked behind iron bars and concrete
Life waits
The world is too small
To be plain
Screaming in color to defeat the grey
Words seep
The world is too small
For war
Pounding rock with bleeding fists
They fight
The world is too small
For walls
Separated and concealed by painted protests
Lines are drawn

Photography by Lily Nicolazzo

Listen, by Carol Hobbs

All children want the treasures blooming under rocks
and wedged like blades in the tree bark.
Their little red hoods weave through the canopy of leaves
like wind blown poppies.
All children lie and lie and scream about wolves.
At the very instant grownups tire, turn away,
the sharp-toothed maw clamps down.

We tell them, Don’t play with matches,
and they strike the match,
become proverb, become smoke.

Poetry and Art by Alyssa Russell


Propaganda.

And when I shut my eyes,
What should I see?
Massive crowds, burned cities,
Powerless beliefs?

And when my eyes are burning,
Should it be with empathy?
When I'm too sorry for myself,
Is it more like apathy?

And when you all are speaking
Does my silence give away
All the plans to end your uselessness
And bring forth another day?

And will your eyes deceive you
When you finally turn around
And you see that it is me
Who is rallying the crowd?


Untitled [two]

Pages turn under dim lights,
Reminding me of
The way you write.
The words caress my face,
And I have to turn away.

Walls fade out around me,
And I fall into
Our fantasy.
Wishes of bulbous towers,
Moonlit strolls and snowy powder.