The Limestone 2020 the LIMESTONE REVIEW EDITORIAL BOARD
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The Limestone 2020 THE LIMESTONE REVIEW EDITORIAL BOARD Reading Committee Caroline Breitbach (’20)) Ben Colwell (’20) Emily DiFilippo (Asst. Professor of Spanish, Moderator of Delta Epsilon Sigma) Laura Iunghuhn (’20) William Jablonsky (Assoc. Professor of English) Will Kanyusik (Assoc. Professor of English) Kevin Koch (Professor of English) James Pollock (Professor of English) Mikailah Shealer (’21) Heather Whan (’21) Faculty Editor: Kevin Koch, Professor of English Fiction Editor: William Jablonsky, Assoc. Professor of English Poetry Editor: James Pollock, Professor of English Creative Nonfiction Editor: Kevin Koch, Professor of English Scholarly Essay Editor: Will Kanyusik, Assoc. Professor of English Front & Back Cover Photography: Kelsey Lansing (’21) Special thanks to Lesley Arnold, Academic Secretary, for her work in helping to prepare Limestone Review 2020. LORAS COLLEGE | 1450 Alta Vista St. | Dubuque, IA 52001 | 800.245.6727 The Limestone 2018 2 / LIMESTONE REVIEW EDITOR’S OUTLET As the spring semester of 2020 came to a close, the world—and our nation in particular—was in a troubled state. Death was being sown right and left by COVID-19, by virus-deniers, and by racist violence and counter-violence. While the 2020 Limestone Review best-of-genre Alpha Award recipients wrote their works prior to the tragic events of Spring 2020, I can’t help but think that their voices resonate and reverberate amid the swirl of all these forces. What happens when we look the other way and let evil play out? In Caroline Breitbach’s short story, “A Real Boy,” a mother closes her eyes—and her young son’s—to child (or toy?) abuse in a toymaker’s shop. Or what happens when we encounter the isolating effects of rejection? In Molly MacDuff’s “Juliet,” the poet/narrator envies that Capulet whose heart has not “been picked /like petals and tossed off a balcony.” But resisting despair requires courage. In Laura Iunghuhn’s creative nonfiction memoir, “County Sligo,” Laura surprises herself with an adventurous trek in Ireland: “I find myself again counting all the moments that went right. Everything could have gone wrong, but didn’t. I’m okay.” So how do we go about living in troubled times? In an excerpt from her Literature Capstone essay, “Graham Greene: Extending the Path to Redemption Through an Anticipation of Vatican II Faith in The Power and the Glory” Laura Iunghuhn assures us that “trials, if they are approached in love, have the potential to bring one face to face with God and with His gift of the grace of redemption in small, everyday ways.” In dark times such as the Spring of 2020, we are all too prone to shut out the other and withdraw inside our private pain. But the courage to open oneself to grace and to pour out kindness to the stranger may be just what such times call for. -- Dr. Kevin Koch, faculty editor of The Limestone Review From the 2019 volume of The Limestone Review:The following authors’ Alpha Award writings were recognized in the Delta Epsilon Sigma National Undergraduate Writing Competition: • Alex Kruse (’19): “Resurrecting Value: Preserving Residual Culture Within Paula Meehan’s Poetry” (1st place, Critical/Analytical Essay) • Madison Tolley (’19): “On the Pier in Boca Raton, Florida, with my Grandfather” (Tie, 2nd place, Poetry) LIMESTONE REVIEW / 3 The Limestone Review 2020 Table of Contents Fiction A Real Boy (Alpha Award) Caroline Breitbach 5 Martyr, the Messenger Seth E. Biedrzycki 13 Fragmentation Caroline Breitbach 16 Insected Caroline Breitbach 19 The Calling Alyse Embers 27 Go With the Flow Jake Heelein 31 Poetry Juliet (Alpha Award) Molly MacDuff 38 Big Cat Caroline Breitbach 39 Five Miles Away Caroline Breitbach 41 The Pear Tree Caroline Breitbach 42 Winter in London, 2019 Caroline Breitbach 43 World’s Fair Woman Caroline Breitbach 44 Final Destination Daniel Charland 45 Neutral Ground Daniel Charland 46 Purple Paradox Daniel Charland 47 The Author Daniel Charland 48 Possum Kaylee Coble 49 Scuba Diving Kaylee Coble 50 Jump, Dog, Jump Ben Colwell 51 Happy Song Alexis Disparte 53 Spring Sky Alexis Disparte 54 My Back Yard Quintin Durov 55 Revision Connor Halbmaier 56 Who is a Student? Amber C. Hamm 57 A Day on Mr. Duffy’s Farm Sarah Landerholm 58 A Night Outside Gin’s Sarah Landerholm 60 Meditation on The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays by Albert Camus Sarah Landerholm 62 My Grandfather’s Penny Sarah Landerholm 64 Sound and a Fury Sarah Landerholm 65 Who Is My Neighbor Sarah Landerholm 67 Good Woman Molly MacDuff 69 4 / LIMESTONE REVIEW Poetry, continued The Chickadee Molly MacDuff 70 Waking Up Next to Him Molly MacDuff 71 Act of Joy Audrey Peterson 72 Morning Coffee Hailey Schultz 74 Get Better Shamari Scott 75 This Is a Little Girl Isabelle Werner 76 Basement Heather Whan 78 A Lover Not Mine Avery Wickersham 79 Meet Me at the Mango Tree Avery Wickersham 80 Creative Nonfiction County Sligo (Alpha Award) Laura Iunghuhn 82 The Rubik’s Cube of Life Yajaira Arizmendi 97 March: The Great Battles Daniel Charland 104 Under the Bridge Ben Colwell 107 Hidden Within the Familiar Connor Halbmaier 111 Leanna and Ogden Molly MacDuff 116 A Rubber Floor and the Way it Wears Seth Moeller 122 The Back Yard on Myrtle Avenue John Mulcrone 127 This Land is Their Land Nate Riney 132 God’s Country Kerry Roeder 138 Sensory Deprivation in the Depths Mikailah Shealer 143 Why I Have to Write Heather Whan 148 Scholarly Essay Excerpt from “Graham Greene: Extending the Path to Redemption Through an Anticipation of Vatican II Faith in The Power and the Glory” (Alpha Award) Laura Iunghuhn 152 Ending the Drought Caroline Breitbach 164 Poisoned Masculine Power Sarah Landerholm 172 Betrayal of Masculinity Molly MacDuff 179 The Emotionally Intelligent Heroine in Jane Austen Molly MacDuff 186 Analyzing Bernie Sander’s Rhetorial Promotion of Democratic Socialism Ryan A. Shealer 206 Hope, Struggle and Citizenship Eric J. Wheaton 214 Under the Grip of Gender and Class Ervin Yahr III 219 LIMESTONE REVIEW / 5 Caroline Breitbach A Real Boy The shop bell rang, and a mother and son entered. She held her child by his hand close to her body as they wandered through tall shelves of puppets, dolls, boats. The shelves went all the way to the open ceiling. The wooden beams were visible and strung with colored streamers and cobwebs. Her son reached up his hand to touch the long hair of one of the dolls as they walked past. He gripped a strand and pulled her to the floor. Before his mother could say anything, he picked up the doll and set her back on the shelf. She fell crooked as he stepped away to retake his mother’s hand. Then, the son narrowed his eyes on a yo-yo and detached again from his mother to rush to the toy and pick it up. “Can I have this?” His mother took the yo-yo from his hands and put it back on the shelf. “Some other time, Antonio.” Her son had already turned to a display of toy tool sets a few feet ahead. “I want one!” “Put it back.” She looked around the store cautiously. “Is anyone here?” “Mommy—“ Antonio had a puzzle in his hands. He dropped it on the floor to pick up a model car. “Shh, one second, Tony,” she hushed. They both listened and heard rustling in the back of the shop. “Excuse me?” “Be out in a second!” came a voice. The mother and son stopped in their tracks and waited for the toymaster to appear. He turned the aisle, white hair flipped up around his neck, bright vest buttoned over his growing belly. He smiled at the sight of them. His eyes were magnified by round glasses, and a spotty mustache curled up on his cheeks. The mother kept her son close to her. “Welcome, welcome!” the man said. The toymaster’s mouth spread open to reveal his large teeth. His glance went down to her son. “And who is this?” “Antonio,” the mother prodded. Her fingers wrapped over her son’s shoulders. “I’m Antonio,” the boy whispered. He leaned into his mother’s leg. “Are you the customer today, young man?” the man asked. He knelt down and gestured for Antonio to come closer. The mother’s hand remained 6 / LIMESTONE REVIEW on her son’s shoulder. “Yes,” Antonio mumbled and peered up at his mother. “I want a train. And a yo-yo.” “Let’s start with the train,” she sighed. The man smiled at Antonio, and the mother asked, “Can you make one?” “Of course! I can make anything for anyone,” the toymaster said. “Why don’t you come in the back with me, young man, and I’ll show you some models?” “We’ll both come,” the mother said. The toymaster paused before he nodded and led them to the back of the shop. He pushed back a purple curtain to reveal a workshop. “Be careful not to touch anything,” the man instructed Antonio. “You could get hurt in here.” The mother watched as her son gasped and spun to take in the whole room. There were piles of toys on the wooden tables, sawdust coating the floor, tools placed high up on pegs to avoid children’s reach. One window filtered in tiny streams of light that revealed the dust floating in the air. The mother stopped and watched a cuckoo clock go off, a tiny man and woman dancing on a loop around the clock face to signal the hour. “The trains are this way,” the toymaster said. Antonio ran to the trains, the man trailing close behind him.