The Mercury 2014
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The Mercury The Student Art & Literary Magazine of Gettysburg College Volume 2014 Article 1 2014 The Mercury 2014 Follow this and additional works at: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/mercury Part of the Art and Design Commons, and the Creative Writing Commons Share feedback about the accessibility of this item. Recommended Citation (2014) "The Mercury 2014," The Mercury: Year 2014, Article 1. Available at: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/mercury/vol2014/iss1/1 This open access complete issue is brought to you by The Cupola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of The Cupola. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Mercury 2014 Keywords creative writing, fiction, poetry, non-fiction, The Mercury, Gettysburg College Author Bio This complete issue is available in The Mercury: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/mercury/vol2014/iss1/1 Year 2014 Article 1 1-1-2014 The eM rcury 2014 Follow this and additional works at: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/mercury Share feedback about the accessibility of this item. (2014) "The eM rcury 2014," The Mercury: Year 2014, Article 1. Available at: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/mercury/vol2014/iss1/1 This open access complete issue is brought to you by The uC pola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of The uC pola. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The eM rcury 2014 Keywords creative writing, fiction, poetry, non-fiction, The eM rcury, Gettysburg College This complete issue is available in The eM rcury: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/mercury/vol2014/iss1/1 THE MERCURY 2014 Co-Editors-in-Chief Nicole Rokicki and Celina Harris Production Editors Caitlin Magness Managing Editor Katie Quirin Public Relations Chair Rachel Martinelli Fiction Editor Mollie Sherman Nonfiction Editor Rebecca Johnson Poetry Editor Kate Gulden Art Editor Christine Vahaly Staff Jordie Adams, Taylor Andrews, Rachel Barber, Victoria Blaisdell, Kathryn Bucolo, Angelo D’Amato, Julie Day, Kierstan Devoe, Natasha Dones, Harley Emmons, Samantha Foote, Emily Francisco, Carley Grow, Tony McComiskey, Kris McCormick, Sophia Reid, Amanda Srere, Mikki Stacey, Brenna Turer, Haley Weaver, Mariah Wirth Advisors Kathryn Rhett and Fred Leebron COVER ARTWORK 2014 cover artwork edited by Caitlin Magness from “Dream in Color” by Rachel Martinelli 1 THE MERCURY HISTORY & PROCESS The Mercury is a student-run art and literary magazine published annually in April since 1894 at Gettysburg College. All students of the College are invited to participate on the staff and to submit their work for possible publication. Editors for the next year’s issue are elected in April by the entire staff. Submissions are accepted from September through December at cupola.gettysburg.edu/mercury/ and are reviewed and chosen anonymously by the staff. EVENTS The Mercury holds a publication reception and participates in campus events such as the Activities Fair, Get Acquainted Day, and co-sponsored events with Sigma Tau Delta, the English Honor Society. In 2013, The Mercury hosted its second Write Night, an opportunity for students to read their work in a formal setting. THE MERCURY PRIZE Each year, the staff awards a monetary prize to the best piece of work published in each genre, judged by alumni active in the fields of art and writing. We would like to thank The Mercury Prize judges for 2014: Alexandria Barkmeier ‘07 (Fiction), Karl Utermohlen ‘12 (Nonfiction), Candise Henson ‘12 (Poetry), and Jennifer Spindler ‘10 (Art). The Mercury Prize-winning titles are bolded in the Table of Contents. This year’s winners are Carley Grow (Fiction), Tony McComiskey (Nonfiction), Merissa Cope (Poetry), and Abigail Campbell (Art). PUBLISHING The Mercury was printed by The Sheridan Press in Hanover, Pennsylvania. We would like to thank The Sheridan Press, especially Kelly Freeburger, for their sup- port. This is the fifth environmentally-friendly edition of The Mercury, printed on paper from sustainable-harvest forests with soy-based inks. This year, The Mer- cury became part of The Cupola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College, an online, open-access repository hosted by Musselman Library. Our thanks to Janelle Wertzberger, Zachary Coble, and Lauren Roedner for making this possible. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Mercury would like to thank the Provost’s Office, especially Barb Herman, Maureen Forrestal, and Jack Ryan. Thanks to the magazine’s advisors, Kathryn Rhett and Fred Leebron, for their guidance. And a special thanks to all students who contributed to The Mercury by sending in their work or serving as staff mem- bers. Julie Day organized Write Night this year and Kris McCormick updated our handbook. Staff readers invested a tremendous amount of time evaluating and selecting submissions, and we greatly appreciate their dedication. We believe that these combined efforts make The Mercury a publication that reflects the creative side of the student body of Gettysburg College. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS FICTION Carley Grow Teeth Grinder 6 Paul Eppler Indifference 15 Mollie Sherman Efemera 24 Kevin Lavery In the Presence of Death 34 Stephen Lin Bottled 49 Corey Katzelnick A Story of a Young Man 91 in an Office with a View Robin Miller Timeline 96 NONFICTION Tony McComiskey Black & Blue 8 Darcie Connors The First Run 18 Rachel Barber Newburgh 26 Abigail Ferguson On Loss 40 Peter Rosenberger Atticus 52 Sophia Reid The Lost World of the Past 58 Sophia Reid Compagno di Viaggio 87 3 POETRY Merissa Cope If There Is a Word for the Moments Between Asleep and Awake, That Is the Title of This Poem Or: Twilight of the Mind 5 Taylor Andrews Italy 13 Emily Francisco Driving Past Dead Sunflowers in October 22 Victoria Blaisdell Constellation-Maker 23 Taylor Andrews Dissonance 30 Maurico Novoa Daniel’s Song 31 Rachel Martinelli For Bonbon 44 Emily Francisco On Language 46 Taylor Andrews Storm Clouds 57 Brendan Raleigh Plath’s Cremation 64 Mauricio Novoa Latin-America 81 Victoria Blaisdell Wake 83 Emily Cranfill Ode to My Tattooed Skin 85 Jenna Fleming Addiction 94 Emily Francisco Artemisia in Ecstasy 101 ART Abigail Campbell Gravity 65 Aubrey Gedeon Hadzabe Feast 66 Madeline Price Cape Cod Sunset 67 Madeline Price Artistic Fungus 68 Megan Zagorski Polly 69 Madeline Price Under the Mangroves 70 Aubrey Gedeon Hadzabe Smoker 71 Abigail Campbell Wind 72 Aubrey Gedeon African Sunset 73 Megan Zagorski Floating By 74 Abigail Campbell Winter 75 Madeline Price Zebra Longwing 76 Aubrey Gedeon Hadzabe Mother 77 and Child Abigail Campbell Balloon 78 Aubrey Gedeon Lonely Sunflower 79 Rachel Martinelli Dream in Color 80 4 If There Is a Word for the Moments Between Asleep & Awake, That Is the Title of This Poem Or: Twilight of the Mind Merissa Cope Butterfly my chest and show me open to the world I am rib and sinew, no more (my molten heart longs to drip free) not worthy of the title of human, not yet allowed to die Do not sew me up the wind whistling through my ribs feels so lovely chills my molten heart (the wind whistling through my ribs is the lullaby I can finally fall asleep to) go fight your noble battle somewhere else, child of Cain 5 Teeth Grinder Carley Grow Removed by the request of the author 6 Removed by the request of the author 7 Black & Blue Tony McComiskey Our heads collided mid-race and the world went dark. My lungs filled with chlorinated water, causing my body to slowly sink to the bottom of the tiny aboveground pool. For ten seconds, I re- mained still, face down on the pool floor. Tony McComiskey, the nine- year-old swimming superstar, was dead. Or at least that’s what I wanted Lauren to think. I heard a muffled scream and felt her hands pull me to the surface. Eyes shut and body limp, I kept the act going for another few seconds before I looked at Lauren and squirted water at her through the abnormally large gap between my two front teeth. “Gotcha!” I said laughing. Lauren was covering her face and didn’t say a word. At first I thought that I might have gotten water in her eyes, but then she began to sniffle. I reached out and gently squeezed her arm, which she slapped away, revealing her face. There was a rage in her turquoise eyes that I had never seen before. Lips pursed and tears streaming down her cheeks, Lauren said nothing. She only glared. “Look, I’m really sorry—I was only messing around. I didn’t mean to scare you.” An awkward silence passed before Lauren finally muttered, “I thought I killed you.” I tried to calm her down, but she turned away and swam towards the wobbly plastic ladder. She left the water, walked over to her back porch, grabbed her favorite Pokémon-themed towel, and sat on the steps blankly staring at the pool. Being a nine-year-old, I didn’t know how to handle the situation so I stayed in the water and tried to think of a game plan. After all, this girl was my first crush. Sure I had fun coloring Toy Story characters with Jenna Gallagher the previous year, but that was just a silly kinder- gartner crush. What I had with Lauren was the real thing. Not only did we share the same favorite Pokémon (Blastoise), but we were also next-door neighbors. It was obviously destiny. Unsure of how to fix my screw-up with words, I decided that im- pressing her in some way would get me back on her good side. With little to work with in the pool, I swam over to the ladder. Lazily bobbing up and down, the ladder had four steps and wasn’t attached to the bottom of the 8 pool.