ime kills buildings he alien’s opaque Tas much as it kills Thelmet turned people. The shattered toward me. A single windows and the pinpoint of crimson empty space felt light glowed dully crowded. Even years at its crest. So far later, it smelled of as I could tell, the Volume 17 2016 hard work and sweat. helmet was made Light came in every entirely of a matte crack and hole like black alloy. The water in a sinking armor was similarly ship, and I loved flat and nondescript, the way the light sharpened and played in the room. I angular at the joints preferred to come to the silos during the day; I but relatively light-looking, made of thin layers loved the way the place looked, almost sad and of some metal I’d already seen deflect bullets at broken and empty inside, but beautiful in all its point-blank range. Lights blinked at his elbows mysterious ways. I often thought maybe people and knees. In the smoke and dust-dimmed could be that way, too. light of the half-wrecked hallway, I could make Brandon James Poppert, out a single symbol etched into the breastplate, “Empty Building, Empty Soul” a circle bisected by a stylized shape not unlike the Nike swoosh. I considered reaching for a gun, but I knew that was pointless. I n small intervals across the kitchen table, considered trying a hand-to-hand fight, but Ihe shared the mayhem of that time spent even if that armor didn’t have strength assists, overseas, revealing sounds that echoed through it was still a combat-trained alien in a suit of the night and images of an astonishing orange super dense metal armor against unarmored, glow that burst in the sky so close that he non-combat-trained me. I stood there, arms could taste the heat when he opened his thrown protectively wide, staring at that alien 17 Volume mouth to speak. He described the repetitious and waiting to find out what one of those whizzing past his ears, like flies that pricked superheated projectiles would feel like burning his skin and shot a sting of pain from the its way through my midsection. surface of his sunburnt neck down into the Jim Baker, nerves that jolted his consciousness into “Not Enough” awakening. The smell of death lingered in the fields and wafted up from the sticky breeze 2016 that weaved through the trees. The constant savor the small dark yard apple, loitering fear of stepping into the wrong spot, I juicy as early summer, the fruit, making a noise audible to the wrong person, or that edible purple, from the flower making a mistaken decision loomed over him. of shrub trees, star-shaped He achieved no rest lying in a shallow trench. white clusters in the thousands. His eyes never fully fell shut. He kept them Every current of sweetness, each mouthful alert. He kept them alive. He stayed alive sustains, overflowing these crinkled paper cups. Tayden Bundy, Laura Madeline Wiseman, “Linger” “Charms to Fashion a Magic House” A magazine of creative expression by students, faculty, and staff at Southeast Community College Beatrice/Lincoln/Milford, NE Volume 17 2016 “We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.” Kurt Vonnegut C REATIVITY LIVES HERE These awards have been bestowed on Illuminations and its contributors by the Community College Humanities Association. 2009 Cameron Koll, “Baby Girl” Merit Award in Fiction 2010 Illuminations 3rd Place Literary Magazine, Central Division 2011 Katrina Bennett, “Brown Walls” 1st Place Nonfiction Illuminations 1st Place Literary Magazine, Central Division 2014 Mystery Harwood, “Nebraska in My 30s” 1st Place Poetry Alanna Johnson, “Descendants” 2nd Place Poetry Cameron Maxwell, “The City’s Outstretched Hand” 3rd Place Poetry Shannon White, “Black Violas” 3rd Place Fiction Ashley Cornelsen, “Homeless Dreams” Honorable Mention Fiction Thomas Joyce, “The Hovel” 2nd Place Nonfiction Stephen Kaminski, “Number 9” 3rd Place Nonfiction Casey Lowe, Eyes of Innocence 3rd Place Art Derrick Brinkmeier, Not on This Night Honorable Mention Performance Illuminations 1st Place Literary Magazine, Central Division 2015 Samuel Huff, “Snowflakes in Summer” 1st Place Song, 1st Place Performance, Central Division Illuminations 1st Place Literary Magazine, Central Division, Small Colleges 2 I LLUMINATIONS V OLUME 17 Editor: Kimberly Fangman Graphic Designer: Kristine Meek Editorial Team: Jeff Anderson, Kyle Barnes, Ben Bentzinger, Katlin Brown, Cindy Burge, Teresa Burt, Dawn Clover, Carrie Cross, Susan Davis, Stacey Delancey, Ruth Hietbrink, Christina Kelly, Anna Loden, Troy Poole, Mary Ann Rowe, Tonya Schroeder, Nicole Wendelin Project Assistants: Rebecca Burt, Nancy Hagler-Vujovic, David Hallowell, Jeanine Jewell, Cassie Kruse, Nick Lamblin, Kate Loden, Rachel Mason, Donna Osterhoudt, Stu Osterthun, Janalee Petsch, Lyndsi Rasmussen, Carolee Ritter, Jo Shimmin, Laura Thompson, Barbara Tracy, Jessica Vetter, the English instructors of the Arts and Sciences Division Conceptual Creator: Shane Zephier Illuminations publishes creative prose, poetry, and visual art, as well as academic and literary writing. We encourage submissions from across the disciplines. Our mission is to feature outstanding artistic works with a diversity of voices, styles, and subjects meaningful to the SCC community. Illuminations is further evidence that original thought and creative expression are celebrated by Southeast Community College. Illuminations is published in March of each year. Submissions are accepted year-round from SCC students, faculty, and staff. Email submissions to Editor Kimberly Fangman, kfangman@ southeast.edu, with the following information: 1) The title and a brief description of each submission; 2) Your name, ID#, and program/position at SCC; 3) Your physical address, phone number, and email address; 4) Your motivation for creating each submission; 5) A brief, informal bio of yourself; mention unique traits, habits, or guilty pleasures— whatever makes you you; 6) The following statement with your typed “signature”: This submission is my own original, unpublished work. Written work is accepted as .rtf or Word files. Submit artwork images or photographs as .tif or .jpg files. (We can photograph or scan artwork for you if needed.) Video files of dramatic, musical, or other creative performances of ten minutes or less can be submitted as MPG4, MPG2, MPG3, AVI, MOV, FLV files. The deadline for Volume 18 submissions is June 3, 2016. Contributors should be aware that submitted work may be used in promotional materials, featured on the Illuminations Facebook page or the SCC website, or submitted to literary magazine contests. Contributors retain copyright of submitted and published material. “Like” our Facebook page for updates, creative challenges, news, contributor spotlights, and more. www.facebook.com/illuminationsscc Questions should be directed to: Kimberly Fangman, c/o Southeast Community College, 8800 O Street, Lincoln, NE 68520, 402-437-2844, [email protected] The content of this magazine does not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Team, the Arts and Sciences Division, or anyone associated with Southeast Community College. Still for Dan – much missed ©2016 3 T ABLE OF C ONTENTS Front cover image, “The Girl,” by Lanny Tunks; back cover image, “Crayon Masked,” by Sonia Arellano P ROSE TAYDEN BUNDY Linger ....................................8 Freedom Finley ............................90 NATHAN MOSIER A Lonely Autumn at Rainbow Lake ............22 MARIE RIEF This, I Believe, Is Love ......................28 CHRISTEL WIGGAN On Quiet.................................33 JORDYN RIHA Untitled..................................34 JIM BAKER Close to the Heart ..........................36 Not Enough..............................177 CLIFTON SMITH 11/22/63: Stephen King’s Third Opus ...........42 Allow Smoker Friendly Businesses.............149 RYAN HARRINGTON The Annual Pilgrimage to New Orleans .........46 TIFFANY WENDLAND She Changed Me ...........................53 DANUL PATTERSON The Awakenment of Mrs. Henry Owens .........58 INGRID HOLMQUIST Why We Must Encourage Women to Lead .......65 BRANDON JAMES POppERT Empty Building, Empty Soul ..................72 SUNDOS ELIAS Musings..................................77 RICHARD HADLEY Deciphering “Poem for Noem”.................82 DARREN CROTEAU Fostering: A Life-Changing Event..............86 RACHEL HOLLENBECK Re-Enacting Roxaboxen......................95 TRANG TRAN Scars from the War .........................99 LEAH WEBER From Sister to Mother ......................104 GENNIFUR PEARCE Glorious ................................111 WAYNE REA Here Again?..............................114 TREVOR GRAY Leadership by Example .....................118 ERICA HOLTRY The Leather-Bound Journal..................120 AMBER GAMEZ The Losing Side of Youth Sports ..............124 THOMAS SEE A Man Remembered .......................132 SHANNON NIELSEN Training—Or Is It? ........................135 SAMANTHA ELLIOTT Minus One Still Equals a Whole ..............142 HOPE ROSE The Summer Storm ........................145 KYLE BARNES My Kids.................................146 CHELSEA TISDALE The Necessity of Online Education . 152 BLAINE KINNAN Night Into Day ...........................156 ELIZABETH GEORGE Strength to Start Again .....................163 JOHN PAGE The Sound of Freedom .....................167 ELIZABETH WILLIAMS Perspectives ..............................189 MIRANDA CARLSON The Power Within.........................194 ROBYN GRAIVER Preparing Students for the Workforce ..........199 ELLEN KRATZER