Acknowledgements • Student Editors: Andrew Christian and Sherry Crigger • Editor: Tempi Hale • Fiction Editor: Tamara Baxter • Visual Art Editor: Dr. Christal Hensley • Poetry Editor: Dr. Sandy Hiortdahl • Non-Fiction Editor: Josh Archer • Visual Art Editor: Donna Wilt • Fiction Judge: Rebecca Elswick • Poetry Judge: William Wright • Non-fiction Judge: Dr. Louis Gallo • Visual Art Judge: John W. Hilton • Design: Jonathan Brooks • Printed by: Franklin Graphics Special thanks to William Wilson, Robert Carpenter, Debi Beverly, Keith Glover, Mark Beaty, Thomas Wilson, and Beverly Leonard for help with the production of this magazine. All rights to individual works are retained by the authors or artists. For permission to reprint, contact the author or artist directly. The works published here were created by current students and chosen by outside judges, who are experts in Visual Art and Literature. Views expressed herein are those of the authors, and not necessarily those of the editors or of Northeast State. Northeast State Community College is one of 45 institutions in the Tennessee Board of Regents system, the sixth largest system of higher education in the nation. The Tennessee Board of Regents is the governing board for this system, which is comprised of six universities, 13 community colleges, and 26 area technology centers. The TBR system enrolls more than 80 percent of all Tennessee students attending public institutions of higher education. Northeast State is committed to the education of a non-racially identifiable student body. The college does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status in the provision of educational opportunities and benefits. The college complies with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Inquiries concerning nondiscrimination policies and guidelines should be directed to the director of Human Resources. Northeast State is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award the associate degree. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lance, Decatur, Georgia 30033, or call 404.679.4500 for questions about the accreditation of Northeast State. NSTTCC-107-004 Rev. 3/14 i Echoes and Images . Northeast State Community College Contents Acknowledgements i Contents ii Andrew Christian Pickets 1 Toby. J Stidham Dying to Learn 2 Katie Barnett Equine Sunrise, a Haiku 5 Andrew Christian Winter Skies 6 Kevin Carrier Pirate Bones 10 Kevin Carrier Perhaps When This is Over 11 Beth Edwards Daddy’s Girl 12 Annie Harrison As I Walk 17 Andrew Christian Church House Meeting 18 Michelle Miller Stargazer Lilies 25 Andrew Christian Downtown Bar 30 Kassidy Younce A Distant Love 32 Charles Stuart Forstall Forgotten Fighter 37 Caitlin Meadows The Fight Against Cancer 39 Katrina Gibbs-Macdonald My Mummy Head 40 Caitlin Meadows Diagnosed as Human 41 Caitlin Meadows Even God Rests 42 Michelle Miller Bird’s Eye Books 43 Heather Russell 9 September, 2001 44 Cassandra Walls From Drowning 45 Daniel Neubrander Self-portrait: Graphite on Vellum 46 Daniel Neubrander Tree Frog 47 Ashley Pierce 1,000 Words 48 Erin Ryder Sailor’s Delight 49 Zachery S. Sturgill Live in the Gray 50 Cassandra Walls Winter 51 Katrina Gibbs-Macdonald Untitled 52 Kelly Tolley Tell-Tale Tessellations 53 Erin Ryder Case #02041937: The Case of the Poisoned Apple 54 Mckayla Bacon Those Nine Months 63 Michael Stalvey Margo 69 Robert Northrup Thanksgiving 75 Spring 2014 . Volume 24 ii Contents Judges 82 Contributors 84 Echoes and Images 25 88 iii Echoes and Images . Northeast State Community College Pickets Andrew Christian First Place, Poetry Drive down, friend Drive down, Hear engine-rattle And throttle And thrall. Turn, turn again Down old ways, Grown up, broken And comfortably Rutted. Hear, hear again, Hollow windshield Song. Wind. Whispering Futile, Of midnight paths, Desolate paths, Stretching black, Returning Nothing. Pass by, friend Pass by, Sorrow. White-washed and picketed. Spring 2014 . Volume 24 1 Dying to Learn Toby J. Stidham First Place, Non-fiction “Wow, I am actually doing the timeline of my legacy, a portrait this. And not only am I doing it, started to emerge from the fog but I am doing a darn good job at of days gone by that had shrouded it. I am a 47-year-old college my memory. It was not necessarily freshman!” a pleasant memory, but a vital Deep inside I have always one nonetheless. As a ten year- known that I could wear the pocket old boy, I was diagnosed with protector of a college student and Type-1 juvenile-onset diabetes. do it justice. But as I reviewed the My chest heaved for air. I cried first few near-perfect grades of and trembled uncontrollably as my newly minted college career, the doctor gave me the verdict I began to wonder how I had tran- and the nurse was handing me sitioned into this life of academia an orange and a syringe. I was so seamlessly. In my personal instructed by the physician to and professional life, I had always practice giving injections with been successful, quick to make these newly introduced tools of key decisions and emerge from the trade. I dropped them into the pack to take command and my lap and, despite my inability control of the circumstances at to maintain anything other than hand. I was self-motivated, harsh, short-lived breaths, told the self-aware, and self-monitored. doctor that I could not do it. He Until I read an article on self- grabbed the orange and syringe, regulated learning, I had no idea threw them in the trash can beside if this gift was the result of some my bed, and said “Fine, die then.” random genetic DNA transfer, or With those words etched into the if something had happened, some deepest corners of my memory, critical defining moment in my life my opus of learning began. that had veered me onto the path I am confident that I am a of self-regulated learning. self-regulated learner. Primarily, I As I combed my past and am vigilantly self-motivated, in part took inventory of my beginning, my as a matter of choice, but mostly journeys, and my current place in as a matter of survival. Death is 2 Echoes and Images . Northeast State Community College one of life’s greatest motivators. career paths. I have developed After the denial and a ravenous appetite to learn anger phases of my diagnosis throughout my life, and college exhausted themselves, acceptance has become the ultimate set in, and I quickly understood academic “all-you-can-eat” that to live I had to fight. I knew buffet. then that if I was going to control In addition, I am painfully this monster residing inside of me, self-aware. To be a “healthy” I needed to know how it worked. diabetic, I had to learn that I could My disease was going to test me never take my mind off of the task every day, so I started to study at hand. Each moment of the day and learn like my life depended dictated the next. Every action I on it, because it did. Through this took had some reaction on my epiphany, I found that knowledge disease, which often led me to is power - power against crises, consider adjusting my strategies situations, circumstances, ide- or asking for help. als, and yes, even monsters. This This same cause and effect conclusion marked the onset of my methodology has carried over into transformation into a self-regulated my experience of learning. Each learner. step I take toward learning reveals This approach quickly the next step, slow and careful at became the method by which I first, then moving at a pace my would handle all aspects of my confidence dictates, always ready life. It is this aggressive tactic that to change stride or stop and ask has propelled me into a college for directions. Just as in the experience that could not have regulation of my disease, so it is been scripted any better. Many in the regulation of my learning. educational psychologists agree It is this awareness of the results that task value refers to the of my behavior that allows me significance these learning to self-evaluate and decide if a chores have for students’ lives change in learning strategies is and future educational goals and needed or if a call for assistance Spring 2014 . Volume 24 3 is required. pointment as I peruse the empty Finishing up, I am critically pages that should have told the self-monitored. This characteristic story of my college education. I plays out in my diabetes manage- have wasted enough time trying ment through countless finger- to imagine a rewritten past instead pricks, constant carb-counting, of refocusing my aim on the future. and endless visits to the doctor Living and learning with diabetes for check-ups and blood work. over the years has had a lasting The vast amount of information effect and proven itself worthy in extracted from a tiny vial of blood, the past three months. The such as HbA1c’s (glucose confidence and “feeling-of- levels over the last ninety days), knowing” provided by life-long cholesterol, ketones, and tri- learning has paved the way for glycerides, is the only way to a smooth and rewarding journey determine if I have reached my of my college education. goals. This mirrors the studying, testing, and grading process of learning that allows students to gauge their development as the semester passes. For me, as a student, the only way that I can be assured that I am on the correct path to achieving my goal of a college degree is to constantly evaluate and reevaluate my progress in the classroom.