Explorations 2002 MECC’S Arts E-Zine
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Explorations 2002 MECC’s Arts E-Zine The originality, creativity, technical skill, and enormous artistic vitality represented in these pages are something to be proud of. We hope that everyone will enjoy and appreciate the talents displayed. We especially want to thank all the students and alumni who entered the competition, and all of the people on campus in Student Services, the Wampler Library, and the staff of the Public Relations office who make this competition and the publication possible. Welcome to EXPLORATIONS, Mountain Empire Community College’s new student arts pub- lication. Current and former students were invited to submit work in five categories: Poetry, Short Story, Personal Essay, Photography, and Drawing. The materials recognized by the judges in each category are featured. EXPLORATIONS grew out of the tremendous talent and energy here at MECC and the strong existing tradition this college community has in the creative arts of literature, photography, and drawing. We invite you to enjoy our students’ creations, and if you are a MECC student or alumni, we invite you to submit your own work next year! Poetry SUZANNE U. CLARK is a poet, writer, and teacher living in Bristol, Tennessee. She has published two books of poetry, What a Light Thing, This Stone, 1999, and Weather of the House, 1994; a col- lection of literary essays, Sketches of Home, 1998; a textbook on writing poetry, The Roar on the Other Side, 2000; and a non-fiction book, Blackboard Blackmail, 1986. She also writes a weekly column for the Kingsport Times-News and teaches writing at King College and to home-schooled students. Clark was a resident fellow at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and has won sev- eral prizes for her poetry. She received her Masters degree from the Writing Seminars of the Johns Hopkins University. She is married to Al Clark and has three children. Photography MORRIS BURCHETTE, owner of Burchette Photography in Norton, Virginia, became interested in photography when he was 9 years old, and has been in business in Norton for more than 54 years. He is a long-standing member of the Professional Photographers of America (PPA), and has won many awards in national and international competitions for his wedding, portrait and commercial work. In recognition of his “superior photographic competence”, he was awarded the prestigious Master of Photography Degree from that organization. Burchette has also served as president of the Virginia Chapter of the Professional Photographers of America (VPPA). Drawing SUZANNE ADAMS RAMSEY is an Associate Professor of Art and Chair of the Visual and Per- forming Arts Department at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise. She has a Bachelor in Performing Arts degree from Clinch Valley College, 1980; a Master of Science degree in Art Edu- cation from Radford University, 1989; and a Master of Fine Arts in Visual Art from Norwich University, 1999. Ramsey has a background in commercial illustration and landscape painting. Currently she is working in collage and bookarts. Essay JOYCE DYER is Director of Writing and Professor of English at Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio. She is the author of two books, The Awakening: A Novel of Beginnings,1993, and In a Tangled Wood: An Alzheimer’s Journey, 1996, and the editor of Bloodroot: Reflections on Place by Appala- chian Women Writers, 1998 . Her essays have appeared in magazines such as High Plains Literary Review and North American Review. Dyer has won numerous awards for her teaching and writing, 2 including the Michael Starr Award for Teaching Excellence, 1996; a 1997 Individual Artist Fellow- ship from the Ohio Arts Council in creative nonfiction; the 1999 Book of the Year Award from the Appalachian Writers Association; and a 2001 Pushcart Prize nomination. Dyer has been a resident writer at the Hindman Appalachian Writers Workshop and the Highland Summer Conference at Radford University, among others. She is currently completing a memoir about growing up in a company town in Akron, Ohio (the former Rubber Capital of the World), as well as a collection of essays about American beauty. Short Story DON JOHNSON is currently the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at East Tennessee State University. He is the long-time editor of Aethlon: the Journal of Sport Literature, and the author of two books of poems, The Importance of Visible Scars, 1984, and Watauga Drawdown, 1992. He has also edited an anthology of contemporary baseball poems entitled Hummers, Knucklers, and Slow Curves. Johnson is currently finishing a critical book on sports poetry, tentatively entitled The Sporting Muse, and awaiting publication of an article in The Southern Review on Seamus Heaney, called “Heaney at Play.” Faculty Sponsors Alice Harrington Rita Quillen Bill Harris 3 Table of Contents Color Photography 1st Place - Donald Sorah - “Street Musician” . 5 2nd Place - Jody Cussins - “Going Home” ............................................. 6 3rd Place - Neka Wilson - “New York Rain”. 7 Honorable Mention Neka Wilson - “Monet Lake”. 8 Jody Cussins - “Out on a Limb” .................................................. 9 Poetry 1st Place - Donna Kolb - “Sanford Bud Speck” ......................................10-11 2nd Place - Donna Kolb - “Day and Night, and Somewhere in Between” . 12 3rd Place - Jessica Moore - “Embodied Elements” ..................................... 12 Honorable Mention Bradley Davis - “Dear Dad”. 13 Katherine Maine - “Genelle” . 14 Leann Stallard - “Leaves” . 15 Short Story 1st Place - Tristan Rose - “Stalemate: Armageddon”. .15-18 2nd Place - Justin Chase Mullins - “The Famous Billy Olson”. .19-22 3rd Place - Joyce Skidmore - “The Best Snowman in Town” ...........................23-25 Honorable Mention LaDonna Cantrell - “A Change in Luck” . .26-29 Donna Kolb - “The Mighty Blue Caddy”. .30-34 Essay 1st Place - Anonymous - “Alone With Fear” ........................................35-40 2nd Place - Donna Kolb - “Cleata Mae Dean” .......................................41-45 3rd Place - Alice Lynch - “The Way Things Were”. .46-48 Drawing 1st Place - Sara Jane Potter - “Flower Garden” ......................................... 51 2nd Place -Erin Patterson - “Chief” ................................................. 52 3rd Place - Adam Barnette - “Sharon Stone” .......................................... 53 Honorable Mention Shawn Williams - “Virginia Essence”. 54 Kathleen Anderson - “Cranberry Juice #3”. 55 Matthew Rentfrow - “Cracked Cream Savers” ..................................... 56 4 Color Photography 1st Place Donald Sorah Street Musician 5 Color Photography 2nd Place Jody Cussins Going Home 6 Color Photography 3rd Place Neka Wilson New York Rain 7 Color Photography Honorable Mention Neka Wilson Monet Lake 8 Color Photography Honorable Mention Jody Cussins Out on a Limb 9 Poetry 1st Place Donna Kolb Sanford Bud Speck Sanford “Bud” Speck-1901-1964 St. Charles 1928-Revisited Dapper Sanford Or Dashing “Bud” Your Picture Is Of Someone My Mind Never Conjured Up Preening On Icy Steps, So Relaxed In Shined Black Shoes. Your Fashionable Hat Almost Dwarfs A Tiny, Boy Face Hands In Your Pockets Full Of Money, Raring To Be Spent You Are Ready For Revelry And Romance In Your Sunday Black Suit Money, Liquor, Women And Independance, Replaced With Debts, Milk, A Wife, And Ties To Responsibility 10 Good Ol’ Daddy Or Elusive Papaw Speck You Toiled To Feed Your Bride, And One By One, Eight Offspring Many More Depended On 20 Years Of Daily Mail Deliveries I Only Knew You Through Their Scattered Memories And A Casket Photo Now I Know We Both Had A Life, Before We Gave In. 11 Poetry 2nd Place Donna Kolb Day and Night, and Somewhere in Between You were cold steel, pressing against my body. You were as rough boards, chafing my heart. You were like an empty glass, when I was thirsty. You were buttermilk, soured and curdled. You were like an aspirin, stuck in my throat. You were as fog, lingering damp and dark. You were like a king, wielding a bloody septor. You were as attentive and perceptive as a door. You were the boogie man, I still watch for. You are chocolate savored off my fingers. You are a marijuana euphoria. You are as my oldest blue jeans. You are yellow flowers and butterflies. You are a stoic building, full of memories. You are like a panther, prowling, confidently. You are the warm blanket air, caressing my shoulders. You are like a patiently listening grandmother. You are a hurled into the yonder boomerang. You were the delight of an unexpected gift. You are as comfortable as flannel pajamas. You were like a vacuum, grabbing at the answers. You are a contradiction of ancestors. You are like a loom, spinning ideas. You are as consumed as a scientist for a cure. You are defensive as a cat with kittens. You were/are the yin to my yang. You are parts of me, flashing in neon. 12 Poetry 3rd Place Jessica Moore Embodied Elements Fog, wind and sea, Which one of these is me. The elements of nature that form myself, Under my skin lies that wealth. Fog is a silent cloud, That makes all noise become loud. So distant but yet close, Becomes interesting only to most. The wind that is loud and unseen, Rustles the leaves as friend or fiend. Disappears when things aren’t to its liking, Yet can be friends with a courageous Viking. Sea that is dangerous and rough, But underneath is full of interesting stuff. Can be gentle if you go with the flow, Beware if the wrong seeds you sow. The fog that I am, Ghost of a cloud you cannot ram. I am the wind so strong, So I can take out all wrong. Blue and green sea am I, There are times even it can be shy. Elements that have existed all though time, Are now embodied in my soul, heart and mind. 13 Poetry Honorable Mention Bradley Davis Dear Dad I am a grown man now and I gotta tell ya I wouldn’t be here without you. You have taught me honesty, humility, and honor.