Creative
Writing
Fiction
2017
"He took a swig of lukewarm coffee and set the hairbrush against her scalp. Black hair knotted the bristles as he tugged, and Serena watched the stringy strands of hair sail to the wood and meander out the French windows, falling like cobwebs on the tree branches and bike seats lining their suburban street corner."
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Fiction
2017
"Edith showed me all the different ways you could kill bugs, insects and small amphibians. Our executions were ritualistic and nuanced. I let her use my glasses to burn lady bugs to a char, then we’d spread the ashes across the schoolyard. She was pretty set on being an exterminator for a bit there, and she’s looking for a career change now."
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Fiction
2016
"The cat peed on your computer and fried the engine when you were shooting that wedding, and you couldn't Google panoramas in Poland for a while because of it. Those twisted Gothic cathedrals sometimes reflect the contorted faces of photographers like you--their tongues stretched and their eyes crossed because they knew they'd have an audience."
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Selfish: Issue Three - Good Girl
2016
"'Good Girl' features the work of 32 contributors and examines the spectrum of disappointment that encompasses the experience of the 'Modern Woman' while confronting the very nature of the concept. in honor of every woman who has ever been asked just how she manages to 'do it all,' or has been criticized for not doing enough, issue three will showcase a range of perspectives trapped within and breaking free of the social expectations of Woman."
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Roger and Sylvia McNair Travel Story $1000 Scholarship Winner 2015
"The Roger and Sylvia McNair Travel Story Scholarship was established to encourage international travel among Creative Writing - Fiction students and to support the experience of studying and writing abroad by assisting with the costs of tuition and fees. This year, the program will support students interested in studying in one of Creative Writing-Fiction study abroad programs in Paris, Rome, or Prague."
"The Master of Us"
Creative Nonfiction
2015
"The Strength tarot card depicts a woman calmly caressing a lion adorned in gold trimmings. When it is flipped upside down in a spread, it shows weakness. When you see Strength upside down, imagine the woman scampering, imagine her white gown is torn and her body is gashed, her crown of leaves smashed in the wake of the lion’s pounce as she runs toward a perilous grey mountain."
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*defunct
Fiction
2015
"Usually, their smoke breaks were unanimously quiet, but Annie always had his number. She took a deep breath, the cold flaring her nostrils with the smell of dead fish and rotting leaves. A couple of carp had washed up on dark jagged rock; dead and punctured on smooth slabs of slippery, eroded stone."
You'll have to use the wayback machine to read this one!
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South Loop Review: Honorable Mention-- 2014 National Undergraduate Essay Contest
"South Loop Review: Creative Nonfiction + Art is a literary journal that publishes essays and memoir, lyric and experimental forms, non-linear narratives, blended genre, graphic memoir, photography, and art. We look for personal essays and memoir with fresh voices and new takes on presentation and form. As well, we look for photography and art that creates a strong resonance."
"Pearl"
Creative Nonfiction
2014
"When I think too much about how Pearl became my ride, I feel that heavy feeling in my stomach- the kind where you want to take a really long shower or jump right out of your skin. I knew deep down that I was never meant to have Pearl. She had always been my dad’s prized possession. For a while he lived in her more than the house. On business trips he’d take her with him across the country, selling paint out of her spacious trunk. He trusted Pearl to keep his cargo safe and she did."
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Flip The Page: Thurber House Literary Magazine
"Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Thurber House (the home of humorist, author, and New Yorker cartoonist James Thurber) is a non-profit literary center and Thurber museum. Our mission is to celebrate the written word for the education and entertainment of the broadest possible audience and to continue the legacy of James Thurber. Our programs include the Thurber Prize for Humor, the only such recognition of humor writing in the country; a month-long residency for writers of children's literature; author readings; writing classes for children and adults and a museum of Thurber memorabilia. Thurber House is a unique national treasure."
"Why Socks Get Lost in the Wash"
Fiction
2014
"Ever wonder why you can never seem to find a pair of matching socks? I know what you are thinking- that the washing machine eats the stragglers; the socks that refuse to suds up and get cleaned with the rest of the pack. I assumed the same thing before I knew better, but it is much more complicated than that. I’m going to let you in on a secret… for a limited time only."
"Left Nowhere"
Fiction
2007
(I wrote this when I was in a 7th grade writing program called Power of the Pen. It was unedited and published on their organization's site here because it was a timed entry in a prompt-based writing competition. Receiving an award for this story made me feel like I really COULD be a writer someday and now, here we are! Please support this organization if you can and support youth literacy in the state of Ohio.)