To celebrate the 10th edition of The Blackstick Review, Mount Holyoke's revived literary magazine, students in Corinne Demas' English 303 course gathered in Shattuck Hall's Cassani Room to read selections from their fiction work.
The magazine, named after another literary publication that existed at the College from 1909-1961, received its title from the good fairy in William Makepeace Thackeray's "The Rose and The Ring." Students in Demas' 2004 class decided to revive the title after Allison Trzop ’04 discovered a copy of the earlier magazine in the College's archives.
elizabeth mcmanus ’14
McManus, a religion major from Chapel Hill, N.C., reads "Aurora Borealis," in which desire makes an unexpected appearance during a barista's shift at an airport coffee bar.
Madeleine Veninger ’14
Veninger, an English major from North Truro, Mass., reads "Waiting," a fast-paced and delightfully staccato journey through an interconnected web of characters, all united by a common experience.
Zoe Weizenbaum ’14
Weizenbaum, an East Asian Studies major, reads "Throw The Baby Out With The Bathwater," in which a young girl—at first wary of her new sibling—is moved by a sense of protectiveness into an understanding of filial love.
Sarah Charbonneau ’14
Charbonneau, a psychology major from Longmeadow, Mass., reads "Poor Connectivity," a thoughtful exploration into the inner life of a 'half-present' young mother living under a cloud of postpartum depression.
Andrea Gutierrez FP’15
Gutierrez, an English major from Barstow, Calif., reads "What The Body Remembers," a meditation on how the human body can carry a lifetime of warm memories, uplifting hopes, painful regrets, and traumatic experiences.
Marie Seegmiller is a junior at Hampshire College. In addition to creative writing, she studies history and comparative literature, with particular emphasis on Eastern Europe.