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The Denise Gess Awards: 2023 Edition and Q&A with the Winners and Judges

5/14/2023

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Left to right: Katelyn Sullivan, Rebecca Green, Megan Kiger, Nyds Rivera, Tara Grier, Stephanie Ciecierski, Jennifer Lendvai-Lintner, and Katherine Bond at the Denise Gess Awards Ceremony (Taken at Rowan Art Gallery)
The Denise Gess Awards is an undergraduate and graduate student competition by the Rowan Writing Arts Department in the Ric Edelman College of Communication and Creative Arts. It happens annually around spring semester​ and is named in the honor of the late Writing Arts Associate Professor Denise Gess. There are three categories, The Rowan University Award for Poetry, The Edward J. Czwartacki Award for Short Fiction, and The Pat B. Tweedie Award for Creative Nonfiction. The winners are awarded in each category with cash: $200 for first place, $100 for second, and $50 for third.

This year, I was fortunate enough to attend the ceremony of the Denise Gess Awards, at the Rowan Art Gallery and listened to the stories and poems of the winners. There, the judges presented the winners and talked about their work. The winners then read their pieces out load to the audience.

After the ceremony, I reached out to the winners and judges and asked them question regarding the award. I was very curious to know the inspiration behind the winner's submission and the process of the judges picking the winners. And I've got the answers so without further ado, here is our Q&A -

​The Faculty and Judges

​Heather Lanier -
​(Chair of the Creative Writing Committee, Creative Writing Coordinator, Assistant Professor of Writing Arts Department)

Professor Lanier and her Creative Writing committee run the contest, plan, and execute the awards ceremony. When asked about the process of the award, she says, "Students submit via a Google form. Our administrative assistant anonymizes the entries and sends them to the judges. There are two judges per category. They each independently decide on the best pieces, and then convene to discuss the winners and honorable mentions". When asked about her thoughts on the award, she says, "It's a vital opportunity for us to celebrate the amazing creative writing here at Rowan. For the winners, it also serves as major validation for their efforts, something burgeoning writers really appreciate".

Katie Budris -
(Senior Lecturer of Writing Arts Department, Program Coordinator of M.A. in Writing, Editor in Chief of Glassworks)

Professor Budris was the judge for Poetry category with Professor Ron Block. They had entries of 46 students with 3 poems submitted per entry. When asked about what she look for in that genre, she said, "Personally, I'm looking for poems that demonstrate intentionality and a strong sense of voice. In other words, I hope to see that the student writer is crafting poems that aren't just an outpouring of emotion or a carbon copy of a poetic form everyone is familiar with. That means really conveying something meaningful to the reader through careful word choice, strong imagery and figurative language, and a form with line breaks that help support the overall themes of the poem. Since students are asked to submit three poems for this award, we're also looking to see if the poems work together in some way and are judging them as a group, so all three need to be strong for a submission to win an award".

She said it was heartwarming for many students submitting for poetry, it was often seen as a less popular genre which intimidated students but, for the judges, it was a difficult decision to pick winners because of strong entries. "I love being able to celebrate the winners for their hard work and their bravery in sharing their words with others. The awards ceremony and reading has become a favorite event of mine each year", she said.

Catherine Romano - 
(Lecturer of Writing Arts Department)

Professor Romano was the judge for Fiction category with Professor Cherita Harrell. They had 40 entries. When asked about what she look for in that genre, she said, "I look for stories that move me; take risks; have at least one interesting/dynamic character; have an unexpected or otherwise intriguing point of view; haven't already been hashed and rehashed to death; and use language in creative/original ways". She said they read and choose their favorites separately and then come together to compare notes, "We usually agree easily on what should be in the top 3 or 5 (including honorable mentions) and then we just have to come up with the exact order together".

The Award is one of her favorite events at Rowan. "A common stereotype about creating writing is that it doesn't pay much, so it's great that Rowan students have an opportunity every year to win monetary prizes for their creative writing, especially since it's always evident that the winners have put a lot of effort and time into their pieces. It's a wonderful way to build young writers' confidence in themselves, foster a community of writers on campus, and showcase Rowan students' amazing talent. I'm so thankful to the Gess family for providing this opportunity and for joining us at the awards ceremony to remember and honor Denise", she said.

Doreen Fera -
(Lecturer of Writing Arts Department)

Professor Fera was the judge for Creative Nonfiction category with Professor Lisa Jahn-Clough. They had 28 entries, "The talent this year was extraordinary which made the judging process challenging. With so many wonderful writers sharing so many extraordinary personal stories, we took our time carefully reading each entry", she said.

When asked what she look in that genre, Fera says, "Strong creative nonfiction uses the craft of storytelling in ways that engage a reader and bring a true story to life.  This means that the writer shares memories or experiences not just accurately but creatively, using creative writing techniques borrowed from fiction, poetry, and any creative writing combinations you can think of to make the work sing. This could be combining any number of creative choices or just a few, including various points of view, braiding or weaving unexpected elements together, shaking up structure, adding vivid details, crafting powerful scenes, dialogue, insights, embedding research -- anything that makes sense for the story, really. Clarity, pace, voice, and tone all are important, as well". Professor Fera and Professor Jahn-Clough note when the writers take risk either that is using language beautifully or moved the readers with new ideas or universal truths. "The best of the entries leave the reader changed in some way". she says.

The Winners

​Grace McGory -
(Sophomore, double major in Theatre with concentration in Acting and Writing Arts with concentration in Creative Writing)

Grace won 1st place for Poetry with her submission called "Love letters to the Artist". Her submission was a collection of ekphrastic poetry, that is poems inspired by or based off of other art pieces. She says, "I like to write poetry about complex feelings that I struggle to put into words in a logical way. Poetry allows me to express my thoughts and feelings through imagery, and that's what I wanted to do with the art I used as inspiration".  The pieces she chose were the sculpture Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A) by Félix González-Torres, the slam poem - 14 Lines from Love Letters or Suicide Notes by Doc Luben, and the exhibit Can't Help Myself by Sun Yuan & Peng Yu. She added, "I titled the collection "Love Letters to the Artist" because that's exactly what these poems are: my love letters to these talented people whose work I deeply admire, and which provokes deep, powerful feelings within me. I felt this was the best tribute I could give to these pieces that touched me so profoundly". 


Rebecca Green -
(MA in Writing Arts, Adjunct Instructor in Writing Arts, Class of 2023)

​Rebecca won 2nd place for Poetry with her submission called, "Self-Portrait in Fragments". When asked about her inspiration behind her poetry, she says, "I enjoy writing about identity in my poems. I use snapshots of past experiences to frame each poem. Each poem is usually a blend of narrative and lyric poetry". Rebecca's inspiration can come from many different things, even by poetry written by other people.

Tara Grier -
(MA in Writing Arts, Class of 2023)

Tara won 1st place for Edward Czwartacki Prize for Fiction with her submission called "Mt. Ursula". Her inspiration for her short story came from a documentary called, "Fire of Love" which Tara and her roommate watched. She says the documentary follows two scientists who love each other and volcanoes so much that they often explored them together despite the danger. She said, "It made me wonder about a person's capacity for love even in the face of life-threatening danger".
 
Stephanie Ciecierski -
(MA in Writing Arts, Graduate Instructor of Composition, Class of 2023)

Stephanie won 2nd place for Edward Czwartacki Prize for Fiction with her submission called "Barry", which is a flash fiction. Stephanie says, "I work as a bartender at Braddock's Tavern in Medford. I grew up in Medford, a conservative town, and am rather liberal. I often have conversations with conservative or Republican-minded customers that more or less go one of two ways: really well or really terrible. "Barry" is a depiction of a person that goes really well. It's magical realism in which the bartender/narrator gives him a concoction in a wine glass that allows him to live a second life". 

Katelyn Sullivan -
(MA in Writing Arts, Editing & Publishing for Writing Certificate of Graduate Study, International Student Adviser, Class of 2025)

Katelyn won 3rd place in Edward Czwartacki Prize for Fiction with her submission called "In Space".
She actually wrote her short story as an assignment for the Horror unit of Megan Atwood’s Genre Fiction class. She says, "I had never written a horror story prior to this, so before starting, I reflected on my own favorite horror stories. I wanted to examine the foundations that make them succeed above and beyond the stereotypical jump scare fare. Under the spooky fantasy or science fiction elements, I believe the best horror tells a story of real-world trauma in a compelling and honest way that respects and connects with the audience". She added that The Babadook and Get Out films (having written script) do a fantastic job at it as well as the best of Stephen King’s novels. She aspires to achieve something similar with her story. "In my own life, the worst trauma, the thing that has kept me up at night, the thing that never truly leaves my subconscious, the fear that overshadows all other fears, is watching a loved one struggle with addiction and wondering if they will always be on the losing side", she says. "Unfortunately, I know I am far from alone in this experience. My story is based in part on these personal experiences and the experiences of others I know going through similar situations, though the characters themselves and the fantastical horror elements are what make it fiction". Katelyn is hopeful that her work can connect with other people who have loved ones battling addiction and make them feel less alone in their feelings.

Jennifer Lendvai-Lintner -
(MA in Writing Arts, First-Year Writing Instructor, B.A. in English with concentration in Journalism and minor in Women's Studies from University of Delaware)

​Jennifer won 1st place in Pat B. Tweedie Prize for Creative Nonfiction with her submission called "A Mother’s Prayer". It's a fragmented essay. Jennifer said, "One of the questions at the heart of the essay is "What happens if I revise what I know about the Virgin Mary based on what I know as a mother?". In her essay, she revisits Catholic stories, art, and teachings about Mary and how those impressions impacted her view of her faith and especially herself as a mother. She said, "Something interesting happened when I began to look at Mary, not as some distant, perfect icon, but through the lens of what I had come to know and experience as a mom". She added that the essay was written almost over 3 years.  The courses in the M.A. program allowed her to explore the idea and work with the material in many different creative ways, which helped this essay come together. "I didn't set out to write this as a fragmented essay or even plan to incorporate all of the elements that ended up in the final piece, but the projects I completed in my courses allowed me to open up connections that I hadn't seen originally", she says.

Jennifer said that some of the assignments in Professor Lisa Jahn-Clough's courses helped her to engage with the subject matter in creative modes other than writing. In one assignment, she put together a hybrid project combining both writing and visuals. "When she taught Core I, one of her assignments was to do something creative that was not writing. I decided to paint a scene I had been trying to write. I am NOT an artist! But there was something about engaging with the material in these ways that led me to new discoveries on the page. A gem Prof. Lisa Jahn-Clough passed along to me was this one from comics artist Scott McCloud, who we studied in her class: "Learn from everyone. Follow no one. Watch for patterns. Work like hell." I was conferencing with her about early material that would eventually find its way into this essay!", Jennifer says. More of writerly advice came to Jennifer from Professor Heather Lanier. As she was worked on the order of the fragments, Professor Heather Lanier encouraged her to grab scissors and cut out a paper copy of the essay, so Jennifer could play around with the fragments like puzzle pieces to find the best sequence. "The essay was spread out over my carpet for a good few days, but it worked!", Jennifer says.

Katherine Bond -
(M.A. in Writing Arts, Graduate Instructor (M.A. in Writing Teaching Experience Program), First-Year Writing Instructor, Class of 2024)

Katherine won 2nd place in Pat B. Tweedie Prize for Creative Nonfiction with her submission called "Unsettled". When asked about her submission, she said, "For the Denise Gess Awards, I submitted a series of essays from a larger project I'm working on--a memoir-in-essays project that fuses prose, poetry, and history and applies a decolonial lens to my identity construction, relationships, and family history, as well as my experiences as a woman and a mother". Her essay explores the tensions that characterize her self-identity and identity construction as a multiracial woman, while likewise challenging the construct of whiteness.

Megan Kiger -
(M.A. in Writing Arts, Class of 2023)

Megan won 3rd place in Pat B. Tweedie Prize for Creative Nonfiction with her submission called "You Hide, Play Dead, Or You Run". The inspiration behind her essay was learning that one of her closest friends from childhood was 27 weeks pregnant with a daughter that the doctors believed would not survive outside the womb. "Whenever I talked to my friend she’d always say, “I’m just happy to still be with her today.” I braided this into my essay alongside the fact that I am fortunate enough to have healthy children of my own, and yet, parents still must fear for their health and safety, just in a different light. School shootings have forced us to grapple with the idea that I might drop my daughter off to school one morning and never see her again", she says. But Megan is thankful that her friend offerd her a different perspective, "I no longer try to worry about the things I cannot control and think instead, “I’m just happy to still be with her today".

Thank you to those who participated in this Q&A and Congratulation to the Winners and Honorable Mentions. Thank you to the Faculty and Judges for your hard work and giving students a great opportunity and a place to show their colors in their writing. 

Also, Congratulations to those who graduated!
​

Author

Khansa Samreen

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My journey with reading Big Magic

4/11/2023

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In the creative world, there are many obstacles and barriers one might find themselves in like writer’s block, unmotivated or uninspired, perfection, rejection, etc. There might be days where you might feel it’s not worth the time or even feel an existential crisis. Let me tell you that It’s normal to have those emotions and that you’re never alone.

Coming in terms with those complicated emotions is a journey and what helped me with that journey is reading Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert.

I first read the book back in 2018. At that time, I was really lost and was trying to find my passion and self-identity. I came across this book on YouTube and it was mentioned multiple times by many youtubers that this book is inspiring and motivating to those who were in a self-discovery journey. I was very interested so when I visited Barnes and Noble, I picked it up and bought it. 

I got through the book very quickly and I remember putting sticky notes on pages where there were great quotes. But unfortunately, (I’ll be honest) I didn’t get anything out of that book. I actually wanted to return it since I felt it didn’t have the answer to what I was looking for. I was very lost back then and I had to go through soul searching on my own then looking for answers in a book. The book wouldn’t tell me what to do with life or know me, I only knew myself. Plus, I wasn’t in any way looking to pursue a writing career or any type of creative living until now.

Coming to late 2022 and present, I saw this book hidden away in a bookshelf and decided to give it a try again after discovering myself and realizing that I really want to live a creative life. So then I read the book and felt a spark and connection towards it which I didn’t have a couple of years ago. That was because it was more relatable now and I wasn’t looking for the answers in the book this time, but just reading it to change the way I think about fears and looking at creative living in a new light. I learned many great lessons that not only apply to my career but in life as well. Some things I learned were tackling my fears, trusting myself and my art/writing, dealing with creative ideas and rejection, and so much more.

I would recommend everyone, especially those in the creative fields to read Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. It has a lot of great advice and life changing perspectives of creative living and life in general. To end, I’ll leave with one of many great quotes from the book.

“I believe this is one of the oldest and most generous tricks the universe plays on us human beings, both for its own amusement and for ours: the universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them” (Gilbert, Big Magic)

Author

Khansa Samreen

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Write from the Heart

3/20/2023

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Inspiration is everywhere. The best writers pull from their own life and what experiences they have gone through, the good and the bad. 

It might be hard to let it all in, but that’s a good thing. It actually makes you stronger when you let yourself feel what you are feeling. Dr. James W. Pennebaker of Harvard Health Publishing did an experiment on college students who wrote about either personally traumatic life events or trivial topics for fifteen minutes on four consecutive days. He concluded that the students who wrote about traumatic events visited the campus health center less often, and used a pain reliever less frequently, than those who wrote about inconsequential matters. It is amazing how writing sentences can take your mind off of certain things. All of those feelings and emotions from your trauma create new perceptions of life which make your writing more powerful. By tapping into your emotions and applying it to your writing, that makes it more relatable to people and they connect with you and that’s how you form bonds that never would have happened if you didn’t let all your emotions in. Everything that you go through in life, positive and negative, is actually giving you inspiration for your writing. Without all those experiences and trials and errors and successes, you wouldn’t know much about the depths of life. In order to be a writer, you just have to write from the heart. When you do that, all your true feelings and thoughts come out and make something very powerful and possibly moving to others.

Being a good writer is about writing what you know. I never understood that phrase. ‘What I knew’ all seemed so uninteresting and boring but it only seemed that way because I hadn’t had many life experiences when I was younger. I used to imagine scenarios of these heroic characters with complicated love lives because I didn’t have anything to write about at those young ages. As I grow up and go through different things, I realize that I have become that character without even realizing it. At times, my life, like many others’ lives, may be stressful and complicated and crazy, but when I take a step back and think, I realize all of my experiences have taught me so much. Every single person I have met has helped me in ways they don’t even know, and that’s all great material for an epic story. It’s funny how everyday, mundane struggles can actually be great for a story. This is because your own thoughts and feelings and actions are something that people can relate to which is what makes it interesting. Sometimes, I even find myself quoting something a friend or family member said because it just sounds like a good line. Just life itself as you grow up can be interesting enough, even if you don’t think it is. So just try it; write from the heart and see what happens; you’ll be surprised how good it feels. Writing from the heart is my form of therapy. It can help you learn from hard times and see the light in those situations. 


All of those internal feelings make for a great character in a story. So I have realized that writing what you know can be so fascinating because it deals with real emotions and that is what makes readers connect with you, and your writing can impact them to share their own feelings and thoughts.

It is so ironic that pain can inspire you. Sometimes when you are at your lowest, is when you make the greatest work. You may not feel the most inspired or motivated at that exact moment, but what comes after is amazing. After going through heartbreaking situations of the love variety, you find yourself looking at things in a new light; and finding beauty in pain. That is when inspiration strikes. To offer an example, I found myself drawn into a certain boy and I don’t really know where the feelings came from but all I know is that this boy is the only one I felt an emotional connection to, for whatever reason. Even though it did not work out like I wanted it to, I still am grateful for everything, the passion and pain, because it led me to find myself and express myself through writing. That is what I’m talking about. As much as it hurt, I wouldn’t take back anything that happened because it helped me realize my worth and turn my pain into something that can help people. I was able to use writing as a healthy way to get through the pain and even wrote some of my best short stories because of it. Heartbreaking situations, like mine, can transform into a story, a piece of artwork, a song, or anything else; your imagination is limitless when you are coming out of a tough time. These become an outlet; a place to understand yourself and channel your frustrations. 

If you are patient with life’s timing, you’ll see that certain people and experiences come into your life at different times and leave a mark on you that inspires your best work. Your wounds can turn into scars, if you let them. Open your heart, find your passions, and turn your pain into something you can be proud of.    

Author
Anna Kofitsas

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Unpopular Opinion: Why I think songs and poetry are similar

3/12/2023

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Before you start judging this article because of the title, first hear me out. This is a personal opinion that I know is very debatable and has been whenever it is brought up, especially in class, but I have a strong viewpoint about this topic. 

​I think that songs and poetry are similar because of the words, the feeling, the rhythm, and flow when it comes to writing both songs and poetry. Now the structure of writing a song and poetry is different but the overall big picture is very much the same.  

I first started writing lyrics and songs and that later became a passion of mine without me realizing it. I am very musical and I had a way of creating rhythm with words when I wrote down things that would pop in my head.  I would consider those words that I wrote down not only lyrics but poetry because of the feeling I put down into it. I never wrote those words in a structure of songs but just words and sentences in a notepad or the notes app on my phone. That’s when I realized that songs are poetry too, but it just depends on how you look at different songs individually. 

If you look into the history of poetry, it started as ancient Greece performing their poetry with the instrument called the lyre and then the oldest collection of Chinese poetry, the Shijing, were collections of songs. So even in the past, poetry was looked at as songs. There are many songwriters who are considered poets like John Lennon, Tupac Shakur, Bob Dylan, and many more. Bob Dylan is the one who changed the game because he won the Nobel Prize for Literature and that started the conversation that song lyrics can be considered as poetry. His songs were looked at more than music, his lyrics were just not lyrics but had a deeper meaning. He uses metaphor and figurative language, just like we use in poetry, in his songs like in All Along the Watchtower. And I’m not saying that every song is poetry or if every songwriter is like Bob Dylan but the bigger picture is that a lot of words in some songs are very poetic. To be poetic is to express emotions through words that are written beautifully and can make the readers feel some type of way. And there are lots of songs out there that the lyrics really speak for the listeners and make you feel something. 

The overall message I want to leave you with is that not all songs are poetry but some are and we know it when we listen to them. Those songs might not be written as poetry but they are poetic and songs and poetry are not twin sisters but are sisters. Songs make you feel the same emotions as poetry might do and at the end of the day, the words of those lyrics and poetry can really speak for us when we don’t know how to express.

Author

Khansa Samreen

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Using Words to Heal

12/29/2022

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Psychologically, we are still navigating the Covid 19 pandemic even as we immunize our bodies and appear to be moving past it. Making room for processing this individual and societal trauma is what we owe to each other and ourselves.
In addition to assisting us in processing our experiences and assisting us in imagining a future, a particular style of guided, in-depth writing has been shown to reduce blood pressure, boost the immune system, and improve overall health. We can have less stress, anxiety, and sadness, have better sleep and performance and have more clarity and attention thanks to expressive writing. What makes writing interventions effective? Although it may seem counterintuitive that writing about unpleasant events has a good outcome, some have proposed that recounting a bad experience from the past or a persistent concern "frees up" brain resources. According to research, trauma affects brain tissue, but when people verbalize their emotional experience, they may be altering how the brain is wired.
​This is significant. We need to enlist all available resources in this situation, which is still rife with extreme stress and grief. Increased anxiety and despair are the most common "serious" mental health pressures among employees at every level inside firms and across industries, according to mental health researchers. Since the pandemic started, there has been a threefold increase in depression among adults.
Whatever vessel we may have sailed on this turbulent sea, avoiding reflection on our experiences would be to lessen the impact of one of the most severe global crises of our lifetimes. The importance of healing to the overall health of society, as it is a constructive outlet to allow those in anguish to express their emotions and relieve some of the current or past pain still lingering.

Author

asiya robinson

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How Rowan's POP Culture Magazine Redefines A Genre

12/29/2022

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Halftone is Rowan University's very own pop culture publication that allows Rowan's best and brightest to weigh in on all things popular, with an assortment of genre types like video games, movies, television, book, and more!
Through Halftone students are able to pitch ideas for reviews of different types of media as well as different types of deep-dive type articles. The pop culture zine not only allows students to indulge in all things pop, but it even manages to coincide with one of the newest courses offered in the Writing Arts Department called “Writing About Pop Culture”. Throughout the course, students participate in a few rounds of writing workshops about different types of writing about pop culture works, and after the revisions of these pieces are made students are invited to submit them to Halftone for publication.
Halftone gives students the first feel of working for a publication with a full team-based effort with deadlines, editors, and editors-in-chief who help keep things in order and run the zine. Beyond movies and television, Halftone allows students to share stories about popular culture experiences, with writer Katelyn Warren recently sharing a concert review on Machine Gun Kelly’s Sell Out tour, as well as his album. Articles like this help Halftone redefine pop culture reporting with a more scenic and personalized experience.
Halftone continues to establish itself at Rowan University as a pop culture magazine that's mission is to uniquely redefine a genre while giving students a first taste of what's to come in the writing world and industry.

​

Author

asiya robinson

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Creating with Canva

12/19/2022

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Accepting this internship position back in the Fall, I completely underestimated how much Canva would be one of my biggest sources of creativity during this semester. From Meme Monday’s to Faculty Friday’s and all the event posters in-between, Canva quickly became my internship workspace. It’s even more important to understand Canva’s many different facets because they are ever expanding. Canva has just recently announced their “Canva Docs” which is essentially a one-stop shop for creating presentations and collaborating with others. In an effort to create a space for future interns to come back to, I will be discussing how to get the most out of Canva.
    To start off, let’s think of Canva as a canvas. A blank space to make posts with ease using templates, different fonts and effects to customize your canvas. One of the first things I understood through Canva was setting a tone. Throughout their many template designs, it can be seen how even different colors of a post can offset different emotional responses. This can be seen though even the understanding of holiday colors like those of Easter, Halloween, Christmas, and New Years. Each one of these days can be expressed through colors and thus sets the tone. This is why choosing templates or colors that support your tone are essential to effectively reach your audience. 
    Additionally, sometimes, less is more. A picture speaks a thousand words - but that doesn’t mean we necessarily need to insert a thousand words into one picture. It’s much easier to read a post that isn’t plastered with words and sentences. Stick to the “need-to-know” information and use Canva’s tools to resize and align each phrase in a clear and visible way. This can all be done without distracting the reader with too many pictures or overwhelming them with too many words. Remember, what doesn’t fit on the image can always be inserted in the caption!
    Finally, Canva is great because each creation is a reflection of yourself! Allow yourself to be inspired by other creators like @impact and @futureearth (Instagram). Use the image search to find new graphics and photos to add to your design and collaborate with others to improve your design and welcome new perspectives. Overall, have fun. The possibilities to create on Canva are endless, all that is needed is you.

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Staying Inspired through the Five Senses

11/27/2022

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In all my search for inspiration to write, create, or complete, I hadn’t considered that the key to abundant inspiration lay, quite literally, right under my nose. 

It was a school-wide project that each student and teacher at my job participated in that reawakened the stories, strengths, and inspiration that our five senses hold. Our classroom was assigned the sense of smell. Immediately I thought, “lavender.” The more I collaborated with the students to gather their thoughts, the more their inspiration grew, along with my own. Quickly our satchels of scent blossomed into different textures, colors, and feelings as we added dried oranges, cinnamon, clove, pine needles and pine cones to our collection of smells. Soon I realized how meaningful the scent of smell was. Not only can it soothe our emotions and stimulate the brain, but it is also much more interconnected to the remaining four scents than I had noticed before. Bringing feelings of joy, mixtures of various colors, soothing sounds when held, and most definitely the longing to taste all the delicious smells.
At the completion of the school project, I saw the magic of the five senses come to life in new and unique ways. This experience ignited new perspectives of the senses and equally, the lack thereof. I carried this with me and embedded the newfound appreciation the five senses highlighted into my writing and creative projects. 
I found that the best way to do this is by actively tuning into each sense when struck with creativity or trying to get inspired. In your writing or creative process, for the sense of smell, how would the setting, characters, or tone smell? What would that add or take away to the story? Additionally, what thoughts or emotions does that provoke? Now we can also begin to take away some senses, like sight. What would be highlighted, any feelings, sounds, smells,  or tastes? In what way does this change the dynamic of the story? We can even use this process when it comes to coming up with a new idea. Taking a look around you now, which sense is the strongest? If it’s sight, what is the most vivid thing around you? Most dull? What feelings do these colors provoke? If it's a smell, where does this smell come from? What does it look like? Feel like? What place does this smell take you? If it's a sound, what are you hearing? What would it look like? Where does your body resonate most with this sound, in the head, hands, feet? These thought provoking questions work for any and all senses and are the perfect way to get, and keep, those creative juices flowing. 

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Talking With the TEP's

11/7/2022

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Before being offered this opportunity, I had never heard about the Teaching Experience Program. Though, as a part of my internship duties, I had the pleasure of connecting and collaborating with the students and professors of TEP. Coming into this, I didn't quite understand what this program held and the vast opportunities it provides for Rowan Writing Arts students. The Teaching Experience Program allows students who are completing their Masters in Arts of Writing to also work at Rowan as higher education teachers. It is described that this program “allows students to teach college composition as paid adjunct instructors while completing a Master of Arts in Writing.”

I was given the task to interview the students of the TEP program to create unique introductions for Rowan’s Writing Arts website and newsletter. To start, I connected with Professor Royek who was a joy to work with. He gave me a brief rundown of the program and allowed me the creative freedom to ask questions and conduct research of the TEP students.

To do this, I first created a Google form to gather the following information; the hometown of the TEP students, their educational journey thus far, why they chose Rowan, and what they are seeking to get out of this program. Their responses were eye opening. For many, this program was quite literally a dream come true. Most of these students knew they were destined to be teachers and had Rowan on their radar to help them manifest this into reality. 

My favorite part quickly became reading their answer submissions and writing their introductions. I felt so personally connected to each thought-out response that I wholly intended to capture the true essence of these students as precisely as I could. My goal was to accurately showcase their tone, authenticity, and story within each bio. 

From all the responses, I noticed one common theme: gratitude. Each student expressed their gratitude toward this program, Rowan University, the writing arts community, and staff for offering a space for them to follow and reach their goals. It was truly an honor to read, write, and represent the TEP students in this way. If you are interested in learning more about this program check out the newsletter and Q&A here.

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Make A Difference Through Writing

10/23/2022

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When it comes to the craft of writing, it is typically viewed in a black-and-white manner. Simply to be just words on a page or on a digital screen. However, in reality, words can end wars, save lives and provide a brighter sense of clarity then sunlight in some instances. Writing can and has changed the world in so many ways, and its impact shouldn't be dimmed. So here are some ways you can use your own writing to make a difference and an impact.

Diverse Points of View- 

One-way writing has been used to make a difference in the world by acting as a platform for diverse points of view. Writing has no limitations when it comes to age, race, gender identity, and social class. Through writing, everyone can share their opinions and their own stories that wouldn't be heard otherwise. These stories being shared allow people all over the world to hear stories about different situations and hardships that many can see themselves in. Stories like these show others they aren't alone and that there is a light at the end of a tunnel that may seem eternally dark.

This is exhibited in “Crying In H Mart” written by Michelle Zauner, where Zauner shares the experience of growing up in a traditional Korean American family. She drives the story as she describes family values and emotions surrounding the passing of her mother with the constant metaphor of Korean dishes and the Korean supermarket she spent many days in with her mother called H Mart. Through her memoir, Zauner allows readers who are also experiencing grief to find solitude while also bringing the Korean American experience to light which commonly goes underrepresented in the media.

Bringing Attention to Social Causes-


Through writing, you can also bring awareness to different social causes that are constantly clouded by stigma. For example, some topics that fall under this are mental illness, LGBTQ+ experiences, and sexual assault. Through writing, many can be shown that their mental illness and emotions are valid and this can give people the courage to reach out for help. In regard to LGBTQ+ experiences, different forms of writing have shared experiences and stories of trauma that members of the community have experienced. These hard conversations need to be had and allow readers to sit in the shoes of another. Shifting over to sexual assault, which is another hard topic to discuss and a triggering one for many, these hard conversations allow readers to bring these issues to the surface in an effort to stop the cycle and hold perpetrators accountable for their horrid actions. 

This is exhibited in “Know My Name” written by Chanel Miller, who shares her experience and the aftermath of being sexually assaulted in January 2015 by Brock Turner, who was then an athlete at Stanford University. At the time Miller chose to keep her identity undisclosed commonly known as “Emily Doe” by the media and the court. However, in her memoir, she brings her experience to the page granting herself a sense of healing after a harrowing ordeal, while also amplifying the voices of other sexual assault victims who have been silenced and blamed by the media.

Valuing The Truth- 

One of the greatest ways writing can be used to make an impact is through truthfulness. Although writing can be used to bring fictional and fantastical stories to the page, it can also provide clarity. It allows readers to engage in the chilling truths, this is seen in both news writing and the nonfiction genre. Whether it's through the truth about a crime or someone's life story in a memoir the truth is one of the most precious things that can be constructed through writing, because when everything else is lost all that remains is the truth.

The truth is exhibited in “1,001 Voices on Climate Change: Everyday Stories of Flood, Fire, Drought, and Displacement From Around the World” written by Devi Lockwood. Throughout her book Lockwood gives voice to the voiceless as she shares the stories of different people who have been impacted by the major effects of climate change. Lockwood values the truth and that is mirrored in how she brings these raw stories of pain many have experienced to the page.


Escapism-

More or less the world can be dark, filled with sadness, death, and utter disappointment. These themes are exhibited in many different forms of writing, however, there are lighter themes that allow readers to escape from the darkness of their everyday lives. Whether it's a story of two falling in love, ethereal poetry, or a comedic tale of someone's mischief during youth these stories help to ground a reader and allow them to find beauty in the ugliness that resides in the world through a different form of art. Here are some of the best books to use as an escape from reality for a little while. 

Nonetheless, writing is one of the most powerful tools in this life. What once began as a feather with ink, has now morphed into a key to changing the present world and the days to come. Writing allows those struggling to fill a void, the voices of activists to be amplified, and societal standards to be erased and revised. Such a powerful tool must be used with grace and the uttermost sensitivity, and its strength must not be diminished.

Author

asiya robinson

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