Morgan McKenna is a senior majoring in Graphic Design and graduating this spring. In her time at the Pub Hub she has been involved with writing for The Deadline, helped design covers for book projects, and been an integral part of many other projects. Congratulations, Morgan!
By Robin Dubree
Please tell us a little bit about yourself and what sorts of things you’ve been involved in at IUSB. I’ve participated in Choir, English Club, and an Art Sale while here at IUSB. Outside of college I’ve picked up fishing and have taken a gap year between my sophomore and junior years to work.
What are your plans after graduation? My plans after graduation are to dive into work. I hope to be able to save up for getting my own car, moving into my own place, and maybe put some towards a fund for hiking the Appalachian Trail.
Do you have any professors that have stuck with you? Any favorite classes? With the multitude of history courses I’ve had to take, Professor Andrea Rusnock’s many two and a half hour classes will stick with me. Her lessons were always enjoyable and taking notes in class was the key to passing the quizzes. As for a favorite class, I’d have to say that was Professor William Tourtillotte’s Special Topics in Studio Art which was like an introduction to print making. Being what could be considered a lab course I found it very fun planning out prints and getting my hands dirty with the inks.
What advice do you have for current students? Some advice I have for current students is to pace yourself. Set deadlines and goals a bit earlier than they need to be to give yourself some wiggle room, especially if you tend to procrastinate like I do.
What’s a fond memory you have of your time at IUSB? A fond memory I have here is in one of my first classes. An intro to the fundamentals of drawing course where our last project was to do a self-portrait. Traditional paper [and] pencil art has never been my forte and using charcoal instead of graphite had a bit of a learning curve to it. But with all the hours [I] put into that course, I’d do it all over again for the final result I got.
L.A. Culver (Lindsey Les) won Second Place in the Undergraduate Fiction category for her piece, “Vessels”.
by Robin Dubree
What does winning these awards mean to you? I’m honored, I have never won any sort of award for my creative writing before. I was very excited to receive the news that I won something.
How would you describe your writing? What themes, ideas, and styles do you find recurring throughout your work? I write a lot, whether it’s fiction, poetry, or academic writing. For poetry my style is a blend between contemporary and 19th century. I’ve always preferred the structure and music of 19th century/Victorian poetry over contemporary. So, in order to write what I wanted and remain appealing I blended the two together. For my prose I typically go for the more modern take where I try not to info dump on every page and have characters speak normally rather than go off on these strange monologues. When it comes to fiction, I don’t particularly enjoy writing contemporary and prefer [genres] like fantasy, science fiction, gothic, and horror.
What are some of your favorite authors? Do you see these authors as influencing your writing? For poetry my favorite is Emily Dickinson. She was the one who got me writing poetry and her style is so often reflected in my own poems. For prose, it is difficult to choose just one. The two I go for most often are J.R.R. Tolkien and George R.R. Martin just because they wrote my two favorite fantasies out there. However, if I had to choose an author (or in this case a duo of authors under one name) who influences me the most, it would be James S.A. Corey. They have some of the most well written characters out there in their science fiction series The Expanse.
What is your writing process like? I wouldn’t say I have much of a process. For my bigger projects like my science fantasy series and high fantasy series, I write outlines since they are eventually going to become books. For poetry the words just come to me. I believe I wrote my poem “Lungs” that made it into Analecta in about ten or so minutes because the words would not stop coming to me. I did not outline “Vessels”, but it was improved thanks to my three beta readers.
Can you talk about one of your pieces a little; how did this particular piece come about? What was your inspiration? “Vessels” is a gothic/horror short story that follows around a female personification of death. I got the idea for the story after listening to the song “Oh Death” by Jen Titus. I was originally going to write a poem about a personification of death, but I figured it would make a better short story.
My job is not done, it is never done; sometimes clocking out is not an option. I work rain, shine, during hurricanes and volcanic eruptions too. There are no snow days; I am busiest when the roads are coated with ice. I am what some wish to avoid and what others seek, but it is not truly up to you whether I come or not. Fate is the plan that destroyed God and fate is my supervisor who determines when I pay you a visit. You won’t always see me, but when you do, take comfort. You will breathe easier once your vessel is emptied.
Congratulations to this year’s winners of IUSB’s 2024 Student Writing Awards! Submissions were first screened by English department faculty, with final selections made by this year’s judge, Jennifer Oakes. Oakes is a poet and novelist who has won several awards for her work, including the Four Lakes Prize in Poetry (for her book The Declarable Future) and the Brittingham Prize in Poetry (for The Mouths of Grazing Things). Awards Night will take place this Thursday, April 18th, in Wiekamp Hall 1001. A reception begins at 5:30 and the awards ceremony and poetry reading by Jennifer Oakes begins at 6:00 PM. The 2024 edition of Analecta, IUSB’s student literary magazine, will also be revealed during the event.
Undergraduate Poetry First Place: Madi Bandera, “A Cosmic Poem for My Father” Second Place: Robin Dubree, “To Make Your Bed and Lie in It” Third Place: Robin Dubree, “Apprehension is My Middle Name” Honorable Mention: Madi Bandera, “My Mother Was Born From A Star” Honorable Mention: Jacob Nava, “Humans” Honorable Mention: Jacob Nava, “Late Fall” Honorable Mention: JeniSue Teegarden, “Infected” Honorable Mention: Robin Dubree, “Sand Castle, Erased by the Tide”
Undergraduate Fiction First Place: Jessie Jimenez, “The Mortician” Second Place: Lindsey Les (L.A. Culver), “Vessels”
Undergraduate Nonfiction First Place: Alexis Martin, “Crumbs” Second Place: JeniSue Teegarden, “Cows Have Teats”
Undergraduate Drama First Place: Bobby Simons, “Bland Theft”
Graduate Poetry First Place: Amanda Jones, “Maybe Today” Second Place: Brooke Plummer, “A Tilted Earth” Third Place: Babu Sarker (Fr. Pascal), “The Meaning in Nothingness” Honorable Mention: Jo Hackett, “Big Brothers”
Graduate Fiction First Place: Jessica Kado, “Faith No More” Second Place: Candice Slovinski, “Self-Love” Third Place: Babu Sarker (Fr. Pascal), “The Storyteller” Honorable Mention: Jo Hackett, “The Bowling Story”
Graduate Nonfiction First Place: Missy Hatfield, “Legacy: A Life in Ten Items or Less” Second Place: Andrea Meyer, “The King”
I’m certainly not an arbiter of what counts as “good” art, but I can recognize that Ostrowski demonstrates a clear mastery of poetic language.
by Robin Dubree
On April 3rd, I had the opportunity to attend a poetry reading sponsored by the English Department here at IUSB. The featured author was Steven Ostrowski, the first winner of Wolfson Press’s annual Poetry Chapbook Contest in 2021. I’ve attended a poetry reading online before, but this was my first time attending one in person, and I’m so thankful I did. Steven Ostrowski read both from the winning book, Persons of Interest, and his most recent book of poetry, Life Field. In my opinion, there’s something so valuable about being able to hear poetry read aloud, even though it is primarily presented to readers in print. I was able to pick up a copy of Persons of Interest and have it signed after the reading, and I spent the rest of the night poring over the words and really absorbing Ostrowski’s work. I always find that I need some time to let the words sit with me after hearing poems read aloud. Good poetry seems to find a way to make me aware of my very small but unique place in the universe, and I was struck with that feeling on my way home from the event.
Persons of Interest is made up of poems that are all in some way dedicated to or inspired by someone else, whether famous artists or old friends. Ostrowski spoke at length about the ways in which each of these people impacted him and his writing, and hearing this context gave each poem so much more weight and soul. In particular, he described being a child surrounded by the sounds of folk artists from the 1960s – Bob Dyan, Joni Mitchell, and Neil Young, among others. The way in which these musicians crafted their lyrics resonated with him deeply, and inspired him both to start writing poetry and playing music. In addition to the former, Ostrowski also writes fiction (having just published his first novel, The Highway of Spirit and Bone, last year) and paints. During the reading he described himself as a “jack of all trades, master of none,” but personally, I think that was far too humble a claim. I’m certainly not an arbiter of what counts as “good” art, but I can recognize that Ostrowski demonstrates a clear mastery of poetic language.
The book begins with “Skeleton Blood Memoir With Bob,” as reference to Bob Dylan. Right away, his words make impact. One stanza reads:
And it doesn’t leave you, ever. Leaves tracks that harp in your blood. Leaves you spastic balletic, moonful in your poems, howl-round in the bedroom, a little lonely in the eye sockets but approaching mystic. His ghost songs, even fifty years down the highway, shiver like the last hotel in the hurricane.
Immediately I was gripped by not only the excellent musicality of the word choice, but by the conviction in each line. Ostrowski’s writing is earnest and down-to-earth in an honestly refreshing way. He invokes the spirit of the subject both by illustrating the feeling of their music (in “Neil Young”, lines like “His eyes follow the rolling wave / of pink-tinted grain; his cracked hand spreads open / like a power chord’s gush / through a mahogany hall”) and in repurposing their lyrics (in “Windows”: “Neil Young has that line in ‘Helpless’: ‘Blue blue windows behind the / stars…’ / I always liked that; that he put the windows behind the stars. That the / stars come first”). I could’ve never heard a single song by Neil Young, and still walked away from reading each poem with a reverence for him; that’s how convinced I was by Ostrowski’s poetry. His writing is witty, approachable, and incredibly well-crafted. He puts his writing philosophy best at the end of “Wayward in the Blood”: “Me, I’m still writing my gravel and dust poems. / For who? I couldn’t say. Doesn’t matter. I know this for sure: / I’m doing what I want to do”. And what more could you possibly ask for?
Steven Ostrowski is Professor Emeritus at Central Conneticut State University and a poet, fiction writer, visual artist and songwriter. His work has been published in numerous literary journals and magazines. He is the author of seven books of poetry (one co-authored with his son, Ben Ostrowski) and two books of fiction. You can purchase Persons of Interest at the Wolfson Press website. You can also purchase his latest book, Life Field, on his personal website.
Paterson underscores the importance of stepping away from the world to observe it and emphasizes the merit in living life deliberately and slowly.
By Robin Dubree
I don’t know about you, but when I find an actor I really like, I always make it a goal of mine to watch every film they’ve been in. This has lead me down some very weird roads, but I’ve more or less always been pleasantly surprised by my findings. In my foray into the filmography of Adam Driver (who is a Mishawaka native, by the way), I stumbled across the 2016 film Paterson, directed by Jim Jarmusch. The film didn’t just pleasantly surprise me but made me think for days after, and each time I rewatch it I come away with the same refreshed and inspired feeling. It’s kind of lofty praise to lay on such a film, but it changed my life, and to this day affects my perspective not just on writing poetry but on the world around me as a whole.
Paterson follows the daily life of aptly named protagonist Paterson (Adam Driver), a bus driver living in Paterson, New Jersey. He goes through the same routine every day of the week: wakes up beside his partner Laura (Golshifteh Farahani), walks to work, listens to passengers’ conversations on the bus, writes poetry on his lunch break, takes the dog on a walk after work, and stops by the bar for a beer. This routine in and of itself provides the film with a rhythm; interspersed with shots of the sights of the city are poems written in Paterson’s “secret notebook.” The poetry, like Paterson himself, isn’t in-your-face or extravagant. The poems of the film praise the mundane, turn something as simple as a box of matches into a thing of beauty. Paterson underscores the importance of stepping away from the world to observe it and emphasizes the merit in living life deliberately and slowly. The patterns of poetry form all around us, we just have to look closely enough to notice.
Ron Padgett, photographed by John Sarsgard
It wasn’t until recently that I took the time to research who wrote the poems for the film, and this led me down an equally rewarding rabbit hole. The poet behind all of Paterson’s work is Ron Padgett, born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1942. He served as a prominent part of the second generation of the New York School, a movement which took began in the 1960s. Padgett and Paterson director Jim Jarmusch were both students of poet Kenneth Koch, a founding member of the New York School, although they didn’t properly meet until much later. The influence of the New York School is evident throughout the film– not just in Padgett’s ever-present voice (and Koch’s by extension) but in references to Frank O’Hara, whose Lunch Poems Paterson carries with him to work. The New York School is even name-dropped near the end of the film. The poems of this school are simplistic and observational, but witty and spontaneous, taking much of their influence from the earlier Modern and Surrealist movements.
All of these qualities are present in the poem “Another One,” which Padgett wrote specifically for the film:
When you’re a child you learn there are three dimensions: height, width, and depth. Like a shoebox. Then later you hear there’s a fourth dimension: time. Hmm. Then some say there can be five, six, seven… I knock off work, have a beer at the bar. I look down at the glass and feel glad.
“Another One” embodies the easygoing, urban feeling characteristic of all the poetry in Paterson. Paterson writes what he observes in his ordinary world, and takes pleasure in the simple, never neglecting to point out the absurdity of it all. Padgett’s writing feels almost comforting in the sense it feels like having a conversation with a friend. Yet it still has the power and wit to provoke thought, urging readers to adopt a different perspective.
In a way, I think everyone can appreciate the necessity of a film like Paterson. In a world where movies capture our attention by being flashy or shocking, Paterson takes a different approach to its audience. It highlights the poetry in everyday life, and that is enough. It’s the reason I started carrying around a “secret notebook” of my own– to record these moments wherever they come to me. By having the audacity to exist quietly, Paterson only further emphasizes the beauty in the mundane.
The Deadline 