Article Archive
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Funeral Announcements
by Andrew UngerWe’re each supposed to recite a poem after the horseshoes tournament. It will make Oma happy, we’ve been told. Ideally, we’re supposed to do it from memory. This may be why three of my Plett cousins have come down with mysterious summer colds and have texted our grandmother at the last minute saying they can’t make it to the family picnic this year after all. I, however, have a poem all prepared.
It’s one my grandfather wrote about a young man who turns to God after a dangerous encounter with a mother bear and is something of a legend among ...
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Gaming and Women
by Jessica HamGrowing up, I never considered myself a gamer. I played Pokemon and Mario every day as a kid but still, I did not think of myself as a gamer. Magazines featured only games that were considered masculine. I loved video games more than anything but because of the generalization that gaming was considered a boys-only club, I never felt like I made the cut.
Several years later, I finally played a popular game called Halo which I found to be worthy of the gamer title. I wore the gamer badge proudly and told everyone I could. It meant so much ...
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Isaac Bauman Buys a Phone
by Andrew HarnishIn the months after his breakup with Mary Elizabeth, Isaac told himself that all he had to do was survive. He repeated the injunction whenever he felt like he was in danger of collapsing in fatigue or exhaustion, and whenever he wanted to howl at the congregation's falseness. Sundays and Wednesdays, his hands heated as he sat in the meetinghouse pew beside his father. Weekdays, he squirmed in his carrel, his stomach twisting like the tarps on the roof of a failing farmer. The more his body defied him, the more clearly he understood the only truth he could ...
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Märchen1 / Märchen2 / To Blake / Heaven (4 poems)
by Sarah KortemeierMärchen[1]
1.
The knock was not at the door of his room, but at the door of his heart.
He went into the forest to lie in wait.
He had a fresh and joyous heart.
Before long he was much in love with the young witch.
He carried
delicate food to her.
She was immediately deprived of her human form.
She fell on her knees before him and said,
I will take a vomiting-potion.
So the wedding was celebrated.
2.For days,
she placed a chair,
gave him meals,
scolded him
and gave him his meals,some days
without ... -
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Passive Aggressive
by Chris JanzenPassive Aggressive
by Chris Janzen
This painting explores the unique ways that violence can be inflicted without physical action. Mennonites are traditionally aligned with the Peace position, but this does not mean conflict and aggression are absent from their lives. A passive orange pillow sits at the center of the composition, but a skull lurks at head height between the figures.
Passive/Aggressive, 2016, oil on canvas, 4’ x 5’ -
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The Pen
by Julia BakerA fingertip red with crushed berry seed,
a stick carving letters in dust,
sharpened stone pressed into clay,
a whittled fox bone on a tablet of hardened wax,
glue, carbon, and bone-black pigment mixed
ink slides down bamboo onto papyrus,
the swan’s flight feather scratches parchment,
a quill becomes metal in our hands,
refill the fountains, words soak
cotton, linen and wood
a ballpoint rolls between thin blue lines,
a plastic stylus, silent on a illumined screen,
fingers clack quickly now through an alphabet of keys.
Fluid extensions of the arm
vessels we make and fill, using what we have ... -
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Streaming
by Chris JanzenStreaming
by Chris Janzen
This is a drawing of a central protagonist who is forever glued to their screen. There is a constant stream of content to direct our attention to at every second; the skeleton at his left is a reminder of the ultimate ramifications of gluing your eyes to your device(s) at all times.
Streaming, 2018, graphite, charcoal, wax pencil, and acrylic on paper, 8’ x 6' -
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Television Taught Me Everything I Know
by Melanie Springer MockOne of my earliest happy memories is of watching television on a late-afternoon winter day—Sesame Street to be exact. The show must have been in its infancy then, long before Elmo’s World took over half of each episode, stealing some of Sesame Street’s joy. I remember sitting in the dark living room of our parsonage, wrapped in an afghan, noise from the kitchen a comforting reminder that mom was nearby, making dinner. Our parsonage was next to the Mennonite church, alongside busy Kedzie Avenue in a south suburb of Chicago, so traffic was no doubt zipping by our living ...
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Thoughts Formed for the Modern Technological Social Media Platform We Call Twitter
by Noelle Miller-HaughtonCOLLEGE/POLITICAL
All I wanna know is what Calvin and Hobbes would have to say about our current political climate
I’d have to say the biggest problem with having a million dreams and aspirations is the fact that I’m absolutely the laziest person I’ve ever met
College students are honestly so self-absorbed and think everything is about them it’s so obnoxious... anyway the dining hall didn’t have bananas today and I think they did it to spite me because they know how much I love them
So many people in college are like “yeah, I’m a biochem/physics double major” ...
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Translation
by Chris JanzenTranslation
by Chris Janzen
This painting depicts the curious misunderstandings which occur in the age of text, Twitter, Facebook, etc. between two parties as a result of technological mediation. Challenges of communication are complicated when commercial motivations and instinctual desires (i.e. food) are shuffled into the dialogue between a purple floating head and a masked figure.
Translation, 2013, oil on canvas and wood, 16"x12"