Austin Hill During the peak of winter when the temperature dipped into the single digits, my motivation was at an all time low. The ground was still covered in snow. This kept me locked away in my room, where I had spent the last few days finishing a midterm essay….

Brianna McNish 2017 was a watershed year for writers of color: four out of the five finalists for the 2017 National Book Award were writers of color and Colson Whitehead was the recipient of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for The Underground Railroad. Yet, people of color still face significant adversity…

Christian Buckley You may find yourself, a perspective novelist, dragging your forehead across the keyboard for your first chapter. And you’d be in good company as almost everyone has gone through this process. The first chapter is your chance to reel in your readers, but it’s also where you can…

Kelly Stoldt I like to start off my mornings with a poem.  Reading or listening to poetry helps get myself in a headspace where I’m overall more in tune with my own emotions and the people around me.  They can be deep and heartbreaking, often both, and inspires me to…

Elizabeth Sankey I’ve always struggled combining my two favorite art forms: music and writing. Often, they can distract from one another when I’m attempting to both read and listen simultaneously. I’m sure many of us have experienced the distraction that comes with music interrupting the literary train of focus and…

Lili Fishman Poetry may be one of the more disliked genres of writing. Some people get turned off by poetry because they believe that every word has a double meaning, or the poet never truly means what the reader thinks they mean, or it is vague and snobby. This difficulty…

Daniela Doncel Despite the never-ending debate of “coffee or tea” among readers and writers, there’s this consensus that there should be a hot beverage of some kind nearby when engaging in fun activities involving words. For some, it may be the kick they need to push through a tough chapter….

Siobhan Dale At first glance, poetry and film seem like opposed mediums. Poetry is textual; film is visual.  Poetry suggests solitary study; film reaches out to a communal audience. However, many of the techniques of film closely align with those of poetry, so much so that anyone who loves poetry…

Jack Sullivan I’m cold, cranky, and tired right now thanks to the frozen tundra called Connecticut.  It’s that wonderful time of the year when snow is poorly substituted for frozen rain, and the wind complements the miserable climate by giving your face frostbite.  Being cooped up indoors has been overhyped,…