The Palouse Review is the biannual arts and academics journal of the Washington State University Honors College. We accept submissions from current and former honors students from throughout the Western Regional Honors Council. Our editors are looking for carefully crafted, evocative work that demonstrates the literary, artistic, and academic excellence of our broader honors community.

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The Palouse Review, December 1^st 2025 Edition

 Fiction ~ Nonfiction ~ Scholarship ~ Poetry

Photography and Visual Art  ~ Music

About Our Authors

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Hello and Welcome from the Editors of The Palouse Review!

The Palouse review is a team of honors students who have a real passion for all things art. Those involved have passions that range from poetry to pictures. This time of year, when the air starts to get nippy here in Washington it is an honor to provide people with not only an outlet to get their creative works published, but with a fun publication to hopefully warm their hearts while the winter air blows.

It is not only my first year at Washington State University, but my first year in Washington State. I moved here with my family after living in Georgia my whole life. I’ve always struggled to make friends and find a community; I was so scared that I would be unable to do this in my new home. Then, like a miracle, my honors sonnets teacher proudly announced the opportunity to find community in the Palouse review. After a pep talk from my parents I took the dive and went to the first meeting. All it took was one meeting and I was hooked; this was the community for me. I am now an editor for the nonfiction and poetry team, and I love every second of it.

This journal would not be possible without the efforts of all the amazing editors and the hundreds of wonderful submissions we get from honors students all over the western United States. We adore reading and looking through each submission and while we can’t publish them all, the effort everyone puts in is greatly appreciated. This semester we received several beautiful submissions, one of these non-fiction pieces was “The Future Psychologist’s Insecurities” by Taylor Zamora that describes the authors own fears and worries about the field she has chosen to study. Nonfiction also published Giancarlo Gueverra’s “Death of a Memory” that discusses the relinquishing of the power memory has over people through a thought invoking reference to a puppy. The Palouse Review will publish works that will invoke emotions of all sorts; happiness, stress, tranquility, anger, it all can be found in this publication.

The Editors of The Palouse Review thank our incredible student leaders. We want to celebrate the graduating members of our team and highlight their dedication and contributions to this journal:

Guinevere joined TPR in 2024 and serves as our Executive Web Editor. 

Emery joined TPR in 2024 and has worked as an editor on the Fiction and Music teams. 

Happy reading,
Maia Ottenberg | The Palouse Review Poetry & Nonfiction Assistant Editor 

December 1^st, 2025

 

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Fiction

 

The Healthcare Resort
by Bella Natalizia

In “The Healthcare Resort,” Bella Natalizia delivers a sharp and witty satire of the American healthcare system by framing a hospital visit as a stay at a luxury resort. Through exaggerated “amenities,” hidden fees, and ironically cheerful commentary, the piece exposes the deception, overcharging, and lack of transparency that patients often face, while maintaining a darkly humorous tone that highlights the absurdity of it all.

Letter to a Stranger Regarding the Palouse River
by Claire Lyle

A letter to a stranger – the only way to describe the feeling of growing up on the Palouse, in the shadow of the Grand Coulee Dam.

Manufactured Luck
by Gillian Ruppel

What is the cost of luck? For the patrons of the Shamrock Shack, it is simple money. Enough pocket change for a souvenir and they will be well on their way. But what of the business’s proprietor? What did it cost him to sell this rare form of fortune?

My Kind of Woman
by Gillian Ruppel

Can one night change the course of your life forever? Maybe with the advice from someone who has lived more lives than you, the glitter from a girl in the bar’s bathroom, and a little bit of liquid courage it can.

painfully and clotting
by Ella Stott

“painfully and clotting” explores an unequal marriage in the wake of a pregnancy and miscarriage through an experimental point of view. As the story progresses, the woman fights for her own voice, which has been continually overshadowed by that of her husband’s.

Content Warning: Story discusses miscarriage/pregnancy loss

Valley of Dreams; Valley of Truth
by Merissa DeLisa

Forty-Two has always been a number and nothing more, so what happens when someone challenges that narrative? What will Forty-Two learn from this stranger?

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Nonfiction

 

Death of a Memory
by Giancarlo Guevarra

How a dead dog on the side of the road changed me.

Farsighted Clarity
by Katye Edwards

Framgångsrik
by Olivia Fernelius

This is an introspective piece about the idea of success, told partially through conversations with my younger and older selves.

The Future Psychologist’s Insecurities
by Taylor Zamora

Zamora’s piece describes the moment she experienced a PTSD flashback. The reader follows Zamora through the trance as her psychology professor narrates the episode.

The Hottest Country in the World
by Nora Law

In this essay, I reflect on my time spent in Washington, D.C., this past semester, specifically during the Fourth of July. The Capitol was a particularly interesting place to be this summer, and observing both the celebrations and the political climate gave me a lot of perspective. This essay is my attempt to capture that experience.

Invoice #01122004
by Sonoma Caley

The Language I Never Spoke
by Mari Kiyono Park

This memoir essay explores growing up straddling cultural worlds, navigating Japanese heritage while not looking like the family who raised me. It examines the quiet ache of cultural imposter syndrome, the tension between identity and perception, between love at home and skepticism outside. It traces a journey from childhood self-doubt and performance to adult awareness.

The Parable of the Goldfinch
by Julia Koncurat

The “Parable of the Goldfinch” is based on an experience I had working in the library over the summer. It focuses on my overwhelming need to feel cool, as well as my obsession with the way I am perceived by others.

The Thing with Feathers
by Chloë Robinson

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Scholarship

 

Believe Me, Believe Me: Trauma and The Partition’s Tripartite Influence in “A Real Durwan”
by Dallyn Edmunds

I analyze “A Real Durwan,” a short story by Jhumpa Lahiri from her collection Interpreter of Maladies. Set in India, the fictional tale of Boori Ma can be seen to have a threefold purpose. First, it highlights the effects of Partition and trauma on the individual; second, it shows how communities handle traumatic events and victims; and third, the story can be read as a national allegory for the still healing India.

Britain’s Financial Revolution and Class Exploitation, 1689-1740
by Matthew Bunge

This work uses economic and historical analysis to analyze the impact of South Sea bubble, Britain’s first ever financial crisis, upon the middle class. Analysis highlights the political elite’s incentive-driven exploitation of uninformed middle-class investors during the bubble and subsequent failure to punish corrupt actors who orchestrated the exploitation.

Envy: The Artist’s Undoing
by Nina Elmoyan

This paper examines Miloš Forman’s film Amadeus through the lens of envy as a driving force behind artistic downfall. Drawing on Seneca’s On Anger, Erich Fromm’s The Art of Loving, and psychological studies on envy, it explores how court composer Antonio Salieri’s jealousy of Mozart corrodes his devotion to music, turning admiration into resentment and revealing how unchecked envy destroys creativity and the self.

A Formal Analysis of Eero Järnefelt’s Under the Yoke
by Austin Nguyen

This analysis explores Eero Järnefelt’s 1893 painting Under the Yoke (Burning the Brushwood), depicting the harsh realities of agricultural labor.

Immigration Economy of Australia and the United States
by Manu Buatavatava 

This paper compares the economic impacts of immigration in Australia and the U.S., focusing on their models, migrant roles, and challenges. Australia emphasizes a merit-based system through skilled labor visas, while the U.S. relies on family sponsorship and random selection.. Though migrants fuel growth through labor and entrepreneurship, they also face exploitation, limited mobility, and discrimination, highlighting both their value and the barriers they endure.

Intersectionality of Black Women in Corporate Workplaces
by Manu Buatavatava 

This paper examines systemic challenges faced by women in corporate workplaces, focusing on Black women’s intersectional experiences. It analyzes stereotyping, bias, and outdated norms that hinder mobility and perpetuate inequality. Highlighting the “concrete ceiling,” it shows how race and gender create unique barriers. Coping strategies, diverse leadership benefits, and a call for structural change emphasize that true workplace diversity drives both equity and corporate success.

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Poetry

 

Between the Lines
by Zoe Bocek

A frantic confession, this piece avoids what it is trying to say with sensory images that stretch away from the plausible.

The Big Rat Snake
by Julia Koncurat

The Bird Feeder
by Isabel Swain

This poem is a reflection on the separation we create between our human lives and the outdoors. The bird feeder and the visitors it brought gave a sense of connection to the natural world in my small, suburban home. I wrote this poem after the conversations my family had about the birds, and the joyful hours we spent watching them.

Deer, Dear
by Isabel Swain

“Deer, Dear” is a poem about love and the passage of time. In Missoula, the deer frequent the city streets. I have come to think of them as neighbors. Watching the fawns grow has paralleled my own sense of expansion here. I wanted to explore our tandem lives through the framework of the phone calls I often have with someone I love on the East Coast. As I watch the deer get older, I get closer to seeing him again.

Eurydice and Orpheus
by Melanie Mendoza

Many stories live on inside of us, but I’ll forever be bitter than I’m stuck reliving this one in specific.

The fish in our beer fridge
by Zoe Butler

In this prose poem, The fish in our beer fridge, is a true “stream” of consciousness that takes the reader on the journey of fishing and growing up.

From Where Blood Comes
by Karen Kleve

How does one describe the five basic emotions? What is the human experience of these emotions? What could be a mythical origin of our emotions? This poem explores emotion from a mythical storytelling point of view.

In the Salt
by Samantha Veres

In the Salt is a poem about the first time my dad took me fishing. When I finally caught a fish, I remember watching the poor creature writhe against the dock and experiencing a deep sense of guilt over taking the life of another living being.

Inevitably Temporary
by Matilda Iem

This free-verse poem is a contemplation on the passage of time, illustrated as a sleepless night ruminating about a nostalgic past lost and a lonely future squandered.

Like Apollo
by Jaclyn Navar

“Like Apollo” is a love letter to my ongoing journey of discovering small references within a larger work of art medium. “Like Apollo” was one of the first poems I wrote after graduating from my B.A. While unemployed, I went down a Wikipedia rabbit hole. I somehow kept finding things related to Apollo, and I was having a bit of a hard time understanding why I couldn’t get a job. I somehow turn those feelings into a poem that has a bit of romance, hurt, and wonder for academia.

Not His House
by Halcyon Stoker-Graham

This piece can read more as an affirmation than a poem. Written with a struggling loved one in mind, it aches with empathy and grief. It is meant not only to comfort, but to address the pain with a firm yet gentle call to care for oneself and turn away that “stranger” which brings such suffering.

Red Line
by Indiana Plant

One summer, my dorm window faced the Red Line station, shut down for maintenance. My mental health was bad; I was lonely. The abandoned tracks reflected my own inertia. With the city on pause, the rain was a hopeful reminder of the possibility of motion.

Seed of Evil
by Eunique Lopez

A short poem of coping with childhood trauma in adulthood.

They hoped that they would die
by Samantha Veres

They hoped that they would die is a poem that juxtaposes the military propaganda pushed within the U.S. with the cruel reality of war.

When the Camera Dies (Based on an interview with reporter, Lara Logan)
by Samantha Veres

When the Camera Dies is a poem inspired by an interview I watched with CBS news reporter, Lara Logan as she recounted the brutal details of being assaulted by a mob while covering a story in Tahrir Square.

Yucca Roots Pt.II
by Zoe Butler

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Photography and Visual Art

 

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Music 

 

Oblivion
by Nicole Ehr

Oblivion is inspired by reality and fantasy. Each instrument is a physical representation of the concepts. The piece opens with piano, which represents a dark and dissonant reality. The violin emerges, bringing a fantastical element and settling into a dream-like state. In the end, reality creeps back in as fantasy fades. However, reality also begins to fade until stillness is brought about, and there is truly nothing but oblivion. (Performed by Dr. Christiano Rodrigues and Karen Nguyen)

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About Our Authors

Alec Barran
Washington State University

Alec studied Computer Science at Washington State University. He enjoys traveling and exploring the outdoors, using his camera to document his experiences. At Washington State, he was also a member of the Track and Cross Country programs. He is now pursuing a Master’s in Artificial Intelligence at Johns Hopkins University.

Amanda Coburn
Idaho State University

Amanda Noel Coburn (she/her/hers) is a TRIO McNair Scholar working towards her Honors Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art with minors in art history and history from Idaho State University. Her artworks explore the liminality of rural spaces as well as the politics of intersectional feminism and witchcraft.

Austin Nguyen
Irvine Valley College

Austin Nguyen is majoring in Psychology at Irvine Valley College. He is highly engaged in academics, balancing multiple STEM and humanities courses. Outside of academics, Austin loves to go to the beach, surf with friends, go hiking, and when in season, drive up to Big Bear and go skiing with his friends.

Bella Natalizia
University of Colorado, Denver

Bella Natalizia is a Communications major in the University Honors and Leadership Program. She is passionate about storytelling, art, and music, often exploring the connections between visual and written expression. Her work reflects themes of emotion, reflection, and creativity.

Brian Young
San Mateo Community College

Brian is a freshman at College of San Mateo pursuing a double major in mathematics and economics. Outside of school, he is a tutor for elementary school and college students and is a boxing coach for people with Parkinson’s Disease. An artist in many respects, Brian explores creativity through dance, drawings, and martial arts. As a self taught artist, his artworks depict landscapes and architecture in Western, traditional Japanese, and surrealist styles.

Chloë Robinson
Brigham Young University

Chloë M. Robinson is an undergraduate at Brigham Young University, budding birdwatcher, and native of Taylorsville, Utah.

Claire Lyle
University of Montana, Missoula

Claire Lyle may be far from home, but the dusty Palouse canyons will (somehow) always make themselves known from the tip of her pen. A freshman at the University of Montana, on a journey to become a Special Education teacher, Claire is involved in varied activities, but always comes back to writing. Read some of her non-creative pieces in the Spokesman-Review and the Seattle Times!

Dallyn Edmunds
Brigham Young University

Dallyn Edmunds is currently a junior at BYU, majoring in English with minors in Philosophy and History, in addition to being a member of the Honors Program. His research interests include the removal of books from school libraries, and postcolonial literature, especially its intersection with trauma theory.

David Alfonso Esguerra
University of Washington, Tacoma

David Esguerra is a transfer student at University of Washington Tacoma. He spent his first year here at WSU taking long trips on the Greyhound he’s fallen in love with all parts of the Pacific Northwest environment. He’s an amateur photographer using hand me downs to create life and memories from his photography.

Elizabeth Atwood
Whitworth University

Elizabeth is a chemistry/graphic design double major. She finds joy in studying with friends as well as spending time outside crocheting or playing board games. She is passionate about helping people gain a deeper understanding of scientific topics especially though artistic mediums, such as linocuts and digital paintings. Her work often explores the expression of identity or depicts scientific inquiries.

Ella Stott
Utah State University

Ella Stott is a senior studying creative writing at Utah State University. She is passionate about literature as an associate editor of the National Collegiate Honors Council Journal for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity, as well as the chief copy editor for the student-run newspaper, The Utah Statesman. In addition to writing, Ella is an avid researcher, studying the structural craft of memoir and African American history in Utah.

Emilio Rafael Lovillo Farfan
Long Beach Community College

Emilio Rafael Lovillo Farfan is a film student at Long Beach City College. He has a deep passion for art in all its different forms and its ability to communicate the incommunicable. From playing the saxophone, writing stories, and photographing Long Beach, Emilio believes the best way to capture his love for the world is through art.

Eunique Lopez
Community College of Denver

A 24-year-old disabled, first year college student, who’s working towards a degree in creative writing. Her aspirations are to publish her written works and inspire the masses.

Gabriella Toombs
Western Washington University

Gabriella Toombs is an honors student at Western Washington University in Bellingham Washington. She is a Political Science major with a passion for art.

Giancarlo Guevarra
University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Giancarlo Guevarra is a junior attending the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, for Computer Science. He was inspired to pursue creative writing in high school after reading the works of Brian Doyle.

Gillian Ruppel
University of Utah

Gillian Ruppel holds an Honors B.S. in English from the University of Utah, where she focused on literature, creative writing, and game narrative design. Her fiction often explores eco horror, speculative and literary fiction, feminist and queer narratives, and the liminal and the fantastic.

Halcyon Stoker-Graham
Western Washington University

Halcyon is a sophomore studying Early Childhood Education and Spanish at Western Washington University. She has always loved writing and poetry and is excited to bring these passions into her future work in creative ways.

Indiana Plant
University of Utah

Indiana Plant is a sophomore at the University of Utah, where she is studying Quantitative Economics and Anthropology. She has received an Honorable Mention in the Penguin Random House U.S. Creative Writing Awards and her poetry has been published by The Palouse Review (hi again!), Sink Hollow, Live Poets Society of New Jersey, Blue Marble Review, and Scripto Literary Magazine. In her free time, she likes to create drama in The Sims 4.

Isabel Swain
University of Montana, Missoula

Isabel Swain is a native Rhode Islander in her first year at the University of Montana as a student in the Davidson Honors College. On top of studying Creative Writing and Spanish, Isabel is learning how to live away from the ocean and among the mountains. She loves to farm, travel, and read.

Jaclyn Navar
Woodbury University

Jaclyn Navar is a Mexican-American writer born in Los Angeles. Jaclyn was also a former managing editor and editor-in-chief for MORIA, the national literary magazine of Woodbury University. She is also known for her passion for strawberries, the color pink, and her pursuit of archival studies. She explores the intersection of identity and the world in her poems.

Julia Koncurat
Brigham Young University

Julia Koncurat is a senior at Brigham Young University, studying English and Portuguese Studies, with a minor in TESOL. Her work focuses on intersections between humanity, nature, and trauma. She has previously published criticism in Criterion, and poetry in Three Panels Press.

Karen Kleve
University of Montana, Missoula

Karen Kleve is an alumni of the University of Montana. She graduated in 2025 with a business/accounting degree, and now lives in her hometown of Redding in Northern California. She writes fictional stories in her free time to rest the analytical half of her brain and give her creative side some love.

Katye Edwards
Metropolitan State University of Denver

She dumped university early in life, seeing a stark incompatibility with surviving capitalism. Years later, economically secure, she sat many days and wrote to herself, opening her being, and fell in love with study. The short bio of a lover of cognition.

Manu Buatavatava
Las Positas College

Manu Buatavatava is an honors student attending Las Positas College currently studying political science as a sophomore. Aside from the honors club, Manu is also involved in the Umoja community, BSU, and A2Mend at Las Positas. His career goal is to eventually become an immigration attorney here in California. Manu is heavily involved in his community outside of school, volunteering as a church organist, the director of a college/career focused community known as Hyphen, a volunteer Bible study teacher at a prison, and the spokesperson and marketing director of a non-profit SeedGiver.

Mari Kiyono Park
Oregon State University

Mari Kiyono Park is a first-year student at Oregon State University, where she is pursuing a degree in Political Science and Public Policy. Passionate about civic engagement and community development, she is particularly interested in policies that support families and promote equity. Outside of academics, Mari enjoys reading, writing, running, and drinking coffee. She hopes to channel her education and experiences into a career in local government, where she can make a tangible impact on her community. In the future, Mari aims to combine her love of storytelling with her policy work, using clear communication to connect with and empower the people she serves.

Matilda Iem
California State University, Long Beach

Matilda is an undergraduate at CSULB seeking to pursue animation, but also dabbling in creative writing as a hobby. To her, artistic activities like writing poetry are a good outlet to put into words the anxieties that she may struggle to voice. As an Asian-American first-gen student, a lot of her work touches upon mental health–especially inspired by academic pressure to be successful by conventional societal standards.

Matthew Bunge
Washington State University

Matthew is an undergraduate student studying Quantitative Economics at Washington State University. A firm believer in the value of intermingling social sciences, Matthew uses a range of techniques from across social sciences to explore times of crisis throughout history.

Melanie Mendoza
Mount San Antonio College

Melanie is a writer based in Los Angeles that often finds herself lost in daydreams. She enjoys writing as a reminder that all experiences live on in storytelling form. She’s interested in the field of sociology and hopes to one day work in something that leaves time to continue storytelling.

Marissa DeLisa
Western Washington University

Merissa is a senior student at Western in the English Major track. She enjoys writing fantasy style stories in her free time as well as drawing visuals to go along with them.

Nathan Peterson
Western Washington University

Peterson loves to make and experience art including stories, drawings and messes.

Nicole Ehr
Washington State University

Nicole is a senior Music Composition and Theory major at Washington State University currently studying with Dr. Jihyun Kim. Her musical style is impressionistic yet contemporary, with some of her biggest inspirations being Maurice Ravel and Nadia Boulanger. For Nicole, music is a helpful instrument to her own sense of self in the world, especially as it relates to queerness, nature, and mortality. She hopes to do so in a way that connects with others and their own unique journeys!

Nina Elmoyan
Glendale Community College

Nina Elmoyan is an Honors student studying Linguistics and Computer Science at Glendale Community College in California. As an active member of the Scholars Program Research Group, she designs and presents interdisciplinary projects at academic conferences about the intersection of language, culture, and artificial intelligence. Her research interests include sociolinguistics, second language acquisition, data science, and the ethical applications of AI in education. Nina aspires to transfer to the University of California, Los Angeles to pursue her degree and continue exploring the intersection of language and technology.

Nora Law
University of Utah

Nora is a third-year student at the University of Utah studying political science, economics, and legal studies. She is interested in local politics and plans to attend law school and pursue a career as an attorney in the practice of election law. In her free time, she enjoys writing, snowboarding, and visiting new restaurants in Salt Lake City!

Olivia Fernelius
University of Utah

Olivia is a third-year student of Speech and Hearing Sciences at the University of Utah. She loves words and language of all forms and enjoys reading, writing, learning new languages, and working in the library on campus. The best things in her life are her younger brothers, her best friends, and her dog.

Samantha Veres
Southern Oregon University

Samantha Veres is a graduate student at Southern Oregon University where she is pursuing a Master of Arts in Teaching degree. She uses writing to capture the strange and beautiful moments that make her human. She hopes to spark a love for creative writing in her own students someday.

Sohan Kumandan
University of Arizona

Sohan Kumandan (he/him) is a freshman at the W.A Franke Honors College at the University of Arizona. He is currently double majoring in Physiology & Medical Sciences as well as Creative Intellegence & Innovation. He enjoys photography in his free time as a creative gateway to explore the perspectives of the world around him. Upon graduation, Sohan hopes to attend medical school and become a doctor, still hoping to shed light on creative expertise from photography into the medical field.

Sonoma Caley
University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Sonoma Caley is a senior at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, majoring in Computer Science with a minor in History. Her academic focus centers on Nevada labor history and the social implications of computer technology. Upon completion of her undergraduate studies, she intends to attend law school to pursue employment law, combining her interests in technology, historical labor movements, and legal advocacy.

Taylor Zamora
San Juan College

Taylor Zamora is a Hispanic first generation college student. She lives in Farmington, NM, with her mother and younger brother. Taylor is majoring in Liberal Arts, so she can transfer in the Fall of 2027 and continue feeding her passion for writing. Taylor enjoys writing, baking, crocheting, and reading. Her favorite book is The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri.

Zoe Bocek
Western Washington University

Zoe Bocek is in their second year at Western Washington University pursuing English and Secondary Education. Despite their vested interest in the humanities, Zoe hopes firstly to become a high school mathematics teacher, and later, engage in literature, because we have plenty of lovely English teachers. They have been writing for most of their memorable life, firstly poetry, but began to explore fiction and creative nonfiction in more recent years. In their works you’ll find explorations of sexuality, death, gender, and frequent appearances of crows, eyes, and teeth. They hope to make you more uncomfortable than you were before arriving at their work.

Zoe Butler
University of California, Riverside

Zoe was born in New Mexico, where she spent her time running around in the canyons and later spent her summers building trails there for her community. She recently graduated summa cum laude from University of California, Riverside (UCR), where she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and minored in creative writing. During her time in college, she co-founded The Creative Writer’s Guild at UCR, where she assisted club members with self-publishing and became enamored with the process while honing her editing skills. Zoe is inspired to use her psychological background to pursue a career in the publishing industry.

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