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 Washington State University and 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, Dec. 1^st 2018 Edition

Fiction ~ Nonfiction ~ Scholarship ~ Poetry
Photography and Visual Art ~ Digital Multimedia

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On behalf of the editorial team – Welcome to the December 1^st, 2018 Edition of The Palouse Review!

We continue to be amazed by the creative talents of honors students throughout the western region! We are deeply appreciative of the many submissions in almost all categories and encourage submissions for our next edition May 1, 2019.

There are few things more important or more noble for the human spirit than creative explorations of human conditions whether we linguistically make things up in poetry and fiction, anchor our narrative in non-fiction, multimedia, or music, record a snapshot of life in photography, or string our rationality in scholarship. It is those efforts we celebrate in The Palouse Review with no less respect for those submissions we for whatever reason decided not to include. So, please, keep at it, keep creating!

A few highlights from this edition:

In A Study of Modern Midwifery in Small Town America Victoria Karalun turns required volunteer hours into a thoughtful study on midwifery and birthing. Michael Mortenson’s lively Chicken Coup is the stuff of nightmares as the familiar turns surreal. Speaking of which, be forewarned that Nina Willis in The Coroner’s Office takes surreal to a new level not for the faint at heart.

Briana Garrett’s non-fictional essay On Apologies provides a useful probe into an everyday phenomenon essential to how we relate to one another. Rowan Waller’s distinctly prosaic poetry weaves the observant together with the humorous to the cynically poignant: “… as if we could seek penance by embossing their names on our bathroom fixtures…”

In The Pursuit of Happiness Part II Alexander Ayres likewise searches for something from a displaced self and in Appearel Rachel Fuller contrasts two seemingly very different monologues in the exact same form.

Which human conditions are these authors exploring? Their readers must decide.

Finally, we received a wealth of photography – both general submissions and responses to our thematic invitation in the May Edition calling for nature photography of our western region. Mya Correa’s sculpture The Story OF turns ancient learning – actual books – into a representation for struggle and ascent and, perhaps, the kaleidoscope of flowers exploding from the female’s head in her Perfect Blue signifies an edifying outcome of the struggle. Both in Vibrant by Mary Andrews and in Frayed by Martin Hill an experiencing self in some form of consciousness is in focus.

The landscapes are reminders of this planet we love even if we do not always realize it. The carefully staged photographs capture nature inviting and foreboding.

We encourage honors students throughout the western region to contribute to the May 1st, 2019 Edition – submission deadline: April 1st, 2019 – but we accept submissions on a rolling basis.

Please, use the link on this page to share your comments on this edition!

Kim Andersen | Managing Editor of The Palouse Review

December 1st, 2018

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Fiction

Chicken Coup
by Michael Mortenson (Brigham Young University)

Michael Mortenson is a senior in mechanical engineering at Brigham Young University. He grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada, and currently does research in acoustics. His work has appeared in Scribendi and his essay “Three Minutes” was featured in the 2018 David O. Mckay Essay Collection. Michael and his wife, Courtney, live in Utah.

The Coroner’s Office
by Nina Willis (Washington State University)

Nina is a pre-veterinary student majoring in Animal Sciences and a minor in Spanish. In her free time, she enjoys writing short stories and sketching in her notebook.

Over the Tracks
by Danielle Jochums (Portland State University)

Danielle is a psychology major, an applied linguistics major, and an advocate of the word ‘groovy.’

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Nonfiction

Wait, Keep Going.
by Nicholas Aranda (Regis University)

Nicholas Aranda is an undergraduate student at Regis University in Denver, Colorado. He currently works as a philosophy scholar, focusing on the academic areas of Queer Theory, Relational Ontology, and the Philosophy of Social Justice. Nicholas is an internationally recognized debater, recognized both by the NSDA and the Collegiate Debate society.

On the Future
On Apologies
by Briana Garrett (University of Nevada, Las Vegas)

Briana is the president of the UNLV Honors College Creative Writing Group, and often participates in her Honors College’s Socrates Cafe, an open discussion forum about pressing political and social issues.

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Scholarship

A Study of Midwifery in Small Town America
by Victoria Karalun (Crafton Hills College)

Victoria is an English major at Crafton Hills College. She is a photographer, wife, and mom to a curious 8-year old boy and 6 cats. She is passionate about learning, understanding what makes people tick, reading, and travel.

The Well Ordered Heart: Confucius on Harmony, Music, and Ritual
by Jensen Kirkendall (Azusa Pacific University)

Jensen is a current undergraduate student, working for two degrees, in Literature and Honors Humanities, with a minor in Philosophy.

I Am Wild: An Ecofeminist Reading of Terry Tempest Williams’s Refuge and Mary Oliver’s Poetry
by Serenity Wood (College of the Redwoods)

Serenity is planning to double major in Art and English. She loves drawing, painting, reading and writing, and spending lots of time out in nature. She loves the California coast, and thinks it’s one of the most beautiful places in the world.

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Poetry

Prometheus
Pancakes for Dinner
by Michael Mortenson (Brigham Young University)

Michael Mortenson is a senior in mechanical engineering at Brigham Young University. He grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada, and currently does research in acoustics. His work has appeared in Scribendi and his essay “Three Minutes” was featured in the 2018 David O. Mckay Essay Collection. Michael and his wife, Courtney, live in Utah.

jump rope nooses
morning dove
squeaky clean conscience
by Rowan Waller

Rowan is a senior in the Honors Program at Regis University in Denver. She is majoring in Psychology and minoring in English, and has pursued a love of writing (specifically poetry) from a young age. Rowan’s dad writes children’s books and she was always surrounded by creativity and literature at home. Rowan hopes their writing connects to others and serves as a creative outlet that addresses both personal conflicts and an awareness of issues going on in the world.

White Sheets
by Averie Basch (California State University, Fresno)

Averie Basch is a 20-year old junior from California State University, Fresno. Averie is a Smittcamp Family Honors College Scholar with a major in English and a minor in Creative Writing. She has always enjoyed reading and writing, so she hopes to build a career as a professor of literature, eventually publishing both academic works and novels. Averie loves being able to experience different lives and emotions through writing, whether it be poetry or fiction, but she also loves broadening her mind with essays.

Panic Attack
The Pursuit of Happiness Part II
by Alexander Ayres (Southern Oregon University)

Alexander Ayres is a freshman studying Mathematics and Computer Science at Southern Oregon University.

Appearel
by Rachel Fuller (Brigham Young University)

Rachel is currently studying Korean as an undergraduate and plans to pursue more schooling to become a speech therapist. She grew up in a large family that took annual summer trips to drive all across the North American states and provinces. She thoroughly enjoys sports, the outdoors, international foods, and reading.

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Photography and Visual Art

Special Thematic Submissions – Landscapes

Mary Andrews (Crafton Hills College)

Mary Andrews currently attends a community college as a recent high school graduate. Her passion for writing has taken her to write many short stories of fiction and poems. Her goals now are to go on to get her English degree at a university, and explore her options as writer so that she may continue to share her enthusiasm for the English language with other people. She is very driven in her journey as an aspiring author, and wishes to let her readers in on her unusual story ideas and twisted plots.

Ally Berkowitz (Metropolitan State University of Denver)

Ally is a Junior at the beginning of her journey into elementary and art education. She studied at the School of the Art Institute for 1.5 years before deciding to switch her path to one more focused on teaching.

Footprint – This is a found painting of a natural landscape. I chose to embroider an image of power lines over the painting to symbolize man’s irreversible footprint we are leaving on the Earth. This is one piece out of a series which follows the same message.

Jacob Brady (University of California, Riverside)

Jacob is a second-year chemical engineering student at the University of California, Riverside. Most of his photography from this previous summer is of the Western U.S., which fits with the requested theme. Jacob is also an umbraphile, and plans to see several solar eclipses in upcoming years.

The Tetons – This is a digital panorama/composite of the Teton mountain range towering over Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. Taken July 2018. This image was made by digitally stitching several photos together using Microsoft ICE. The composite image was slightly edited in Photoshop. The uploaded image is scaled down from the original to a more manageable size.

Grand Prismatic Spring – This is a digital panorama/composite of the Grand Prismatic Spring located in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Taken July 2018. This image was made by digitally stitching several photos together using Microsoft ICE. The composite image was slightly edited in Photoshop. This is one of the largest hot springs in the world. It is renowned for its vibrant coloration and its ability to act as a prism by reflecting different-colored wavelengths of sunlight through the steam clouds above it as seen in the image.

Zion Cliff Face – Digital photo of a sheer cliff face in Zion National Park, Utah. Taken June 2018. This is an HDR image of five exposures merged together in Adobe Photoshop.

Mya Correa (Mt. San Jacinto College)

Mya Correa is an artist that enjoys learning new techniques to create artwork. She is on a mission to learn as many new crafts as she can before graduating with a masters degree in studio art and art history. In the future, Mya sees herself as a professor teaching other students her craft, as well as making new work and showing around the world.

Perfect Blue – My inspiration is a painting called “Study for Hiding the Blue” by artist Stella Im Hultberg. My view of her work was hiding something sad about your self with the beauty of who you are. I wanted to empower with the flaws people have and allow the blue to become part of what makes someone beautiful. Mental illness, depression, surviving child abuse, and rape makes a person who they are, strong knowing and beautiful. I used 100% recycled materials.

Materials: Over 500 fake flowers, 6 small balloon lights, two old prom dress, polyester queen sheet, bicycle helmet, feathers made into butterflies, an old pair of shoes painted, black tool, a can of spray insulation.

The Story OF – This is a sculpture created out of old college books I bought from a thrift store. This work was made to represent the struggle I have made to get from where I was to where I am now, to where I will be in the future. I wanted the books to represent the climb being made to reach the top. There is a small house at the top, with a small light that lights the little house up. There is a shortcut in the mountain but it is just a cave empty with nothing to work for. The cave has a small light in it as well.

Jacob Edgerton (Oregon State University)

Jacob Edgerton is a second year mechanical engineering student at Oregon State University. In his free time, he enjoys exploring in the mountains and taking photos of the scenery and adventures he finds along the way.

Reaching into the Heavens – This was a camping spot in between Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. I emerged from the tent once the night had taken full effect and decided to try and capture the stars and the trees reaching up toward them.

Walking in the Stars – I woke at 3:45 AM to meet my friend and begin our hike. Our goal was to reach the summit of Tumalo Mountain near Bend, Oregon before sunrise. We raced the brightening of the sky as we trekked upward. When we reached the top, the Eastern sky began to glow a fiery orange like the coals of a fire about to start a new day. While we waited for the sun to peak over the horizon, my friend decided to do a handstand of point his feet toward the stars.
My intent was to capture the moment just before dawn, the start of something new. There is a special buzz in the air during this moment, like anything is possible in the coming day. My goal was to portray this feeling in a single image.

Swimming In The View – After hiking all morning and into the afternoon, my friend and I arrived at Camp lake in the Central Oregon Cascades. After setting up camp, we ventured down to the shore of the ice cold lake. With snow still sitting in the water, it made for quite a cold swim, but the view was enough to warm our hearts.

My intent was to capture the instant when you are still hanging above the water and all you can do is wait to be wrapped in its cold embrace. The moment before you break the glassy surface reflecting the trees, snow, and peak beyond.

Crossing The Golden Meadow – On a backing trip through the Three Sisters Wilderness, I stopped to swim at lake called Golden Lake. As I got out of the water I looked across the golden meadow to saw a heard of alpacas being lead through the grass. As someone who likes alpacas, I grabbed my camera and started taking pictures. My intent with the picture was to capture the scene of the alpacas crossing the meadow. I set up the composition so that the golden yellow grass would lead to the green trees and up into the blues of the mountain and the sky, creating a satisfying color gradient. The size of the herd in comparison to the mountain (South Sister) is also intended to show a powerful sense of scale.

Emily Fraley (Washington State University)

Full with Knowledge – Being at WSU this year has been amazing because of the rapid, stunning transition to fall. Even though I grew up only six hours away on the west side of Washington, there are little things that are different about fall here. I was relieved when I finally set some time aside to walk around campus with my camera.

Martin Hill (Oregon State University)

Martin uses digital photography as a way of expanding how he looks at the world, and how he expresses himself to others.

Frayed – I took this photo because I was inspired by little brother’s gentle and intelligent approach to life. I wish more boys were taught to be empathetic and emotional.

Yimeng Li (California State University)

Yimeng is a Freshman in California State University, Fresno. She is a Smittcamp Family Honors College Scholar pursuing a major in biology and a minor in Chinese. Before she found a love in the sciences, her favorite thing to do is to draw. Now enjoyment of sciences and enjoyment of art stands on par in her heart.

Rojina Nekoonam (California State University, Fresno)

Rojina is a junior pursuing an undergraduate degree in Biology and whose hometown is Fresno, CA. Rojina enjoys photography and taking pictures of nature.

Kernell Snow (University of Alaska, Fairbanks)

Kernell Snow is working his way to finishing his B.S. in Computer Science. He likes watching Netflix, eating gummy bears, drawing, and playing D&D.

Kaleigh Stock (Weber State University)

Kaleigh is the oldest sister of five. Her siblings are the most important people in the world to her. She is an English Literature major and will be graduating next semester. Kaleigh’s hobbies include writing, reading, backpacking, yoga, Pilates and drawing. She plans to move to either the Netherlands or Germany for her master’s after graduation.

Jennifer Warren (Washington State University)

Jennifer is a sophomore at Washington State University studying hospitality business management accompanied with a Spanish minor. She loves living in Pullman, enjoys traveling, and is interested in different types of art; it’s so fun to see everyone’s unique style!

Chefchaouen – Chefchaouen has been nicknamed “The Blue City” for obvious reasons. The small town is rich in culture once you get past all of the tourist attractions (which take up a majority of the town’s area.) In this photo, the locals of the town are shown, along with beautiful flower pots and a colorful woven blanket suspended in the air.

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Digital Multimedia

He Brought Us to the Mountains
By Samantha Jestadt (Southern Oregon University)

I made this video to honor my Grandpa, who took his own life on July 13th 2016, and highlight the impact of his legacy even in grief. I worked with my mother who wrote a poem for this piece and my Grandmother who provided the family footage. I hope that this piece resonates with those who have experienced suicide or grief, and can provide some comfort as I believe it has for me and my family.

Samantha is a junior at Southern Oregon University studying Digital Cinema. She is originally from Boise, Idaho and nature and the outdoors have played a large part in her life and impacted her family greatly. She is interested in a wide variety of art and media and hopes the stories she tells will resonate with others in some way.

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