Arts & Media
Austin Lindell
Climb In
About the piece: This photo was captured on a stormy day in Chicago on the shore of Lake Michigan. The rolling waves crash against the cement wall as overcast clouds roll in. The ladder offers a way to climb down into the uneasy water.
About the author: I am a self-taught photographer that picked up a camera 2 years ago as a hobby. I take photos to cement moments in time and capture my feelings in unique viewpoints. My finished photos contain coloring that help convey how an image makes me feel apart from just how it looked in the moment.
Favorite part of the piece: My favorite photos always feature interesting viewpoints and colors. My goal when taking a picture is to capture something visually striking, but also to create a scene that conveys meaning to the viewer and is worth looking at for more than a brief moment.
Fiction
Somoshree Palit
Ruins of the Aegean
About the piece: There is a certain fulfilment in writing what should ideally exude power, like one of my poems in this collection, “A Jester’s Privilege”. Yet what inspired this story was my wish of wanting to visit Delos and Delphi in Greece, and this was my fictional rendition of what Delos could be like, having never visited any place outside India as of yet. In writing “Ruins of the Aegean”, I had hoped to grasp the same Dionysiac sensuousness that Keats employed in his poetics!
About the author: I have never seen “writing” as a cathartic process, it’s like breathing to me, by which I mean that I can do it naturally if I don’t think about it, and I can’t breathe once I am aware that I am breathing. The diverse styles of writing published in Euphemism is particularly spectacular. I have dreamt of becoming a poet and an author since I was eight, and if I ever achieve that, Euphemism will always remain the pillar to my nascent stride.
Favorite part of the piece: “Tell him Delos, were he a Christian god,
I’d love him with a Heathen ferocity.”
Nonfiction
Kara DiFilippo
Family Names
About the piece: This piece was originally inspired by a prompt from Dr. Robillard to use writing a personal essay as a way to work to understand some complicated aspect of language and violence in our own lives. Initially I was only going to write about my own feelings surrounding my adoption, but I quickly realized that what truly was impacting me the most was not my own perspective, but everyone else’s perspective on my situation. Through this new realization, “Family Names” was written as a way to try to understand the complicated relationships in my family dynamic.
About the author: I am currently a Senior English Major here at Illinois State University. In the fall, I will be starting a masters program at the University of Illinois pursuing a Masters in Library and Information Science.
Favorite part of the piece: “We can pretend all that we want that we’re confident in our place in people’s lives, but on the inside most of us are terrified children, just wanting to be chosen and hiding from the very real fear that sometimes we won’t be.”
Poetry
James Friedman
Heaven
About the piece: I was thinking how we derive meaning from our relationships. I believe it’s important to find joy in our connections, but also be able to form our own happiness. When we lose those close to us, we must take the best parts of them everywhere we go.
About the author: I am sophomore English Education major. I write poetry because I think it would be a shame to let our thoughts and feelings disappear when we are gone. I think the human heart deserves to be remembered in words.
Favorite part of the piece: The line “there is a distance in my soul that light alone has ever crossed” is special to me. It was this phrase that struck my mind that led me to write Heaven.
Editor’s Choice Special Edition Printed Issue
Gwen Johnson
To celebrate the 18.2 issue of Euphemism, we have created a special copy typeset like a book. Click here to view or download the PDF copy and thank you for your support of Euphemism.