The Current The Current 2019
2019
Michael Pasko Berries with Ice Second Place
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Editors’ Note and Dedication
“Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.” - Henry David Thoreau
Photograph:
Transcendentalist Trek
Michael Pasko
In 1915, educator Robert W. Rivers founded The Rivers School on an open-air campus with the goal of promoting good health and habits in his young students. In Rivers’ early days, teachers taught with the windows open in their bright and open classrooms. Even in the wintertime, rooms were exposed to the elements, and students wore heavy coats in class to keep warm. 104 years later, in honor of Robert Rivers, The Current’s editorial staff selected nature as the theme for the magazine’s 2018-2019 edition. The simple aesthetic of the magazine was designed to allow you to enjoy each truly breathtaking representation of nature. We would like to thank Dr. Venise Adjibodou and Mr. Ross Gormley for their time, optimism, knowledge, and support throughout this process. The printing of this magazine is largely made possible by the behind-the-scenes work of our faculty advisors. Additionally, we would like to recognize Emily Stoller for her outstanding dedication to the magazine over the course of the last two years as a chief member of the staff. Thank you to Rayha McPherson and Sylvie Pingeon for your contributions to curating some of the theme-based content, and to Abi Walsh for your assistance with the production of the cover. We are dedicating this magazine to all who explore the great outdoors and who seek to experience all of its incredible wonders. We implore you to savor every moment spent in nature, perhaps curled up outdoors on a warm summer night with this edition of The Current. Fondly, Bethany Pasko and Isabel Salvin Editor-In-Chief and Junior Editor
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Table of Contents Ceramics and Sculpture
Haikus Cam Floyd (5) Eric Rosenblum (7) Lisa Byrne (10) Matt Cronin 12) Callie Kamanitz (13) Calvin Carswell (15) Kevin Kamanitz (17) Bethany Pasko (20) Samirah Moody (22) Maggie Leeming (24) Stephanie Dailey (26) Nathalie Ahn (28) Nothando Khumalo (31) Emily Stoller (33) Henry Muller (35) Jack Moore (37) Anna Donlan (41) Charlotte Paul (44) Max Meyerhardt (47) Leighton Young (50) Jordyn Connors (Back Cover)
Photographs Abi Walsh (Front Cover) Michael Pasko (1, 2, 18, 38, 62) Bradley Stoller (6) Sophie Bailey (8) Nick Hardy (9) Abe Dekin (9) Anna Monaghan (23) Myles Epstein (25) Sylvie Pingeon (34) Hunter Taylor-Black (36) Jack Desmond (40) Gretchen Kerfoot (45) Tully Mahoney (48) Cristina Gomez (48) Cyristaliz Frometa (58)
Free-Verse Poetry and Prose Callie Kamanitz (52) Bethany Pasko (52) Adriana Paulhaus (55) Julia Larkin (59) Digital Art Abi Warwick (51) Jack Desmond (60) Caleb Lys (61)
Jack Morgan (21) Adebiyi Oyaronbi (27) Maggie Monaghan(30) Lilly Branka (32) Christina Kew (32) Tommy Dekin (32) Caleb Leeming (36) Julia Turissini (38) Zoë Brown (42) Ciara King (42) Ashley Shegog (45) Annie Heuer (46) Emma Braudis (51) Jay Dieterle (56) Gavin MacIsaac (57) Ayla Pfeffer (58)
Paintings, Drawings, and Prints Matt Cronin (3, 4) Maddie Cornetta (11, 14) Ciara King (16) Keira Thompson (19) Dylan Mentis (21) Isabelle Canty (25) Abi Warwick (30) Ryan Skripps (39) Mel Mortarelli (43) Sylvie Pingeon (46) Walt Regan-Loomis (53) Bethany Pasko (60) Lauren Barich (61)
Niccolo Tommaseo Matt Cronin
Note: THANK YOU TO OUR TALENTED AUTHORS AND ARTISTS! WE ARE PROUD TO HIGHLIGHT YOUR ARTISTIC AND LITERARY TALENTS TO THE RIVERS COMMUNITY AND OUR GREATER READERSHIP. 3
Footprints Matt Cronin
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Respiration Cam Floyd
The air we breathe The swiftness and rustling leaves So fresh, pure, and clean
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The Light in the Dark Bradley Stoller 6
A Biting Bitterness Eric Rosenblum
A most dry winter Bitterness that bites with cold, Cannot freeze my soul
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Teddy Evie Thomajan Honorable Mention
Icy Warning Sophie Bailey Honorable Mention
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Off the Beaten Path (Honorable Mention) Nick Hardy
Rocking Chair Abe Dekin 9
nature Lisa Byrne
slick icy tails lead to a natural mirror elegant white lake
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Princess Maddie Cornetta 11
Beauty of Bubbles Matt Cronin
Ice bubbles under feet Crunch and stop they disappear Icy dust is left
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Ice melting on a lake
rippling resumes light shatters the clear concrete white transforms to blue
breath
bitter breeze blows by fog of warmth too quicky gone conquered by a high wind Callie Kamanitz
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Mauve Maddie Cornetta
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Nebulous Nonesuch Calvin Carswell
Nonesuch, covered in fog It was snowing until now When the rain began Second Place
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Leaf Drawing Ciara King
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The Present Kevin Kamanitz
the moment is here You bask in the light of it! the moment is gone
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Maluhia (Peacefulness) Michael Pasko
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Germination Keira Thompson
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Evergreen
Pagan majesty Unwavering beauty Soul-filled conifer
Yellowstone Bison The camper slowly stops Bison rush, as if to greet us A chance encounter
Prairie
Temperate grasslands American pastoral Uncultivated Bethany Pasko Honorable Mention for the Collection: “Lasting Lure of the American Landscape� 20
Very Skullful Dylan Mentis Second Place
Delta Time Jack Morgan
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soul-filled summer sunset Samirah Moody
trees ruffling hushed canopies in unity hiding sunset skies
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Perched Bird Anna Monaghan
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July
Maggie Leeming
The warm rays dancing As light as fairies’ wings Atop the water
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Cherry Isabelle Canty
Down by the Creek Myles Epstein 25
Waves of Calmness Stephanie Dailey
Successive movement Wave crests ebbing and flowing Bringing back the shore
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Jackie Quinlivan Dog
A Sculpture Pierced Adebiyi Oyaronbi 27
seasonal soliloquy (Honorable Mention) it’s pollen season swollen, itchy eyes rubbed dry can’t admire flowers
acutely adrift
floating, lost at sea salt water muffling chaos my meditation Nathalie Ahn
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Horse (Above) Jackie Quinlivan Honorable Mention
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Still Life (Right) Sean Quinlivan
Abi Warwick Figure Drawing Third Place
Maggie Monaghan Our Shared Brokeness First Place
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fire walk (Honorable Mention) I walk with fire Through dark deep as the night sky flame guides my weary form
forceful formation
The force of nature Humbles as I watch with fright What a splendid sight
Nothando Khumalo
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Rifted Reef Lilly Branka Honorable Mention
Sculpture Vacancy Tommy Dekin
Creature Secrets Christina Kew 32
Conquering Emily Stoller
trugding up the hill, to the top of the mountain, I came, saw, conquered
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Cows Frolicking Sylvie Pingeon
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Autumn Henry Muller
Autumn sheds her shell The stillness of winter roars Leaves and trees alike
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Sand Dollar Teapot Caleb Leeming Third Place
Pensive Hunter Taylor-Black First Place
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Autumnal Equinox Jack Moore
Gentle fall breeze blows Vibrant leaves flutter downward Warm rays shining through
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Pearl Julia Turissini
Botanical Beauty Michael Pasko 38
Harlem Renaissance Ryan Skripps 39
Tree Reflection Jack Desmond Honorable Mention
Spring Bloom Jack Moore
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Spring The tips of flowers Sunlight breaking through the clouds A chance to start new
Clouds Suspended in air No responsibilities Endless sky ahead
Mountain Tall, strong, unwavering peaking its head above the clouds reaching the sunlight Anna Donlan
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Irridescent ZoĂŤ Brown
Laces Ciara King
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KitKat (Honorable Mention) Mel Mortarelli
untitled Charlotte Paul
dark sky full of stars floating safely by the waves peaceful empty space
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Sunset at Pohkora Gretchen Kerfoot
Multi-Faceted Ashley Shegog 45
Clare Island Cow Sylvie Pingeon
From the Deep Annie Heuer
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Semblance of Sunshine Max Meyerhardt
False sunshine sleets through As the air drifts ever so sweet Biting those it meets Third Place
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Illuminated Prayer Tully Mahoney Third Place
Rope and the Sand Cristina Gomez
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Kettle Keira Thompson 49
Caught in ClichĂŠs Leighton Young
This is a clichĂŠ nature poetry - not good a gentle stream flows First Place
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Caution Goldfish Brain Abi Warwick First Place
Five Star Dessert Emma Braudis 51
Every Day Without You (Inspired by Emily Dickinson “I Years Have Been From Home”)
Every day without you Is like a dying flame Extinguish fire with the tears That grace my face with Shame The Embers– gleam with hope Of one day your Return That I know–– that I should not want But yet my heart still yearns Whispers– the licking Flames Sing softly in my ear Reviving thoughts of long-gone life That you made disappear I see you in the Smoke– I feel you in the Sparks– I hear you in the cracking coils That split as you depart Warmth– no, the sultry scorch That burns me to the core And scolds me for the shocking thirst That I cannot ignore But water sent you out– So now I sit alone Like a phoenix–prepared to rise With nowhere to rise from - Callie Kamanitz First Place
Poetically (Inspired by Edward Taylor “Huswifery”) Make me, O Lord, completed through the spinning of words Thy holy Word comes through each stanza, never impetuously Make mine affection for verse honor Thy intentions
And make my soul Thy holy invention My conversation make to be in Thy strongest sanctity And reel the words theron spun of Thy Word
Make me Thy loom then; phrases knit therein each in line And Make Thy Holy Spirit, Lord, in time Then weave the words Thyself. The yarn once coarse Thine ordinances make one fulfill duties without a hint of remorse Then dye in the same in heavenly colors, of the greatest source All pinked with varnished phrases of variation
Then clothe therewith mine grasp, will Affections, judgement conscience, memory, My afflictions and judgements, in revery; oh, the page they fill My ways with language and Thee linger, until Then mine collection shall be crafted before Ye I am clothed in holy goodness for Your glory - Bethany Pasko
Pear Walt Regan-Loomis
Wildflowers Sylvie Pingeon
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Sky A ceiling to the universe
The Dawn that follows is just peculiar Like one who decides to ignore the guide
In a tangible way
The face of The canyon
The only separation between One And beyond what One can know
Tears streaming down
The leader, the Woman who knows the way
Whose tangerine is near blazing
As if One were just a fawn who
As One is left alone, gasping for air
Scampers, in only her first year, across the plains
Like the salmon as it leaps from the rushing water
Today it seemed like nothing As if one would need to add Their ink, their vision, their soul to the
Blissfully unaware of the Power of the
Sky
A grizzly growing, eyes full of near infatuation Sky
Tomorrow, yes She began Woods growing in their bioluminescence Sequoias dotted with dew Which surely would drop
Signals the fall of the indigo blanket
Sky
Feet crashing, struggling, helplessly
Sky A horizon as wide as The eye can see Leaping, wondering, floating
Of the children
And beyond what One can know
Down into the depths of the shelter
In a tangible way
A hearth, a home, a healer
Today it seemed like nothing
A golden crescent dwindling like the end of a harvest’s yield
As if one would need to add Their ink, their vision, their soul
Dust flies up, higher, until it clings to our bodies In desperation
The grass of the prairie Gracing the ankles
No straight path in any World to adulthood There is only separation between One
Against the clock that already sets the steps
Stars glimmer as bright as the hope a mother Has for her child, the child who clutches her, pointing at the
Emotions opening up like the
Heart beating, increasingly rapid
Beads of sweat on the face of the men Until the owl’s call
Knowing not of the jaws it has leapt into
Bethany Pasko Second Place
To the rich surface of the earth As I did, dancing, the eyes of all upon me The celestial lights of the heavens setting As a new journey began for me, akin to the
Smiles stretching across the wilderness
Sky
Standing together in awe, looking up toward the
Sky
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The Man and His Drink (Second Place) Adriana Paulhaus
A 34 year old man from Manhattan, New York walks into the bar. As he sits down with his clothes all
ruffled and soaked in tears he starts to tuck his shirt back into his work pants. He sits down and asks for a large glass filled with his usual. He sits and contemplates life as he begins to reminisce on the moments that have occurred earlier in the day. His feelings begin to swell, and the glass seems to become less and less. The waitress with the blonde long hair comes out fill it up, no questions asked. As he begins to drink his now 2nd glass he stares at the waitress. With her beautiful blue eyes, blonde hair, and her bright smile that lite up his heart some 5 years ago. But his observations only seems to be a mirage set in by the alcohol he has consumed. His wife passed away 3 hours ago, she wasn’t right in front of him. Those last drops of his drink trickle down his throat as he begins to sob more. The glass sits on the bar counter as he stares it down. The glass looked as though it was shattering into a million pieces just like the car windshield he has seen just hours before. The glass covered in alcohol, just like the blood the streamed down the cracks and indents of the broken car glass. The cup keeps falling and falling and falling down to the floor, as he tries to save it, it crashes down breaking into a million pieces. His glass, the one one he had, had been destroyed within a second. His glass was the one that broke, just like his heart the moment he had seen that blood trickle down. His lonely self sits there thinking about life and what it will be like without his beautiful wife. But he also wonders how in the world he got here, sitting at a bar, drinking his sorrows away. Knowing that the pain will never go away. And that the glass will forever stay broken. 55
The Injustice System Jay Dieterle Honorable Mention
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An Abuser’s Language Gavin MacIsaac Second Place
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Memories Entwined Ayla Pfeffer
Just a Squad Pic Anthony Borgos Honorable Mention Spines and Ridges Crystaliz Frometa Honorable Mention
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Jagged Edges (First Place) Julia Larkin The girl sat perched atop her balcony in awe of the scene before her. The rolling green fields expanded out in all directions and went as far as her eyes could see. They were impeccable. It was as if someone had come along, a creator persay, and seen this infinite barren land and thought a lush and vibrant green blanket draped over every surface would suffice in keeping it warm and protected from any and all who might harm it. There was, of course, the occasional rock which stuck out like a sore thumb, begging to be noticed. Some were jagged, while others were completely smooth. Against the greenery, the speckles of white embedded in each rock gilmored where the sun shone down on it. And if a viewer moved their head from side to side, the speckles moved and shifted shape, almost as if the rocks were not rocks at all, but faces with expressions and stories to tell. The grass, while mostly short and unnoticable from afar, stood tall in some places. It swayed and swung, eluding to the existence of the invisible wind, that so often tries to pass us in secret. The girl was mesmerized by this tall grass, it was not just moving, but dancing. Dancing with each other, as if the wind and the grass were two people in love. The sky, too, was marvelous. It was a washed out blue. The kind that did not make one sad or scared, but feel at peace and safe. Wispy white clouds were strewn across its exterior. There was no pattern or any repeated occurrences, making the girl think back to her paintings as a child. Back when she did not used to think, back when it was just her and the brush and no one else, no plan, no rules, no expectations. The clouds moved so slowly that it was hard to tell if they were even moving at all, yet as time past, it became apparent that they were in fact slowly making their way across the channel of the sky and eventually vanishing from sight. The girl sat there for what felt like hours knowing full well of the many errands she needed to run, work she had to complete, goals she to needed to reach, people she had to speak to, people she wanted to love, people she hated to cry over, people she yearned to forget‌.yet still she sat. Because she knew, staring out at this scape of land before her, that a creation so spectacular could not only be for the eyes to gap over and travel through and observe, but also for the mind to ponder. Why? How can something so beautiful exist? Am I dreaming? Life. It extends in all directions, as far as the eye can see. It is inescapable to exist while we are alive. Yes, it too would show its own form of jagged edges and rough untouched surfaces. They would stare her in the face, pleading to be noticed, and they may never go away. She may find herself stumbling over them, getting caught on a corner, or slipping and scraping her knee. These experiences are necessary though. How else would she then learn to appreciate the beauty of these said jagged edges if she had not picked herself up, wounded or not, and continued on? Why continue on? Because she knew there would also be other rocks. Those more smooth and refined that meant no harm. These experiences, she understands, can whiz by so quickly and quietly like wind whistling in one’s ear, that they fail to be remarked over for only just a moment. But she must not take these moments for granted, she must not let them go overlooked. She must feel it all, she realized. Feel it all for the sole purpose of living and learning. Feel the joy, the pain, the excitement, and the sorrow. She understood now. Sitting there, she understood, it’s all just a beautiful mess. Created by nature itself and those who dare to disrupt it. 59
Tree Kaleiodoscope Jack Desmond
Polar Cub Bethany Pasko 60
Dragon Caleb Lys
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Mountain Painting Bird Print Lauren Barich
Bethany Pasko
Abi Walsh
Isabel Salvin
Emily Stoller
Sylvie Pingeon
Rayha McPherson
Mr. Gormley
First Snow
Dr. Adjibodou Michael Pasko
Utah Vista
Michael Pasko
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gentle waves on sand sweeping what is underneath along the current
The Current 2019
Jordyn Connors