Illinois Tech Department of Humanities 58th Annual Writing Contest Winners 2023

Thanks to:

All Illinois Tech students who submitted their work to the 58th Annual Illinois Tech Department of Humanities

Undergraduate Writing Contest –we couldn’t have a contest without you.

Writing contest judges:

Jenelle Davis, Carly Kocurek, Victor Monnin, Hannah Ringler Muller, and J.D. Trout

Published in 2023 by the Lewis College Department of Humanities at Illinois Institute of Technology

http://www.iit.edu/humanities

Foreword

The Illinois Tech Department of Humanities Undergraduate Writing Contest prize for freshman essays was renamed in 2015 to honor Henry Knepler, a former professor of English at Illinois Tech who served on the faculty of the Department of Humanities for 40 years. The prize is funded by an endowment made by Knepler and his wife Myrna, also a former professor of English at Illinois Tech. Both were very committed to ESL instruction and to writing instruction.

The prizes for fiction and nonfiction are named for Edwin H. Lewis, an English Professor at the Lewis Institute—one of the forerunners of Illinois Tech—from 1895 until 1936. Among other classes, Professor Lewis taught Shakespeare, and apparently looked somewhat like him, too. It is said that students would come to campus just for his lectures, often without even being enrolled.

The poetry prize was established in 1965 by retiring Illinois Tech English Professor Mollie S. Cohen. Professor Cohen was a native Chicagoan, and attended Lewis Institute before doing graduate work at the University of Chicago and at the Sorbonne in Paris. During her time as a professor at Illinois Tech, she worked closely with women students and international students.

The prize for best undergraduate student paper in philosophy honors Warren Schmaus, professor emeritus of philosophy, who taught at Illinois Tech for 42 years. The prize is funded by an endowment made by Terry Straus, the daughter of Fay Sawyier, a longtime philosophy professor at Illinois Tech.

Edwin H. Lewis Prize for Fiction

Henry and Myrna Knepler Freshman Essay 1st Prize

Modes of Translation

Julia King

To begin an essay, we’re taught that we must establish a hook. A poetic or striking turn of phrase that captures the reader, holds them in place. The strength of the writer’s language must be enough to both hold a reader’s attention and correctly convey a message. If the reader doesn’t understand or isn’t compelled by the introduction, then the writer has failed. When they cannot articulate what is important, a writer is said to have a poor command of language. We create languages in order to communicate the abstract, to bridge the gaps between individuals. A difference in language, then, introduces a new set of challenges. A failure here is two fold; when a message isn’t properly conveyed, the reader doesn’t understand because for them, there is nothing to understand. When people use the term “lost in translation,” the meaning is not only lost to the reader but to the originator, and the message resides in the middle in between the two, unused. This literature review seeks to define translation in three separate capacities, the linguistic, the political, and the colonial, to establish the role of the translator and the concept of the reader or receiver, and ultimately analyze all of these concepts to create a framework for further research into the topic.

Part One: The Linguistic Aspects of Translation

In order for translation to exist, there first must be an establishment of understanding even from the smallest units of a language, words. It is important to define the purpose of them within the structural framework that is the conventions of their language. Words can exist as signs, meaning they both have a definition unto themselves as well as a designation away from themselves, linking them to an object or idea. The act of linking words to ideas invites interpretation. Interpretation in translation resides in three categories, either being interlingual, (concerning the actions of two separate languages), or intralingual (the

language being contained unto itself). According to Roman Jakobson, an “intralingual translation is seen as rewording by means of some other language, and interlingual translation is either translation proper, an interpretation of verbal signs by means of some other language, or transmutation, an interpretation of verbal signs by means of non verbal sign systems” (Jakobson, 233). These three modes of interpretation implicitly establish one of the main theories of translation: the idea of equivalency between two different languages. “Equivalence in difference is the cardinal problem of language and the pivotal concern of linguistics” (Jakobson, 233). The differences in language can only be established by first possessing the knowledge of that language, both in terms of usage as well as understanding its structure and conventions. The grammar of a language is a means by which experiences are expressed, so, by extension, there isn’t a fault in grammar that makes a translation impossible. “If there is a deficiency, terminology may be qualified and amplified by loanwords or loan translations, neologisms or semantic shifts, and finally by circumlocutions” (Jakobson, 234). The resolution of any deficiency marks a split in terms of what a translation must convey and what it may convey.

Some scholars assert that “kinship [between languages] does not necessarily involve likeness” (Benjamin, 75). What determines the likeness of languages moves past their structural similarities and moves into the intent of the texts themselves. In fact, the language of a translation must be set aside in order to properly examine the intent of the original text. Once the source material has been removed from its original language, there is want to assume that the intent then becomes exaggerated by way of ostensibly multiplying the two languages together. Whether or not the intent comes across as a didactic relation of information is a determining factor in assessing the quality of a translation. “Sometimes what rings wrong in a translation is an invitation to think otherwise… these instances in which the translator briefly transforms into an author will convey to the reader that they are reading a version; so these interventions do not damage but rather protect the original” (Taber, 248). This deliberate act of preservation still maintains the intent, though not with a deft hand. The intent of the work is ultimately what lends itself to translation, what establishes its significance in and of itself.

Part Two: The Task of the Translator and the Act of Translation

The work of the translator is to assume that the reader is knowledgeable of their own tongue while setting themselves in a simultaneous position of non-knowledge and governance over each language. This begs the question: who is a translation meant for? “[Consideration] of the receiver never proves fruitful. Not only is any reference to a certain public or its representatives misleading, but even the concept of an “ideal” receiver is detrimental in the theoretical consideration of art” (Benjamin, 71). This doesn’t remove the translator’s individuality from the text. Ultimately, their own self interest may make an appearance, but it is not a conscious act, because the unconscious doesn’t require any kind of intent. This reasserts the idea that the intent resides within the text itself. The act of translating a text begins with the relation of two objects, though the second object is the result of the action. The goal is to create the truth of the original in a foreign tongue. The concept of truth within translation rests within two separate meanings: one derived from the universality of translation, and the other from the truth of translation in general, which removes the original from its material and ideological identity and reproduces it in order to make the work concrete and imbued with meaning.

Part Three: The Politics of Translation

The politics of translation resides in the concept of translatability, which is determined in this lens by historical forces, and as a result creates another version of history. “Translation is seen as an ethical, political, and ideological activity rather than as a mechanical linguistic exercise” (Tymoczko, 443). This moves the central focus of translation from intent to an emphasis on the truth. Truth acts here “as a political category, which means that every act of translation institutes a partially fixed identity on a terrain of undecidability” (Végső, 60). The task of the translator is by extension repositioned, becoming one who is “telling” the reader something. The reader then becomes an active participant within the text itself, helping the translator define the function of the translation beyond the confines of themselves as an individual and instead by how it works within the context of the world beyond them. Translation now exists as an ideological practice. The ideology of a translation consists of: “The subject of the source text and the sources representation of that subject, The various speech acts instantiated in the source text relevant to the original context, Layered together with the translators representation of the source text, Its purported relevance

to the receptor audience, The various speech acts of the translation itself addressing the target audience, [and] Resonances and discrepancies between these two utterances” (Tymoczko, 448). The addition of an intended audience removes the concept of relating two texts to one another and instead becomes an act of exchange, to serve more utilitarian purposes like gathering information and intelligence.

Part Four: Translation as A Mode of Colonialism

Translation now has the option to deliberately remove anything from the original text because the texts are no longer in consistent direct relation to one another. This makes the translation more present, and further removes the author of the original from their own work, and presupposes the translator in their place (Nietzsche, 69). The replacement of the original text with this newer translation grants it a new sort of power, removing it from the context of its original language and exploiting it in order for more people to consume it, a colonialist act. Translation, when used as a mode of colonialism, “does not serve to preserve. It serves to make legible” (Siddiqi, 80). These new translations are required to make sense, there is no more freedom within the text from which one can interpret any sort of meaning. They crumble culture down in order to make it more digestible. “Words, terms, phrases can be separated from the creature of their language and used as mere labels. They then become inert and empty… And such dead “word mongering” wipes out memory and breeds a ruthless complacency” (Berger). This leeches the meaning from words, making certain that there can be no renewal without excess pushback from those who wish to use the subjugated tongue.

Part Five: Discussion

While the sources do provide an emphasis on the contradictory nature of translation, a common feature they fail to fully extrapolate on is the concept of equality and inherent superiority on all levels of translation. This concept functions best under a hypothetical “selfish state.” This concept of the state acting as a unified self stems from the text “The Ethics of Self Concern by John Cottingham.” Using a Hobbesian, or selfish approach to establish this concept fails to acknowledge the fact that “self interest has an important place in any plausible account of human nature but it does not occupy all the space.” (Cottingham, 800)

This is true for individuals, and although this state acts as an individual,

its desire to consume more unto itself negates its status as one. The self concern of the state exists on a level almost impossible to comprehend, and thus its separation of ethics from reality rings all the more insidious rather than a necessary means to an end. This pursuit of power, which presides over everything, in this example, will be narrowed down to the concept of language.

The basis of language resides in understanding, seeking to prescribe meaning to words. This search then leads to the question of: who establishes meaning? The answer, as is the case with most things that have to do with translation, is split in two; meaning can be established both by those who created the language and by those who use it. Meaning, then, can both reside within the history of a language and be revised by later speakers of it by means of present day examination and analysis. To give something a definition, or to provide it a name, then gives it purpose. The purpose of naming is to establish significance, a way to distinguish an individual from the collective. To pass on names is to participate in a cultural transfer, to search for synonyms that replicate the weight and effect behind a certain word. “Synonomy, as a rule, is not complete equivalence” (Jakobson 233). There will always be an extra step required in order to reach the original meaning. In order for this synonymy to take hold in a colonial translation, there first must exist the simultaneous acknowledgment and rejection of the inherent equality of languages, a disregard for the existence of conventions, grammar, and structures that all tongues possess. Through the acknowledgment of equivalence, a colonial power then gains the ability to make revisions to any work under the guise of deficiency.

This perceived lack of translatability gives rise to foreignness, which presumes that with the extra step taken to preserve a text in a different tongue, that that same amount of labor was not done while constructing the original, thus making the original text and by extension its language, inferior. This removal of equality does not displace the original, in fact, “the original can only be raised there anew and at other points of time” (Benjamin, 77). When the text is approached a second time, how will it be approached? Under the “selfish state”, where ethics is separated from reality, a roadblock appears in the process of translation. For without ethics, a translator is bound “to give more or less permanent form to a mere travesty on the ideas and the language of his original, and to defraud, without recourse, both the foreign author and the public’’ (Nollen, 76). Without colonialism, “the event of translation is

undecidable…gives rise to the subject of translation…falls within the register of truth and not that of meaning…[and] points to something unnameable” (Végső, 63).

Within the state, then, the event of translation is decided, as well as the subject, and falls into the register of meaning, which can be named and can therefore be whatever it needs to. Translators, by extension, are “in conspiratorial bind with their publishers, responsible, at times collaterally, for the selective transmission of culture, producing such bibliographic lacunae as that which may lead, for example, an anglophone audience to conflate enshrined texts taught in French grammar schools (such as, for francophiles,those written by Mallarme, Proust or Flaubert, to name but these) with the most provocative exemplars of contemporary experimentation” (Nathanaël). Here another equivalency is established, but it is manufactured and therefore not inherent to the practice, where it ultimately resides beneath the established cannon of the receiving tongue. Whatever it is that may have been lost is pushed aside in favor of understanding. The state will “do [its] best to form a class who may be interpreters between [them] and the millions whom [they] govern” (Siddiqi, 75). Those translators who sit in the middle have no choice but to be complicit, for they hold no power over the state and should have no desire to challenge it. This realization that, since all actors under the state can then be subject to its rule, combined with its authority over language, leads it to find a new way to reap the benefits of reshaping a language, which is that “cultural capital leads to actual capital” (Hur, 71). In order to introduce a culture that may be foreign, that culture must by extension, produce capital. This means that the works chosen to be translated must make waves, so much so that the work becomes so embedded in the recipient’s culture that the audience forgets that it’s been translated.

To move between two languages and transpose meaning tests the bounds of language. It requires one to get close, armed with the knowledge that even if someone can reach the other side there’ll be a hair’s breadth of distance between them. Translation exists in a paradoxical relationship with the world. It exists simultaneously both within and outside of politics, culture, and language. It contains the truth, but with something stuck to its back, nearly equal, but not the same.

Works Cited

Benjamin, Walter. “The Task of the Translator.” Translated by Harry Zohn. Theories of Translation: An Anthology of Essays from Dreyden to Derrida, edited by Rainer Schute and John Biguenet, The University of Chicago Press, 1992, pp. 71-82.

Berger, John. “John Berger: ‘Writing Is an off-Shoot of Something Deeper’.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 12 Dec. 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/ dec/12/john-berger-writing-is-an-off-shoot-of-something-deeper.

Cottingham, John. “The Ethics of Self-Concern.” Ethics, vol. 101, no. 4, 1991, pp. 798–817. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2381665. Accessed 11 Nov. 2022.

Hur, Anton. “The Mythical English Reader.” Violent Phenomena: 21 Essays on Translation, edited by Dr. Kavita Bhanot and Jeremy Tiang, Tilted Axis Press, 2022, pp. 69-73.

Jakobson, Roman. “On Linguistic Aspects of Translation”. On Translation, edited by Reuben Arthur Brower, Cambridge, MA and London, England: Harvard University Press, 2013, pp. 232-239.

Nathanaël. “Hatred of Translation.” Music & Literature, Music & Literature: A Humanities Journal, 24 Jan. 2019, https://www.musicandliterature.org/features/2015/4/30/ hatred-of-translation.

Nietzsche, Freiderich. “On the Problem of Translation.” Translated by Peter Mollenhauer. Theories of Translation: An Anthology of Essays from Dreyden to Derrida, edited by Rainer Schute and John Biguenet, The University of Chicago Press, 1992, pp. 68-70.

Nollen, John S. “The Ethics of Translation.” Modern Language Notes, vol. 10, no. 2, 1895, pp. 38–39. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2919207. Accessed 10 Nov. 2022.

Siddiqi, Manazir, Ayesha. “Preserving the Tender Things.” Violent Phenomena: 21 Essays on Translation, edited by Dr. Kavita Bhanot and Jeremy Tiang, Tilted Axis Press, 2022, pp. 74-90.

Taber, Elisa. “Bad Translation.” Violent Phenomena: 21 Essays on Translation, edited by Dr. Kavita Bhanot and Jeremy Tiang, Tilted Axis Press, 2022, pp. 240-259.

Tymoczko, Maria. “Translation: Ethics, Ideology, Action.” The Massachusetts Review, vol. 47, no. 3, 2006, pp. 442–61. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25091110. Accessed 10 Nov. 2022.

Végső, Roland. “The Parapraxis of Translation.” CR: The New Centennial Review, vol. 12, no. 2, 2012, pp. 47–68. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41949784. Accessed 10 Nov. 2022.

Henry and Myrna Knepler Freshman Essay 2nd Prize

The McDonald’s Chicago Flagship by Ross Barney Architects: Wall-E’s Plant in Boot

Le Thuc Ny Phan

Ihad passed by the McDonald’s Chicago Flagship once before I knew it was one of the buildings we would study. When I first visited it, I could not help but feel a sense of dismay. Something about it invoked my skepticism, something about it screamed dystopia, but I can not determine precisely what it is. After I decided to study this structure, I revisited it. The structure is easily recognizable from any angle. Its cuboidal overall shape usually would feel rigid, but the spacey columns and the actual structure is smaller than the pergola, thus creating a sense of openness and transparency. The primary materials are glass and steel,

giving it a modern and cold look. However, the user experience within the space is vastly different. The site is in a bustling area downtown, but the atmosphere completely changed as I entered the building. The light floods through the glistening glass and fills the space. The acoustic blocks all of the outside noises. The green walls and the wooden roof frames soften and warm up the space. Everything about it was deliberately designed for the ultimate user experience and is exceptionally unique for fast food services. Even so, the inkling from the beginning still stuck with me, and I still could not explain it. Thus, I decided to analyze, research, and study more about the structure to help explain my doubt, primarily through the lens of environmental consciousness.

As we approach the end of 2022, it is no surprise to anyone that we are on a slippery slope toward irreversible climate damage. It has been depicted over and over again in numerous media. Everyone feels the need for immediate action, but it requires a conscious effort from everyone, from the everyday consumer to big conglomerates. Corporations are catching on to the rising green culture, and many are taking steps; some are genuine, and some are rather deceptive and misleading. McDonald’s is one of those companies setting out to tackle climate risks, from long-term processes, such as participating in the United Nations Race to Zero campaign and COP26, to more immediate actions, like transitioning to more efficient buildings (McDonald’s 2017). Particularly, the McDonald’s Flagship in Chicago is one of their short-term changes, built with sustainability as its essence.

Commissioned by McDonald’s, Ross Barney Architects (r-barc) set out to design an oasis in the hectic part of downtown that is becoming less green by the day. The structure was built in 2018 on a site with which McDonald’s has a long history. Dating back to 1983 with their iconic Rock n’ Roll McDonald’s or their 50th anniversary McDonald’s in 2005.

Figure 1

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Putting their flagship on this site represents an architectural transformation, shedding the old structures to build a new structure that embodies the promise of climate stewardship.

One of the main features of the sustainable design is the solar pergola. The pergola is composed of 1,062 south-facing solar panels that can produce around 60% of the energy that the structure needs, and it has exceeded those expectations multiple times in the following years (r-barc 2018a). With just enough structural columns giving it a futuristic and minimalist look, the roof “scales the restaurant with neighboring buildings” (MCHAP 2022). In addition, its cuboidal form unifies the area underneath into one single solidified space while still allowing ample pedestrian walking space and shade.

The building structure utilizes Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) and glued laminated timber (glulam) beams that have less ecological footprint than glass or steel (r-barc 2018a) while also softening and warming up the space. It is the first commercial project in Chicago that uses CLT and the first quick-service restaurant to achieve the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification (MCHAP 2022), once again establishing itself as a pioneer in the architectural transformation of sustainability.

At the center of the main dining area is a garden in a glass box hanging from an opening in the roof. The type of trees planted was consciously considered: “Apple Trees, Arugula, Broccoli, Chives, Kale, Swiss Chard, and Carrots, the produce harvested is donated to the local Ronald McDonald House” (r-barc 2018a). Seventy-five percent of the site is pervious and allows stormwater to drain, with the green roofs able to store up to 7,000 gallons of water (r-barc 2018a). In addition to sustainability, the atrium and green walls hanging down from the roof amplify the user experience with improved air and

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acoustic quality and embody the storytelling message of hope for a more environmentally friendly future.

While experimental, specific classical architectural methods are still present. For example, the primary material of the structure is glass. Pedota and Laura Román from Schuler Shook collaborated with Ross Barney Architects to design the lighting. They designed the majority of the facades to be glass with “ 69% transmittance and shading along the sun-facing wall” so that the light could come through but still keep the user experience comfortable and preserve the indoor plants (Nale 2020). Besides the bountiful natural light, they used light fixtures of 3000K; as Pedota said, “we utilized exactly what we needed and nothing more.” The emphasis on the minimalistic “less is more” principle and the glass box look is both Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s signature style, as seen in the famous S.R. Crown Hall on the IIT Campus. Simple, yet elegant.

The Flagship’s architectural design has drawn multiple resemblances; one of the notable of which is the McCormick Tribune Campus Center (MTCC), designed by Rem Koolhaas. Specifically, the MTCC was built after the Old Commons, a dining building. Koolhaas decided that MTCC shall “consume” the Commons, making it a part of the new structure. Similarly, the Ross Barney design team kept the previous kitchen and basement through the adaptive reuse method in architecture. “In the process of re-cladding existing walls, the thermal value was improved significantly to enhance overall building performance” (r-barc 2018a).

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Besides the Chicago Flagship, it is crucial to look at the McDonald’s Flagship in Florida Disney World, also by Ross Barney Architects, to understand the dystopian feel of this type of structure. Like the Chicago Flagship, this structure was designed with ecological sustainability. However, “McDonald’s makes its buildings the way it makes its food—fast: the timeline from design through construction was a year and a half” (Broome 2020). Although Ross Barney successfully delivered this time, with many design choices reused from the Chicago Flagship and the existing structure, it is only the second of many more environmentally friendly structures to come. There is a reason for skepticism that this might become just another cookie-cutter project. It is not exactly a bad nor a good thing to have many structures that look the same, consistency can be good for the environment, so there is hope. Nevertheless, there is also fear that corporate greed will abuse said cookie-cutter mass production for profits.

The dystopian feel of the McDonald’s Chicago Flagship and other structures of this style can be understood through the plot of WALL-E (2008). Set in a perhaps not-so-distant future, humanity has abandoned earth after completely trashing it to live on a spaceship. WALL-E is a cleaning robot left behind, doing his seemingly futile job, when he discovers a sliver of hope, a plant. A small plant that sprouts from a boot, like a garden inside a glass box. While it is a step and hopeful, it is also bleak that we are there already. More important is what we do with it. Are we going to be AUTOPILOT, willing to destroy the hope of a future for humanity to maintain a status quo? Or are we WALL-E’s trying to clean up the mess we made, bit by bit, while treasuring a crumb of effort from the main contributors of our environmental death?

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Lewis College Department of Humanities

Bibliography

Broome, Beth. 2020. “McDonald’s Flagship by Ross Barney Architects | 2020-09-03 Architectural Record.” Www.architecturalrecord.com. September 2, 2020. https:// www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/14790-mcdonalds-flagship-by-ross-barneyarchitects.

McDonald’s. 2017. “Our Planet.” Corporate.mcdonalds.com. 2017. https://corporate. mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/our-purpose-and-impact/our-planet.html.

Mies Crown Hall American Prize. 2015. “2022MCHAP.” Mchap.co. 2015. https://www.mchap. co/mchap-2022-projects/mcdonald%27s-chicago-flagship.

Nale, Katie. 2020. “The Model McDonald’s - Illuminating Engineering Society %.”

Illuminating Engineering Society. February 27, 2020. https://www.ies.org/lda-magazine/ featured-content/the-model-mcdonalds/.

Ross Barney Architects. 2018a. “McDonald’s Global Flagship Chicago.” Ross Barney Architects. 2018. https://www.r-barc.com/work/mcdonalds-global-flagship-chicago.

———. 2018b. “McDonald’s Chicago Flagship - Ross Barney Architects.”

World-Architects. November 5, 2018. https://www.world-architects.com/en/architecturenews/reviews/mcdonald-s-chicago-flagship.

Figures Cited

Figure 1: Ross Barney Architects. 2018. 1983 Rock N’ Roll McDonald’s. r-barc. McDonald’s Global Flagship Chicago | Ross Barney Architects.

Figure 2: Ross Barney Architects. 2018. 2005 50th Anniversary McDonald’s. r-barc. McDonald’s Global Flagship Chicago | Ross Barney Architects.

Figure 3: McCaugherty, Kendall, and Hall+Merrick Photographers. 2018. The North Elevation at Night. World-Architects. McDonald’s Chicago Flagship - Ross Barney Architects.

Figure 4: Ross Barney Architects. 2018. Section A. World-Architects.McDonald’s Chicago Flagship - Ross Barney Architects.

Figures 5 and 6: Le Thuc Ny Phan, McDonald’s Chicago Flagship, 2022, 600 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60610.

Figure 7: Ross Barney Architects. 2018. 1983. Vegetation Diagram. r-barc. McDonald’s Global Flagship Chicago | Ross Barney Architects.

Figure 8: McCaugherty, Kendall, and Hall+Merrick Photographers. 2018. Close-up of the West Elevation, Showing the “Tapestries” of Living Plants in the Dining Room. WorldArchitects. McDonald’s Chicago Flagship - Ross Barney Architects.

Figure 9: Mies van der Rohe Society. 2021. Crown Hall. Mies Society. Crown Hall.

Figure 10: Ross Barney Architects. 2018. 1983. Old Kitchen Diagram. r-barc. McDonald’s Global Flagship Chicago | Ross Barney Architects.

Figure 11: Joyce Studios. 2020. McDonald’s Disney World Flagship. Architectural Record. McDonald’s Flagship by Ross Barney Architects | 2020-09-03 | Architectural Record.

Edwin H. Lewis Nonfiction 1st Prize

Louisiana Coastal Erosion

Jessica Burrell

Positioned at the mouth of the Mississippi River, coastal Louisiana is home to two million people. By being home to the largest port complex in the world and the vibrant, historic city of New Orleans, it is no surprise that 20% of the nation’s waterborne commerce transits through this region (“Hazards”). Coastal Louisiana’s marshes, swamps, and waterways are the permanent habitat for many unique animal species, and these areas also serve as the winter migration destination for millions of birds each year. The significance of this region cannot be understated by locals and those who benefit from its location throughout the country. However, coastal Louisiana is especially sensitive to the negative effects of hurricanes and rising sea levels. The combination of natural and manmade wear and tear on southern Louisiana is summed up in one of the state’s most critical battles: coastal erosion. This paper will focus on the nature of coastal erosion, the policies necessary to protect the Louisiana coast, and the importance of the federal government’s involvement in environmental protection in the region.

COASTAL EROSION

Coastal erosion is officially defined as “the wearing away of land or the removal of coastal wetland, beach or dune sediments by wave action, tidal currents, wave currents, or drainage” (“Hazards”). Sediment supply, plant health, and water quality all interact and contribute to coastal erosion. According to the Louisiana Sea Grant research program, Louisiana has the highest rate of wetlands loss in the United States, with 35 square miles of critical land being removed from the coast each year (“Ocean Commotion”). The Louisiana wetlands serve as a buffer region from storms in one of the most hurricane-prone areas of the nation. Furthermore, losing wetlands is synonymous with increasing risk to regional infrastructure and local inhabitants. Some firms hypothesize that natural disaster related infrastructure and business disruption could

cost $1.7 billion over the next 50 years if no significant preventative measures are taken (Barnes and Virgets).

In the event that a hypothetical hurricane followed the same eastern path as Hurricane Katrine in 2005, a Louisiana State University report maintains that current land loss conditions would result in $130 billion in replacement costs and $26 billion in business disruption (“Hazards”). Just as Hurricane Katrina proved, the socioeconomic implications for the people of coastal Louisiana from such a storm would be disastrous — leaving a poverty-stricken mark on the region for decades. Specifically, the costs and physical damages to business, residences, and infrastructure would cost over 9,000 jobs and $586 million in wages over the span of 50 years (Barnes and Virgets). Because of this, storms and coastal erosion can host a positive feedback loop for destruction, poverty, and loss of natural resources.

This ecological crisis would also have long lasting negative impacts beyond its immediate surroundings. For example, the transportation infrastructure and assets in coastal Louisiana are in an increasingly risky position. U.S. Highway 11, U.S. Highway 90, and the train tracks for Canadian Northern, Norfolk Southern, and CSX are all susceptible to damage from storms (“Hazards”). Due to this region’s ties to national trade, natural resources, and biological populations, the New Orleans city government states that “coastal erosion has the potential to have direct implications on the nation’s energy supplies, economic security, and environmental integrity” (“Hazards”). At the very minimum, natural disasters in coastal Louisiana will require national funding and resources to recover.

There are many projects that aim to improve structural integrity, property and natural resource protection, public education/awareness, and emergency services efforts in the region to rebuke the effects of coastal erosion.

POLICY CONSIDERATIONS

There are many policies that may, and should, be implemented in tandem to prevent coastal erosion. For instance, preventative policies may include incentivizing businesses and homeowners to use sustainable building materials or collaborating with other agencies to standardize preventative measures, while natural resource protection policies may include protecting wetlands by establishing them as public

parks or other restoration projects. The following policies may have a positive impact on the fight against coastal erosion.

The City of New Orleans (CNO) Department of Public Works is attempting to promote the use of pervious concrete by including it in city-contracted road work (“Hazards”). Pervious concrete allows precipitation to easily drain through it, which reduces runoff and replenishes groundwater levels (Obla). This policy objective aims to reduce the risk and vulnerability of current and future structures. Currently, the project is estimated to have a 1-5 year timeframe for completion.

The CNO Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness is also attempting to assist other local agencies in the implementation of their hazard mitigation plans (“Hazards”). By working with local agencies on project scoping, grant management, and stakeholder coordination, the office will ensure that the overall sustainability goals of the city will be executed in an appropriate manner. Currently, this project is expected to be funded by the CNO general fund, and it is projected to have a 1-5 year timeframe for implementation.

The CNO Office of Resilience and Sustainability aims to create a set of common metrics to measure resilience progress across the region. Common data metrics would allow the various government, private, and NGO entities in Orleans Parish to be consistently measured with data-informed figures (“Hazards”). This initiative is important because success and progress cannot be guaranteed if it cannot be measured. Funding for this project will be provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (“Hazards”). This task is projected to have a 1-2 year timeframe for implementation.

The CNO Office of Resilience and Sustainability also aims to advocate on the state and federal levels for additional funding for the full Biloxi Marsh Living Shoreline project (“Hazards”). This project calls for 47,000 feet of bioengineered oyster barrier reef near the marshes in order to reduce erosion. The Biloxi Marsh Living Shoreline project contributes to the overall goal of decreasing risk and vulnerability in the wetland environment. Currently, the $3,500,000 cost of the project will be funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. EPA, state funding, and the private sector (“Hazards”). This project is expected to have a 5-10 year timeframe for completion.

In a similar project, the CNO Office of Resilience and Sustainability is pursuing the enhancement of the Sanfoka wetlands (“Hazards”). This project would create a wetland park and nature trail in one of the most notoriously poor wards in New Orleans. In addition to increasing flood water retention and mitigating stormwater overflow, this project will support economic development by creating an outdoor education and recreation space for residents and tourists alike. Funding for the Sanfoka wetlands enhancement project will come from grants from multiple sources, including the U.S. EPA, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA), Kresge American Cities, Entergy Services LLC, Environmental Initiatives Fund, WK Kellog Foundation, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) (“Hazards”). The Sanfoka wetlands enhancement project is expected to have a 1-2 year timeframe. I believe this is the most promising policy choice to prevent coastal erosion because it has a shorter time frame, generous public and private financial support, and a promise to socioeconomically boost the community it will simultaneously protect.

CONSIDERING LOCAL AND STATE ACTION FOR POLICIES

There are a considerable amount of environmental policies and projects that are already being pursued by the local governments and state government in Louisiana. In order to put these plans into action and effectively combat coastal erosion, it is imperative that local and state municipalities continue to petition national entities for funding. As aforementioned in the policy considerations section, a significant portion of the funding that allows the coastal restoration projects to occur comes from federal grants. Therefore, funding acquisition is especially critical when fighting the effects of coastal erosion.

In addition to advocating for federal funds, it is important for local and state authorities to develop common metrics for measuring the success of restoration and prevention projects. This will give more validity to the scientists who inform government officials, and therefore more validity and persuasion power to the government officials who must advocate for federal funding. From policies to data, every aspect of the natural resource protection and restoration effort must be understood by those that are involved.

Another policy route to rebuke the effects of coastal erosion presents itself in the opportunity to add more natural resource protection STEM

education into the Louisiana K-12 education system, as well as making efforts to educate adults who may be home or business owners. Adding more environmental science education to younger groups of students will ensure that future generations are more environmentally conscious and may result in an increase of professionals pursuing “green” careers. Educating established adults will allow those who are receptive to the education to start making changes to their surroundings that will better serve them and their children during natural disasters.

STATE AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RELATIONSHIP

The relationship between the state and federal government is absolutely critical to save Louisisana’s coastline. The state, in and of itself, cannot pay for the necessary natural disaster relief and natural resource protection measures without significantly detracting from other areas such as healthcare, education, and economic development. Just as the U.S. relies on coastal Louisiana for maritime commerce, coastal Louisiana relies on the national government for partial funding for many environmental protection efforts.

Specific examples of this mutually beneficial relationship include the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, whereby FEMA provides up to 75% of the funding needed for restoration projects. These grants are currently in use in Louisiana in the Pontilly Neighborhood Stormwater Network project, the Hagan Lafitte project, and the Mirabeau Water Garden project (“Resilience & Sustainability - HMGP”). FEMA also gives other grants to support emergency preparedness, which includes caring for the Louisiana coastlines.

In another example, the City of New Orleans submitted an application to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the National Disaster Resilience Competition. It was awarded $141.2 million dollars to address the damages from previous hurricanes and implement systems that would prevent future storms from having disastrous impacts (“Resilience & Sustainability - Gentilly”). The funding and efforts from this grant will be used in the Gentilly Resilience District, which aims to benefit the people, culture, and infrastructure in the Gentilly region. In truth, the Louisiana coast would not be able to thrive today or in the future without federal funding.

CONCLUSION

Coastal Louisiana serves as a hotspot for, both, potential economic growth and potential ecological disaster. The region is characterized by its lively culture, a bustling port system, and an ecological hub of habitats. In order to mitigate the effects of climate change and heightened natural disasters, it is absolutely necessary to protect Louisiana’s coastlines. This goal can be achieved by maintaining the relationships between the local, state, and federal levels of government and enacting policies that will lead to positive changes.

Works Cited

Barnes, Stephen R, and Stephanie Virgets . “Regional Impacts of Coastal Land Loss and Louisiana’s Opportunity for ...” LSU College of Business , Economics & Policy Research Group, Mar. 2017, https://www.edf.org/sites/default/files/lsu_edf_report_ executive_summary.pdf.

“Hazards.” Coastal Erosion - NOLA Ready, City of New Orleans, 2021, https://ready.nola.gov/ hazard-mitigation/hazards/coastal-erosion/.

Obla, Karthik. (2007). Pervious Concrete for Sustainable Development. Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Recent Advances in Concrete Technology, RAC 2007.

“Ocean Commotion: Fast Facts - Louisiana Sea Grant.” Louisiana Sea Grant - Promoting Stewardship of the State’s Coastal Resources through a Combination of Research, Education and Outreach., Louisiana Sea Grant, 28 Sept. 2022, http://www.laseagrant. org/education/projects/ocean-commotion/facts/.

“Projects.” Coastal Protection And Restoration Authority, City of New Orleans, 2021, https:// coastal.la.gov/our-work/projects/.

“Public Works - Home - City of New Orleans.” Public Works - Home - City of New Orleans, City of New Orleans , 2021, https://nola.gov/next/public-works/home/.

“Resilience & Sustainability - (HMGP) - Stormwater Projects - City of New Orleans.” Resilience & Sustainability - (HMGP) - Stormwater Projects - City of New Orleans, City of New Orleans , 2021, https://nola.gov/resilience-sustainability/(hmgp)-stormwater-projects/.

Resilience & Sustainability - Gentilly Resilience District - City of New Orleans, City of New Orleans, 2021, https://nola.gov/resilience-sustainability/gentilly-resilience-district/.

Edwin H. Lewis Nonfiction 2nd Prize A Queer Loop: The Many Lives of LGBTQ Chicago

Nabil Fawaz

With Chicago being the third most LGBTQ populated city in the United States, it is no surprise that it has a vast history when it comes to the LGBTQ community (chicagodetours. com). Starting in the 1920s, there were signs of an active homosexual nightlife in Towertown and as time went by people would eventually move to the northern part of the city. This was due to the rent increasing which forced gay-friendly establishments to move through old town and Lincoln Park (chicagogayhistory.com). Eventually, gender and sexually non-conforming people would slowly incorporate themselves in the midwest despite it being known as the, “..uncontested site of middleclass white American heteronormativity” (“Queering the Middle” 1). In “Queering the Middle”, the article deals with how the LGBTQ community in Chicago started with most gender and sexually non-conforming people being scattered around the area. This was because they were afraid to show their sexual orientation as they did not know who they could trust which made it hard to meet other LGBTQ people. Eventually, the community went from being scattered to a powerful and prideful community by decriminalizing their sexual orientation in Chicago. With the LGBTQ community being so complex, this essay will delve into the social history of how the definition of gay maleness has changed. The initial stereotype led to the eventual mistreatment of the LGBTQ community and resulted in them jumping into a more chaotic political situation. What is also discussed includes complexities of how gay people view sex compared to the typical heterosexual stereotype of sex being between a man and a women and how it had to be meaningful. This will be told through various perspectives of different authors who all view LGBTQ history in Chicago through topics such as identity, politics, and sex.

In Chicago Whispers: A History of LGBT Chicago Before Stonewall, historian

St. Sukie De La Croix describes the social history of the LGBTQ community and how the idea of same-sex desire and nonconformity has changed from the seventeenth century until today. The book begins by discussing earlier forms of gender and sexual divergence that existed in the Chicago area that went, “...as far back as the seventeenth century, French Jesuit explorers wrote in their journals of the existence of ‘feminine men’ among the Illiniwek who performed duties of women. The French called these men ‘Berdache’” (La Croix 7). What we now know as homosexuality was different back then and similar to today those men challenged the gender roles as at the time, “...the women dealt with affairs in the village, while the men were warriors and hunters” (La Croix 7). Accounts of feminine men would be on the rise in America as Jesuit Father Marquette would even spot, “...some of the male villagers dressed as women from an early age, never married, and glorified...” as they wanted to play a more feminine role (La Croix 9). In this Chapter, La Croix points out how the idea of homosexuality could not be conceptualized at the time. Rather those men were seen as feminine due to the more feminine roles they wanted to live. This would not be the only gay stereotype as different stereotypes would develop in the late 19th century and early 20th century that would complicate the definition of LGBTQ.

The Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, put Chicago on the world stage. It also gave birth to the “modern physical culture movement” which was brought by bodybuilder Eugen Shadow. Eigen would travel and, “...though the marriage produced two daughters, Helen and Lorraine, it was far from idyllic, as Sandow’s constant touring and sexual adventures made his wife jealous. Particularly galling was his love affair with fellow bodybuilder and concert pianist Martinus Sieveking” (La Croix 183). Eventually, magazines would come out celebrating the male physique and gay people were at the forefront of it. With publications, such as Mars from Kris Studios, would gain popularity, these publications would start showing vulgar images which lead to a new obscenity ordinance being enacted stating that, “‘...a publication is obscene when its calculated purpose or dominant effect is so substantially to arouse sexual desires, and if the probability of this effect is so great as to outweigh whatever artistic or other merits it may possess” (La Croix 191). This new crackdown even led to two police officers being placed full-time to hunt down pornography in Chicago. The significance of this modern cultural movement was gay people were now not only seen as feminine as these publications showed gay men that were strong and fit. As time passed, the Chicago population would

become aware of gay life in Chicago, specifically when the 1930s hit.

La Croix also tackles gay life in the 1930s as, “...in the early part of the twentieth century, books on the subject of homosexuality were not available to the public, only to the medical profession” (La Croix 121). This would eventually change in 1925 the Chicago Tribune would advertise the Homosexual Life which could kick start the appearance of gaythemed books in Chicago’s libraries. Although awareness would spread, Chicagoans were still careful about showing their homosexuality since it was hard to know who you could trust. Sam, who is a “hoofer” describes how it was hard to meet other gay people since dropping any sort of hints could lead to some real trouble. Sam grew up with the idea that he should never drop his hair pins otherwise people would say, “...‘Hey look at that queer over there.’ Then everybody would start giving you a very, very bad time” (La Croix 122). This meant that casual sexual encounters would have to be through private illegal gay parties as there was a gay underworld that included a circle of friends that were invited to these parties. Eventually, gay bars would start to pop up and gay life in Chicago would start to boom, although it would be more in secret. This secret would soon come out as police would start to cause trouble for the LGBTQ community as their lifestyle would start to be portrayed as a criminal.

While history has shown conflicts between the police and civilians, La Croix would point out the issues that the LGBTQ have had with them. Since the mob had a stake in Chicago’s gay bars, the police were trying to shake them down. Eventually, in 1973, Attorney James R Thompson would investigate this problem and it was found that a, “... reported forty-seven policemen from three districts had been indicted by a federal grand jury for extortion in shaking down taverns, many of them gay-owned or with gay clientele” (La Croix 230). Extortion of bars was not the only problem that gay people have dealt with the police on as Sodomy Laws were another issue. Illinois is known for having a history with sodomy laws as, “...in 1827 it was the first state to bar a convicted sodomite from voting or sitting on a jury” (La Croix 248). Eventually, the Illinois Criminal Code of 1961 was passed as, “...‘Under the new code it will not be a criminal offense for homosexuals to engage in sexual relations in private as long as the participants are adults, neither of whom has been pressured into the acts’” (La Croix 253). This demonstrated a massive step for the LGBTQ community and Illinois as it became the first state to legalize homosexuality. While it seemed as if the United States was slowly accepting the LGBTQ community, the country took a bit of a step back as after, “...World War II the antigay

frenzy intensified: On April 1, 1950, the Civil Service Commission took a ‘no prisoners’ approach in its persecution of lesbians and gay men in government positions” (La Croix 255). Overall, La Croix highlights the perception of gay maleness changing over time going from male femininity to masculinity to the criminalization of gayness. With male gayness being portrayed as a crime, it became an issue that had to be solved politically kick-starting the eventual beginning of what would be known as gay politics.

In Queer Clout: Chicago and the Rise of Gay Politics, social movement historian Timothy Stewart-Winter delves into Chicago politics and how it has affected and shaped the LGBTQ community. He begins the book by bringing up the idea that being gay is criminal causing conflicts between the police and the LGBTQ. Eventually, victory over, “...police harassment, secured by allying with other urban residents who were policed with similar vigor, especially African Americans, was the prerequisite for their later triumphs” (Stewart-Winter 1). This started to give gay people some clout in the political world as the Democratic Party would soon recognize that gays and lesbians could help the African American community gain votes as both would start to help each other out to change Chicago politics for good.

Specifically, in Women’s liberation movements, lesbians would soon start to be at the forefront by helping, “...women understand and analyze their experiences in the job market and the hidden forms that sexism often took” (Stewart-Winter 133). Lesbians were eventually at such a forefront that in the 1970s, “...‘women’s’ became code for ‘lesbian’ in certain circles” (Stewart-Winter 133). In Chicago, lesbians would meet in church basements in Hyde Park and although bars were not as often sought out the way gay people did, they were still ties towards the bar-based lesbian subculture. One issue that lesbians were trying to tackle in Chicago was equal pay for women especially since they would also notice certain exclusions from types of jobs that men were only doing. It would soon be pointed out that in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that the, “act prohibited employment discrimination based on sex as well as race” (Stewart-Winter 137). Multiple issues would soon arise making Chicago the eventual epicenter of the socialism feminist movement and this would then lead to the creation of the Chicago Women’s Liberation Movement (CWLU). Formed in the fall of 1969, CWLU’s projects would range from, “...winning the right of women’s softball teams to use diamonds in local parks to the direct provision of low-cost, safe abortions through a secret collective known as Jane” (Stewart-Winter

137). With the success of the CWLU, other projects such as the “Gay Group” and “Lesbian group” would emerge in the early to mid-1970s. While lesbians were benefiting from this era of breakthroughs for women, they were still trying to find a way to, “...remove sex from the interlocking domains of capitalism and patriarchy” and they also reacted against, “...the rigid marital expectations of postwar America” (StewartWinter 138). One misconception about lesbians at the time was they hated men which were quickly disputed in the book as a black lesbian talked about how she enjoyed spending time with men despite not being sexually attracted to them.

An additional topic Stewart-Winter tackles is the fact that gays and lesbians were coming out of the closet. In return, openly gay candidates were elected to office for the first time as, “Thomas Chiola won election as a judge of the Cook County circuit court in 1994” (Stewart-Winter 207). With gay candidates rising, “politicians treated gays and lesbians as an interest group whose needs were no longer tied to a broader transformative agenda” (Stewart-Winter 207). The 1990s would start to show the power of the “gay vote” as politicians became more and more aware of the gayborhoods in Chicago and how getting those votes could truly put one in office. While the “gay vote” would show its power, politician Mayor Richard M. Daley showed support for gay equality exclusively for the “gay vote.” Daley came out of the gates with many progressive plans as he furthered gay-rights legislation and even launched the “Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame and presided over its first annual induction ceremony” (Stewart-Winter 210). Daley also had an Advisory Council on Gay and Lesbian issues which was one of his secrets of success and managed to continue to get gay voters by reaching out to gay business owners. Daley’s tactics of pandering towards the gay voters would continue to work as he was mayor of Chicago from 1989 to 2011. Overall Stewart-Winter highlights how originally the “gay vote” was overlooked until politicians realized its power forcing them to pander towards passing gay-friendly laws. While gay people were moving up politically, one book focuses on telling a sexual ethnography to get a different perspective on the LGBTQ community in Chicago.

In The Boys of Fairy Town by Jim Elledge, the book discusses the history of gay Chicago, but unlike the other two books, Elledge did archival history and through his perspective, tells personal narratives of queer men. In the book, he defines queer as the LGBTQ community as a whole. Elledge starts off describing Wing, a person who was born and raised on a farm and dropped out of high school at the age of sixteen. Wing

would eventually arrive in Chicago on a ship where he would fall in love with a “bully little boy.” With this personal narrative being set in the 1860s, the idea of these two men being together was seen as pedophilic due to the ages and they instead used family labels such as “brother/ brother” to demonstrate their bond. Wing was not the only one looking to seek “bedmates” as, “Horatio Alger, who was a Unitarian minister in Brewster, Massachusetts, was denounced for having sexual liaisons with teenagers in his church, and he quickly relocated to New York” (Elledge 25). This seemed to be a common occurrence for gay men in Chicago as Wing too would have multiple one-night stands which made it difficult to concentrate at work. He knew if word got out about what he was doing he would be labeled as a sodomite like his fellow gay friends, but luckily it never did. Wing would write journals about these experiences and live in Chicago for the rest of his adult life.

Another story Elledge tells is about a mysterious man who went by Herman as no one seemed to truly know his real name. Interviewed by Earl W. Bruce, Herman mentioned how he participated in sexual activities with other men when he was a child, a common occurrence that had happened for queer men. During the interview, Bruce concluded Herman was “‘...acted upon by the other boys’ in his neighborhood” (Elledge 229). It was later brought up Herman had “freely engaged in sex with ‘a cousin’ who was ‘twice his age’” furthermore he states, “...‘I do not care how straight a person may be but when he gets in passion he will start fooling around’” (Elledge 229). Elledge mentions this case of Herman to point out the idea of sex is different for everyone. For some, it is a way to connect with someone on a more personal level while for people like Herman it is for pure enjoyment. Later in the chapter, it is also pointed out some queer men purely did it for money as prostitution was quite common.

The final narrative Elledge tells about is Entomologist Alfred C. Kinsey who taught in the Department of Zoology at Indiana University during the 1930s. One day he offered to teach a course on marriage and he even offered, “...to counsel any graduate student or faculty member who needed advice on sexual matters and occasionally asked them to give him their sexual histories” (Elledge 277). Eventually, Kinsey received numerous sexual histories from his students making the university oppose the course, but they gave Kinsey a chance to revise the syllabus if he wanted to continue to teach the course which he accepted. While working on these revisions, he was approached by a gay student who was willing to show him the large community of queer men in Chicago to which he accepted and would immediately check into the Harrison Hotel. From there, Kinsey

tried to interview the queer men but he could not get much out of them. The reason for this was believed to be how “Hoover’s illogical ravings had turned Chicago...into a ‘repressed culture where homosexuality was both a crime and a disease and where queer men could be imprisoned for up to ten years simply because their sexual desire was different than the dominant culture’s” (Elledge 278). Eventually, Kinsey would continue to try to do these interviews, but rather than being frustrated about barely getting any answers he started to understand how difficult it can be to open up. He also, “...began to insist to any queer man he met that his goal was to gain an understanding of their lives and not to gather evidence against them” (Elledge 278). Everyone can learn a thing or two from this story as some people might not truly feel for one community until they see it for themselves and step in their shoes.

From French Jesuit Explorers discovering the existence of “feminine men” to openly gay people being in office, the LGBTQ community has come a long way in Chicago. While strides have been made, issues such as gay marriage and being able to open up about your sexuality are still issues that are still trying to be solved today. All these sources have demonstrated how the idea of male-to-male or female-to-female attraction has been perceived by heterosexual people has changed over the years. These sources have also given a timeline of how the definition of being LGBTQ had gone from a sexual preference to a political issue that needed to be decriminalized. Rather than discussing one source, all these other sources were discussed in order to notice the different perspective each author had and how they interweaved each other. For example, Elledge obtained his ethnographic sources through journals from the queer men he discusses. The narratives tie into La Croix’s take on the definition of being queer as all the queer men in Elledge’s book were afraid to open up. The reason they were afraid is explained in La Croix’s book as gay maleness was criminalized because it was different from the norm. La Croix alludes to the eventual entrance of gay politics which is what connects to Stewart-Winter’s book as he describes how the LGBTQ community could not take the discrimination anymore and proved the power of the “gay vote” by establishing openly gay people into politics. Gay men specifically were originally seen as men that want to act like women simply because they wanted to do jobs women do. As time has passed, gender roles have been placed before are slowly changing as people are realizing a person’s gender should not restrict them from doing things that they want to do (“Gay Shame and BDSM Pride”). The world is constantly changing and the LGBTQ community is at the forefront of it, but only time will tell if the rest of the world is willing to change their views on what a society looks like with them.

58th Annual Undergraduate Writing Contest

Works Cited

“Chicago Gay History.” Chicago Gay History, https://www.chicagogayhistory.com/.

“Chicago Gay Neighborhood History.” Chicago Detours, 5 May 2021, https://chicagodetours. com/chicago-gay-neighborhood-history/#:~:text=The%20mid-twentieth%20 century%20was%20a%20difficult%20chapter%20in,harsh%20crackdowns%20on%20 these%20establishments%20and%20their%20patrons.

Elledge, Jim. The Boys of Fairy Town. Chicago Review Press, 2018.

“Gay Shame and BDSM Pride.” Illinois Wesleyan University Digital Commons @ IWU. https:// web.archive.org/web/20180422061746id_/https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/cgi/ viewcontent.cgi?article=1044&context=div2facpubs.

Manalansan, Martin F., Nadeau, Chantal, Rodríguez, Richard T., and Somerville, Siobhan B. “Queering the Middlerace, Region, and a Queer Midwest.” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, Duke University Press, 1 Apr. 2014, https://read.dukeupress.edu/glq/ article/20/1-2/1/34879/Queering-the-MiddleRace-Region-and-a-Queer-Midwest.

Stewart-Winter, Timothy. Queer Clout: Chicago and the Rise of Gay Politics. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017.

Sukie, De la Croix St, and John D’Emilio. Chicago Whispers: A History of LGBT Chicago before Stonewall. The University of Wisconsin Press, 2012.

Edwin H. Lewis Nonfiction 3rd Prize

Solving the Environmental Crisis through Adaptive Thoughts and Adaptive Reuse

Sarah Kay Stephens

The environmental crisis is a convoluted and multifaceted problem that will not be solved with a single solution; addressing this crisis will require a combination of ideas. Architecture’s role in addressing the environmental crisis stems from its ability to influence the movement of societal ideals that supports a more sustainable built environment. New technologies are developing at increasing speeds, thus allowing for the creation of more efficient and sustainable new construction buildings. However, these new construction projects continue to generate carbon emissions regardless of the implementation of new technology that is intended to offset this carbon in the future. Therefore, the notion of adaptive reuse architecture provides a more sustainable approach to solving the environmental crisis because new technologies can be used to enhance existing infrastructure instead of creating new architecture. However, for architecture around the world to prioritize adaptive reuse and the benefits that it presents, a cultural shift must accompany this architectural shift. Wilfred Wang’s article points out that “‘to build in a sustainable way means not to build at all’ [therefore,] the replacement of existing built fabric cannot be the longterm goal of any society.” i Society must work alongside architecture to have any impact in addressing the environmental crisis. Here, the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art will be analyzed as a case study to demonstrate how adaptive reuse projects can create exciting, sustainable architecture and contribute to a cultural shift in how we view architecture on the path to addressing the growing environmental crisis.

The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art (MOCAA) is an adaptive reuse project completed in 2017 in Cape Town, South Africa by architects from Heatherwick Studio. As seen in Figure 1, the original massing was separated into a grain silo for storing maize, and a tower for grading maize. ii The design of the original structure relied heavily on how maize

was used within the building to inform the design of its form; grain needed to be stored, therefore 42 compact cylindrical silos were created. When the infrastructure was adapted into the museum, the central silos were carved away, as seen in figure 2, to create a central atrium space for the museum. Light enters the museum by passing through fritted glass located on the rooftop sculpture garden, then bounces around the atrium inside. iii The atrium serves several functions; not only does it centralize the vertical circulation within the buildings, but the atrium functions as a light well to allow light to reach the basement and the internal exhibit spaces. The silos on the perimeter of the museum were converted into five floors of gallery space for exhibitions. As seen in figure 3, sections of the wall that were not integral to the structure were removed in the grading tower to allow room for three dimensional windows to be installed. These windows allow light into the museum during the day, then make the building appear to be a beacon on the harbor at night.

The original form of the Zeitz MOCAA was derived from the need to store large quantities of grain in close proximity to the conveniently located harbor used to transport that grain. However, with the rise of the shipping container industry, the huge silos were decommissioned, leaving this massive piece of infrastructure vacant. iv The Zeitz MOCAA adheres to the direct mission of adaptive reuse by reusing existing infrastructure for a new purpose. The architects changed the existing structure to address programmatic needs instead of building a new structure from scratch. As a result, a meaningful and historically rich project came to fruition without producing as much carbon emissions as a new construction building. The Zeitz MOCAA uses adaptive reuse to answer the question: what should we do with infrastructure when society no longer has a need for it? This is important because “architecture should serve the difficult task of providing for the longterm inhabitation of space instead of serving the media’s insatiable appetite for images’’. v Buildings do not just disappear once we no longer find them interesting, and adaptive reuse is often overlooked as a viable solution for creating beautiful architecture.

The Zeitz MOCAA reveals how adaptive reuse can appeal to the societal demands of glamourous architecture. Adaptive reuse projects are often regarded as “bread and butter commissions, enough to keep the office going, but not worthy of serious design ambition”. vi Long term, we must transition away from demanding shiny new buildings that produce beautiful images, however to start this cultural shift, it is important to

design projects such as the Zeitz MOCAA which demonstrate exciting spatial qualities that thoughtful adaptive reuse can produce. Most of the grain silos maintain their original shape from the exterior, but as you enter the space, your perception of the once dark silos is disrupted to reveal light. The Atrium space (figure 2) within the museum is created from carving into the silos to expose geometry which always existed but was never seen. An architectural gesture of this scale would be considered wasteful if the building was new construction, but instead, this gesture reveals the beauty of the existing infrastructure.

In addition to exposing the spatial qualities that adaptive reuse can create, the frit on the skylights, which allows for light to pass through with limited solar heat gain, was designed by a local West African architect. The practice of using local artists to help create parts of the building is a sustainable practice for a community. Other parts of the building project failed to embrace this perspective, but the gesture is very important to unite and inspire communities to take ownership of a building, thus prolonging its longevity. This is an unintended effect that adaptive reuse has on a community; when you give a building to the community, they prolong the building’s life. Instead of constantly replacing the built fabric of communities, infrastructure needs to be written into their stories.

In order for adaptive reuse to extend beyond the preservation of materials, societies need to shift their architectural properties to align with addressing the environmental crisis. As society continues to push for blind innovation, new buildings will continue to be erected, and the environmental crisis will deepen. Changing our cultural footprint is just as important as changing our carbon footprint vii. Adaptive reuse provides a framework for sustainability, but it will not be able to solve the environmental crisis on its own. We can produce innovations because ideas compound, and our next step needs to be compounding architectural ideas to maximize our sustainability. The Zeitz MOCAA certainly has flaws, but the methodology behind its creation is a necessary exploration for the solution to the environmental crisis.

Figure 1: Original grain silos and grading tower

Figure 2: Atrium of Zeitz MOCAA

Figure 3: Exterior of Finished Zeitz MOCAA

Lewis College Department of Humanities

Footnotes

i Wilfried Wang, “Sustainability is a Cultural Problem,” Harvard Design Magazine, Spring/ Summer (2003): pg1

ii Heatherwick Studio, “Zeitz MOCAA”, url: https://www.heatherwick.com/project/zeitzmocaa/

iii Heatherwick Studio, “Zeitz MOCAA”, url: https://www.heatherwick.com/project/zeitzmocaa/

iv Heatherwick Studio, “Zeitz MOCAA”, url: https://www.heatherwick.com/project/zeitzmocaa/

v Wilfried Wang, “Sustainability is a Cultural Problem,” Harvard Design Magazine, Spring/ Summer (2003): pg2

vi Wilfried Wang, “Sustainability is a Cultural Problem,” Harvard Design Magazine, Spring/ Summer (2003): pg3

vii Wilfried Wang, “Sustainability is a Cultural Problem,” Harvard Design Magazine, Spring/ Summer (2003): pg2

Edwin H. Lewis Fiction 1st Prize Mindfulness

Jessica Burrell

The machine in the middle of the town square didn’t look like a machine anymore. It looked like a hunk of metal that housed vines, shrubbery, and sharp flowers. The woman, Mindfulness, did not come within 10 feet of the machine if she could help it. She remembered its glory days.

Citizens of the town were forced to transit through the town square to shop, to pick up their children, to conduct their everyday business. That was the design of the state’s first in command — the government official who set the rules and regulations for every town. This state’s first in command was loud and brash, angrily reminding the people of the truths they already knew. Too many people, not enough food. Too many people, not enough clean water. Too many people, not enough supplies to house them. The second in command oversaw the implementation of policies and practices that aimed to combat these struggles. The second in command was soft spoken, but their apologetic demeanor did nothing to stop the unveiling of the Owls.

The Owls were a solution of sorts. Rather than removing one group of people from society — the poor, the old, or the criminal — the Owls picked their victims at random. Some protested that whatever coding and machinery went into the Owls couldn’t be randomized. A certain selection criteria had to be met, and those that fit the secret criteria were at more risk than others. It wasn’t fair, they cried. The government did not tolerate such claims.

Over the years, society conceded to the Owl machine. It seemed to truly select its targets at random. The girl could remember several faces that the Owl took: the shopkeeper, a young boy, a math teacher, one of the town’s oldest residents. It didn’t happen often, but if someone missed a lot of school or work, one could accurately assume that their family was adjusting to the death of a loved one.

It had been twelve years since the last death. Mindfulness didn’t know when or where, but she noticed people beginning to act as if the Owl was just an old town artifact. She saw teenagers dare each other to run up and touch it, or throw something at it. One morning, Mindfulness saw a worker scrubbing graffiti paint from the machine, wincing with every touch of his rag-covered hand against the medal. She was sick to her stomach, Who would be so reckless with the Owl and make someone else clean up their mess?

Mindfulness’s stomach flipped with confusion when she heard town residents complain about things they would never have dreamt of twelve years ago. Parents admonished their children for not perfecting their test scores. Employers gossiped about employees who took sick days. People in the shops complained about their food choices, some even putting the food to waste. Mindfulness couldn’t begin to understand the change in society. People used to come together to support each other. She pondered these thoughts as she wandered through the square. Life is so precious, she frowned, why do we choose to forget?

Mindfulness heard multiple voices cry out. She turned to see people flee as the Owl began to rotate its infamous head, snapping the vines and flowers that had grown there for over a decade. Its mechanical eyes blinked at the people in the town square. Mindfulness dropped her bag and opened her arms towards the machine. I have lived.

Edwin H. Lewis Fiction 2nd Prize ASHES

Angela Petrone

We met on a Thursday afternoon. A networking event, one of those I attend without ever getting anything out of. You sat next to me, way too close. You kept glancing in my direction, until our eyes met and you asked me who I was there for. “I am not sure”, I replied. “Well, doesn’t one of the speakers come from where you come from?”. I didn’t reply, but you didn’t need me to. Despite my shyness you introduced me to each of the speakers, and I was able to get something out of a networking event.

Months later we sit on my couch, side by side. Our legs touch, our eyes occasionally meet, you caress my hand softly but you don’t say a word. The lights are off, we are watching a movie on my laptop. I don’t recall the title, I don’t know what day it is; all I know is that suddenly time stopped for so long that I could be old and gray as I recall these memories.

I am sensitive to sounds: nothing speaks to me like the tone of a person’s voice, and silence burns my insides like listening to someone play an instrument out of tune.

I have played all my life yet I can’t read music well. I made a living out of music in a past life, one you will never fully understand. My hands still tremble when I’m nervous, as if the keyboard was under my fingertips and I could play my darkest thoughts, the kind too intertwined to articulate.

I can’t read music, when asked I have always told people that I prefer to feel it. I used to listen to a piece for as long as I needed before my hands would know where to go, how hard, how soft, how fast, how slow. I would glance at the sheets just for pretend, and I would occasionally forget them and let my gut guide my hands. Perhaps my eyes’ laziness , as my maestros called it, is what taught me how to experience life. I learned how to feel

deeply at a very young age: you’re older than me and don’t know how to feel at all.

I didn’t know you yet, but a familiar warmth creeped inside of me the first time we spoke. I told myself I was too old to still feel so intensely about someone. I promised I’d be careful, yet I stayed true to myself and let you inhabit my insides for a while. A few hours into that event I convinced myself you were the one . I drew you a map to my heart and you were smart enough to get there fast.

Just because it won’t come easily, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try, I sing to myself as I play the chords of my favorite song of the moment. I made that sentence my mantra for months. What I thought was a highway to happiness turned out to be a rough path to emptiness. I kept walking alone, with bare feet; I didn’t stop when my body got ice-cold, and I forgot what a sun-ray touching my skin could feel like. Nothing entices me more than hard work, you knew that right from the start.

I followed the crumbles of love, attention, and pretty thoughts you shared with me. For a while I was entertained, then the pain took over. Just because it won’t come easily — but it never comes — doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try — was there ever a we in us

We are sitting on the couch side by side. Our legs touch, our eyes occasionally meet, you caress my hand softly, but you don’t say a word. I stand up, turn on the lights. You look at me surprised, but you don’t say a word. I sit back on the opposite end of the couch. My eyes get watery and my hands start playing Chopin on the surface of the couch that lies between us. You put your hands on top of mine, you’re well-acquainted with what the onset of a panic attack looks like.

I shut my eyes, take a deep breath, and hold my hands together on my lap. I feel your forehead come into contact with the side of my head. I turn around and our eyes meet. That warmth that pervaded me the first time we ever spoke gets out of me and quickly makes the air in the room unbreathable. You pack your bag and leave in silence.

I have sat alone for as long as I can remember. I’m still here, occupying that exact corner of my couch. A friend of mine walked in the room a few moments ago. She took a glance in my direction, she saw I was holding my burning heart in my hands and her eyes demanded answers.

All I could say was, “If the place burns down, please don’t let him keep my ashes.”

Edwin H. Lewis Fiction 3rd Prize A Leap of Faith

Vishnu Rama Varma Thampuran

“The end is near or rather here! The world as we know it, is about to meet its end. The Indian Government and the UN are currently discussing an alliance to save what is left of the human race. While many nations have already started experiencing the grim climaxes of the Red Eclipse, citizens in other countries are out on the streets staging protests against the cloudy government measures that select the ones who will survive this disaster of apocalyptic proportions. We still don’t know how much time we have left until the massive looming ball of fire wipes out an entire era of human civilization on earth,” said an anxious news reporter on TV.

The public didn’t have access to The Apocalypse Files. The press seemed to have got a whiff. But they didn’t know what was coming for them. They didn’t know what we were up against.

Yet, I knew exactly what was coming and when it would strike. We had only 5 hours, 28 minutes and 32 seconds left. 31 seconds as we speak.

Since you might be confused, let me introduce myself properly. I have been the Commander In Chief of the rescue operation assigned by the UN for emergency evacuations. Little did the world know that India had the manpower and resources to build an inter-galactic spacecraft of its own – The Vaayuyaan. For years, the UN and countries like ours have been secretly experimenting on their own spacecrafts to escape the Red Eclipse.

The greatest catastrophic phenomena of all time had led us to our not–so–far extinction – THE GREAT CRUNCH. In layman terms, this is where the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies merged together, resulting in an inter-galactic crash.

There are at least a hundred—yes, hundred!—billion galaxies in the observable universe, all colliding with each other. Larger galaxies merge

about every nine million years while the smaller ones slam into each other more often. Well, what about ‘Dark Energy’ then? Isn’t this gigantic force pulling the universe and everything in it apart? It sure is. For nearby galaxies though, gravity takes over.

Andromeda and Milky Way were no exceptions. They both contain supermassive black holes that would eventually mesh the two star systems together. As scientists from a few eons (1 eon = a billion years) ago had predicted, Andromeda was pretty far away. It cannot overcome a distance of two and a half million light years overnight. Eventually, the black hole in the centre of the Milky Way had increased its G–Pull on Andromeda’s black hole and the Big Crunch was on its way and knocking on our front door.

Well, I can assure you that it did find its way.

Finally, there was no Milky Way or Andromeda. The two spiral galaxies had become a totally different type of galaxy – an elliptical one. The new–born galaxy, Mildromena as I call it, forced the sun and our entire solar system to the outskirts of the newly formed galaxy of about 26,896 square light years width. The translocation of our solar system and the combination of black holes posed us a new threat. The atoms of plasma in the sun had begun rapidly dividing. This was what we called the Red Eclipse which would eventually swallow up the earth and the rest of the planets in the solar system.

All we had to do was flee from nature’s wrath. Sounds simple, right?

Even though I was commanding the operations, I didn’t get to play God. The UN and the respective governments of its participants did. The government-approved missions spared seats only for the ‘naturally selected’ population even though they were not the ‘fittest’ worth surviving or rather saving – business tycoons, lawyers, scientists, doctors, engineers and a few designated political leaders.

Yet, while these people could take their seats for survival, their families had to be left behind due to space and resource constraints. For the greater good of mankind, we were told. Though I did not want to relinquish my family, I had to fly the mission to save the human race.

After a few moments of uneasiness and guilt, I switched off the television and strolled down the hallway in confusion. I decided to resort to a jug of milk and wait in my basement for my call of duty. The supplies had run out. You never get caffeine when you awfully need it.

Every sip burned my throat as I stared at our family photo that stood staring back at me on my work desk. The basement was my ‘Sanctum’ that had always been a great place in feeding my intense curiosity from childhood. It was the place where I first made my own solar cells and robots. It was more than just a basement. It has been my own private lab since I joined the ISRO. Though it cost me a fortune to get oxygenators (oxygen generators), tins of hydrazine (rocket fuel) and propellers (to name a few), I really loved inventing gizmos with them. As I sat there in silence, my phone rang. I knew that it was time to face reality. It was the President’s call.

“Commander, it is time. We are at the Evacuation Base Camp, Sector 23, preparing for launch.”

I did not know how to respond. “I will be on my way in a few minutes, sir. Sorry for the delay, but we still have T – minus 48 minutes until launch.”

“The fate of the human race lies in your hands. I don’t want to risk our existence for your late arrival,” he said in concern.

It was now or never. I had to tell him my demands. “I want my family to come along too!” I blurted out in vexation.

There was a pause on the line and what I heard next was an impatient sigh from the other end.

“We have discussed this several times, Commander. The ship can sustain only a thousand of us for the next 12 years. Who knows? Maybe fewer. I am extremely sorry, but you are not the only one who has to forgo their family for a greater hope for humanity. Report to the camp right away. This is not a request, rather an order. The world is now a colossal mess. People are out on the streets demanding their reservations and you think that you could make a ‘happily ever after’ journey with your family with a whole lot of ineligible people?”

The innumerable thoughts that flooded my mind soon stabbed my conscience from all directions. I did not know what to do at that moment even though I thought I did. Should I forgo my family and rescue mankind from the verge of extinction? Or should I stay with them and follow a different survival strategy? Colliding ideas struck me in succession when all of a sudden I realised the President was still on the phone, waiting.

“Let me make myself clear. I will not launch the mission unless my family is part of it. Either we will make it together or we will all perish

happily together,” I said firmly and slammed down the phone.

Just then, my granddaughter came running to me and sat on my lap. She kept telling me something. I was out of my senses with an empty glass of whisky and intense disappointment. She asked me why I was silent but I could not respond. After a while she asked me if I would take her on a drive like I had promised her earlier today. I don’t know if it was the whisky, her words or the end of the world, but my eyes were filled with beads of tears spontaneously. In that moment of sudden clarity of thought, I knew exactly what I had to do. I would bravely remain on the other side of history, where I saved my blood by taking a chance on my unsanctioned ‘spacecraft’.

Long before some geeky astronomer or scientist predicted the possibility of intergalactic space travel, I already knew that with the extensive pollution caused by the growing population around the world, we will someday have to wash our wretched hands off this beautiful planet. With this in mind, I had started making my own rocket after my graduation. Though I had to face a lot of failures of my abstract ideas, I never lost hope in myself.

Down the lane, I had to invest heavily to REAL-ise a vague idea from my distant past. After decades of sleepless nights and endless labour with unified opposition from my family, finally when I was a whisker away from reaching for the stars, I never got my sanction from the government.

The news spread like a wildfire at work. After a few months of intense depression and being a subject of mockery, my life got back on track but the only thing that I still regret is that I could not even run a test drive on my space vehicle. Of course my Cryopods, Hydrofarm and algae stocks were no match for the government sanctioned mission, but I always knew that with sufficient fuel it would sustain all of us - my family.

For those who could not understand the scientific mumbo-jumbo I just mentioned, CRYOPODS are capsules in which organic matter (living or dead) can be sustained in its alpha form forever (or for extremely long periods of time). This is accomplished by maintaining the pods at an optimal temperature at a range of about 4.7°C to 5.3°C with the supply of fresh oxygen and active intake of carbon dioxide to ensure the ideal cryosleep. The technology is so advanced that as a child you can hibernate like a bear for as long as you like but you will wake up as the same child even a hundred years later.

Well, what if there is a containment breach in the pods? That is when the hydrofarm and algae stocks take charge. The hydrofarm gives you mineral–rich water from nothing but thin air. The algae stocks are synthesised to provide enough proteins and carbohydrates to keep you alive. Unless you do not want to live the rest of your life with nothing but algae soup and water, you will have to cryosleep until you find another survivable planet in this whole wide universe.

The silence between my granddaughter and me was broken by an alarming ring from the telephone.

I knew who it was and what it was for. I took her off my lap, hurried to the phone, picked up the call and said, “The mission will have to go on without me. My Second-in-Command will take my place. For the better or worse, I am sticking with my family. If we make it, I’ll meet you on the Other Side, Mr President. Godspeed.”

I realised that we were running out of time. I summoned my family to the basement and told them what I considered my ‘Leap of Faith’. Instantaneously the small gathering turned into a bunch of chaotic electrons. I got attacked by all sorts of questions from all sides, but finally the course was set.

The clock was ticking and we had only 12 minutes left. I quickly asked them to take their most precious possessions. After a few minutes of stuffing our belongings into my experimental space vehicle, I put all of them into cryosleep for 471 years, ignoring the possibility of existential threats. I might as well hop in and sleep my way out of all the mayhem but I had a family to save and a race to foster. With controlled metabolism and respiration, I was quite optimistic that we would make it through a few hundred years. Right before I entered the launch codes for take-off, I thought again, “Are we going to make it?”

Just then I found the thermal meters in my ship rising rapidly by the moment. Apocalypse was finally at our doorstep, banging on the door to let it in.

I quickly entered the launch codes and A.B.H.A(Automated Bootstrapping and Horology Avatar) got activated. Though I was out of the world with euphoria on my first drive, I could not celebrate yet.

“A.B.H.A activated. System reading launch codes. Launch codes – valid. How would you like to launch – automatic or manual?” said the system in its iconic voice not knowing that the place from where we were

about to launch was going to be reduced to mere debris in a matter of a few minutes.

“Automatic. And for God’s sake please launch already!”

“As you wish, Commander. Taking off in T-minus 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1... 0”

BANG! BOOM! BWOOF! For a brief moment, I thought my ship had succumbed to a blast. But then, I realised that we were speeding away from my house which seemed to look like a speck of dust. In an hour or so, we crossed the exosphere and were on our own. The world even minutes away from destruction looked as beautiful as it always did.

“Do you have any idea where we will have to go next?” I said absentmindedly as I witnessed my beautiful planet being fried straight to the core by a massive ball of fire.

“Negative. My program does not identify any habitable planets anywhere near you for a stretch of 14,957 light years.”

While the better half of me never lost hope, my other half rarely cared for the future. I was still consumed by the terror of my actions. After a few hours of staring into space, I got bored. After all, we were drifting off in lifeless space at a speed of 523 gigametres an hour across the new galaxy. I was taking a light nap when I was suddenly woken up by blaring alarms. I quickly switched them off and spoke to ABHA, “Is there a breach? Anything unusual?”

“Extremely remarkable. The navigation systems have found something on the coordinates 582433.1602, Gamma Sector 9041.The S.O.N.A.R in the ship has traced a wormhole in our course in search of a survivable planet.”

“What? Are you sure it’s not some sort of a glitch or a system failure?” I asked.

“Positive for the wormhole. Wormholes, believed as a hypothesis, is going to be a reality,” explained ABHA.

“The worm holes in the universe are so rare and small that travel via these could be achieved only by speeds close to that of light. While the feat could end with several tragic conclusions for the traveller, this could be the biggest breakthrough in inter–universal translocation and quantum sciences. At such speed, the journey through this marvellous new discovery could take us to an alternate or parallel universe – a

place which gives the human race another chance at survival. If you are ready to fly the ship for a greater hope for humanity, please let me know. My cybernetic resources are not developed enough to handle the new course. So you will have to fly the ship on your own.”

I thought for a while and realised that we would run out of algae and water eventually when the cryopods released my family after the pre-set duration. This was my only chance at survival and I did not want to push our existence to extinction.

I was finally ready for the risk and before I knew what I was doing, I set the propellers into the required velocity and set course for the worm hole. It was literally the most unearthly experience I had had all my life. The ship violently spun, shook and jerked. The alarms were once again blaring in the whole ship but all I heard was my inner voice telling me that this was the end. Unable to control my anxiety and pacing heart, I closed my eyes and hit the Land command to land on the nearest survivable planet in the alternate universe.

I could assure you that my ship was nearly shattered into pieces while landing. Well, almost. I pulled off everything at the right intervals and we crash-landed safely. I quickly unbuckled myself and put on my exosuit. I made sure that the cryopods were fully functional and opened the hatch.

A blinding light hit me and it took me a matter of time to see properly. All I saw around me was towering blades of grass and gigantic rocks. Little did I know then that our passage through the wormhole had shrunken all of us. Or did we come to a planet where we were reduced to a mere lowly form of living?

Behind me were the smithereens of everything we had come to call as home. Ahead of us lay the future we were yet to build on another planet. This was our chance at a do over. To not repeat our mistakes. A second chance. The kind of chance you get only when you take a big leap of faith.

floral storm

Cohen Poetry

Mollie

1st Prize places to return to Fionn

Hui

before the golden coins of the sun morphs into peach tarts, she graciously unfolds into layers of cotton petals. with her swirls painting the dining room walls of my heart, she flourishes into an angel with the singing kitchen kettle.

the creases of her palms root in the veins of a leaf, tracing back to an ethereal time, a sign of her fleeting motif, to find solace in Epicurus’s paradigm.

she never masquerades pain or pleasure, true to her metaphysical form. by evoking maps for a rose blush treasure, she always blooms for a floral storm. I hold her with care, for I am her heir.

a cobbled town

lost within its limbs of meandering roads, traversing between the strums of its light guitar strings, gazing curious eyes on every node. my feet wander on the stones as if they were wings.

the bumps and cracks navigate the alleys for me, knowing I am far from my native lands, away from the southern fresh seas, it was a detour unplanned.

to climb upon the cobbled steps of this ancient town again, tasting the cracks of a toasted amber, underneath the trickling of aged champagne, and without any clamber, I know I’ll find my soul bewitched under its control.

a state of convergence

a blue aura is deeper than celestial skies, yet lighter than every air vapor. a cerulean reminder moving clockwise that we can dance in a timeless skyscraper.

twirling til dusk and sleeping at dawn, conversing in constellations, playing with light photons till we reach our destination.

let’s forget all rue and in a state of convergence let’s wake up from the midnight dips of silence with morning drops of dew in our cups.

Mollie Cohen Poetry 2nd Prize

Untitled

Beatrice De Castro

it’s times like this i feel devoted to distraction in ugly forms in ways that induce nausea and inflict ill will upon myself. ill action, too.

i rot in the bed i make and lie in, especially on nights that sleep slinks away from me before i can catch and swallow. my stomach is empty with food and my mind is leaking too full too full and flies overhead like compost on hot days.

Mollie Cohen Poetry 3rd Prize

Triptych of Consumption

Julia King

01. language is something i love i live and breathe it overwhelms me sends tremors through my body words can no words can’t what do they even do they capture the wounds inside of you and display them in dazzling technicolor but when unused, they sit and fester and there they go, rotting ceasing to serve any sort of purpose so then the complete fragility of language is revealed but oh how i love to hold it in my hands to roll it across my tongue and relish in its aftertaste can you smell it on my breath? i hope you can.

02. i hear your voice and i want you to sing to me sing, rich and full and fall down my throat soothing my ache with your sweetness i take my life and i place it before you carry it where it needs to go lift me on high winds and lead me home

03. some days i wonder if you gently opened me would you find care instructions inside? would you read them, put them aside for future reference or discard them completely so that you can place your rules for care upon me so that we heal in the same way does that mean we are one and the same? does your ambition to swallow me whole only persist if you can only taste yourself on your tongue?

Warren Schmaus Prize for Philosophy Writing The Ground

Paula Pardo

Sitting on the floor has a special effect on me. It is a reminder of the things I used to do as a child. How I used to play with my brother’s Hot Wheels cars on the kitchen floor’s tiles or how I used to wait for my parents to pick me up from school sitting on the sidewalk in front of it. Sometimes counting cars, or dogs. Sometimes imagining a story for each individual that walked in front of me. Those with the white beards and hair, whose back made them look to the floor at all times, those that walked with one hand holding their cane and the other a book, or a coffee, those were probably writers, or fans of the newspapers’ crosswords. Their stories never had a happy ending, I don’t know why. I used to imagine that they had done all what their lives allowed them to do. They were professors, writers, husbands, dads, neighbors, bar clients and library visitors. They had a very specific love for a niche topic. Topic that they had encountered when they were young and passionate for politics, when they were rebels and wanted to write their names in the history of the revolutions. That topic stayed with them even after they realized that even the revolution they were planning was all part of the system they wanted to end. That system had planned, accounted for, and even fed their revolutionary ideas. They were needed characters in the narrative of an oppressive system. They were needed as proof of the huge advantage that the system had taken in this race. No one could go ahead of it, no one could compete, no one could win. The race had already ended a long time ago, the system was watching all the other runners from their winner’s pedestal, eating popcorn and throwing some of it to the track. That was the reason why the white bearded guys used to walk looking at the floor, to avoid becoming an entertaining show of ants slipping on the pop corn.

That topic they were so passionate about was not even interesting, not relevant at all. But it kept them alive, it gave them something to hold and survive the currents of fast-paced people in the cities. It also distracted them from the first pages of the newspapers, from the big

signs announcing the biggest of sales, and from the watch in their wrist that revealed that their time seemed to never end, and the time of their most loved ones seemed to have the worst of endings.The coffee that they had in their other hand was also a reminder of that. They hated to see themselves reflected in mirrors, they would rather see the current appearance of their wrinkled face on the dark surface of their coffee. It was less real, less detailed, less alarming. It’s weird that they were afraid to die, even though they had nothing to live for. Because, as I said, they had done all they could have done. And don’t get me wrong, they were happy, they had been happy. However, they were still looking for something, something that they knew was not going to be revealed to them. That was the only truth they were afraid to admit, the only truth that they could not omit, the only truth that they were never able to ignore.

Who would have thought that the only certainties in our lives would be love and death, and that no one taught us how to love nor how to die (and no one was obliged to teach us). Yet we look for explanations, we look for placebos, we look for purpose. We look for prophets in white bearded old men, we look for finiteness in the horizon, we look for comfort and safety in parents that arrive late to our school. Maybe the waiting, the hoping, the lying keeps us sane enough to function. Maybe sitting on the floor gives us the best angle to see everything falling down. All things fall onto the ground, and almost all things are held by the ground. It’s the best angle to reflect, to write, and to exist. It has witnessed all history, all stories, all beginnings and endings. It is the scenario of this play and race in which there’s no gold medal and no prizes, there’s only an unstoppable treadmill called time.

Time. We gave it its name and we don’t even know its meaning. We can tell the time but we can’t tell the why. And time laughs. It laughs because somehow we are always late and we will always be late. We are cursed to live in the past, in fading memories and burning regrets. All lessons are taught by the past, all happiness is safe in the past, and all consciousness is in the past. Maybe the white bearded guys knew that after dying, there was no more making of the past. Maybe that was why they tried to hide from time and death, so that they could write about life while looking endlessly everywhere to feel alive.

The Illinois Tech Department of Humanities Undergraduate Writing Contest prize for freshman essays was renamed in 2015 to honor Henry Knepler, a former professor of English at Illinois Tech who served on the faculty of the Department of Humanities for 40 years. The prize is funded by an endowment made by Knepler and his wife Myrna, also a former professor of English at Illinois Tech. Both were very committed to ESL instruction and to writing instruction.

The prizes for fiction and nonfiction are named for Edwin H. Lewis, an English Professor at the Lewis Institute—one of the forerunners of Illinois Tech—from 1895 until 1936. Among other classes, Professor Lewis taught Shakespeare, and apparently looked somewhat like him, too. It is said that students would come to campus just for his lectures, often without even being enrolled.

The poetry prize was established in 1965 by retiring Illinois Tech English Professor Mollie S. Cohen. Professor Cohen was a native Chicagoan, and attended Lewis Institute before doing graduate work at the University of Chicago and at the Sorbonne in Paris. During her time as a professor at Illinois Tech, she worked closely with women students and international students.

The prize for best undergraduate student paper in philosophy honors Warren Schmaus, professor emeritus of philosophy, who taught at Illinois Tech for 42 years. The prize is funded by an endowment made by Terry Straus, the daughter of Fay Sawyier, a longtime philosophy professor at Illinois Tech.

Published in 2023

by the Lewis College of Science and Letters

Department of Humanities at Illinois Institute of Technology