VOLUME THIRTY-SEVEN
2022-2023
IMAGES
I Sophie McIntire
“I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough?” -Vincent van Gogh
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To the Reader, We live in an age when we can connect with one another in an instant, yet we are perhaps more disconnected from nature than ever before. How often do we allow ourselves time to stop and truly appreciate the art and poetry that surround us? We present you with these images and words in the hopes that you will be inspired to look up and admire the world around you. - The IMAGES Staff
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Darbie Brewer IV
TABLE OF CONTENTS WRITING Spring - Morgan Cheatham.....................................2 The Last Day in the Library - Miller Usry...........4 Graduation - Elizabeth Copeland...........................8 Faith - Emma Duncan Hogue.................................9 Mr. Charming - Lucy Elfert....................................14 Ducks - Owen Carter................................................18 Dogs - Amelia Dare Bowman................................19 The Least I Can Do - Miller Usry........................22 Dancing Princesses - Morgan Cheatham...........30 Kindness - Emma Duncan Hogue.......................33 Childhood Fears Anonymous - Lucy Elfert.......36 Chicken - Miller Usry.............................................44 Moonmist - Morgan Cheatham...........................49 Home - Emma Duncan Hogue............................54 Summer - Mia Healy...............................................57
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TABLE OF CONTENTS ART & PHOTOGRAPHY
Sophie McIntire......Cover Sophie McIntire...............I Darbie Brewer...................1 Cole Powers......................6 Anna Kate Lucas.............7 Samuel Chustz................10 Sophie McIntire..............11 Raygaen Hall...................12 Caroline Johnston..........13 Caroline Johnston..........16 Jeffrey Gao.......................17 Caroline Johnston.........20 AC Lake...........................21 Julia Parker.....................26 Sophie Henderson.........27 AC Lake...........................28 AC Lake...........................29
Sam Roberts.................31 Sam Roberts.................32 Julia Parker...................34 AC Lake.........................35 Crystal Gao....................43 Raygaen Hall.................47 Nathan Biggs.................48 Caroline Bush...............50 Jolie Pirie........................51 Sophie Henderson........52 Darbie Brewer................53 Samuel Chustz...............55 A’miracle Owens...........56 Darbie Brewer................58 Sam Roberts..................64 Sophie McIntire......Cover
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1 Faith Wicks
Spring
By Morgan Cheatham
Bulbs blooming into colorful flowers The wind blowing pollen around Rainy and cloudy one day Sunny and bright the next Spring is finally here
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3 Cole Powers
The Last Day in the Library By Miller Usry To Bradley, the library seems extra gloomy today. Happy rays of sun dance on the bookshelves, playfully spinning before eventually being snuffed by the walls. No light reaches the heart of the building, which looks like the inside of a tomb, as always, or, maybe a morgue, seeing as everyone sulking around looks like a corpse. Everyone except for Ted. He looks up from his notebook and at Bradley as he approaches him, but only for a moment, a fleeting, awkward glance and meek but genuine grin. Ten years, and he can still be this awkward, Bradley thinks to himself. “Ted, why aren’t you outside?” Bradley scuffs the back of Ted’s head to ruffle his neatly combed brown hair, eliciting an unintended shutter. “Exams are over.” Some faraway librarian crows a shushing sound over the bookshelves in his direction. “So, how do you think you did?” Ted asks, glancing up at Bradley again. This time his eyes stay focused, but his grasp on his book is still firm. Bradley notices heavy, worn circles under his eyes. He is waiting for him to sit down. Bradley stays standing: “I think that I did perfectly fine not staying up until three in the morning studying every night.” Ted titters nervously and pushes up his spectacles. “You didn’t answer my question, Ted. Come on, it’s our senior year, and we only have two days left. Don’t you want to spend those days doing something fun, instead of just dying from lack of sunlight up in here? You’re my best friend. I want to spend my last days of high school partying with you.” “You know I don’t like parties.” Ted chuckles lightly again, not bringing his eyes up to Bradley, who is still standing up. Bradley is not worried that something is wrong. He has spent over a decade around Ted, he knows his mannerisms. But, maybe he is finally getting to be annoyed by it. He finally gives in and pulls out a chair.
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“Look, I know you like hanging out of here, but I’m sick of it,” he declares. “It’s not like you’ve spent any time in here since last exams,” Ted retorts in a mutter. It stuns Bradley, but Ted is right. As he looks at his best friend, who now bores holes into his notebook with his eyes to avoid looking at him, he realizes that he has hardly seen him in the past year. When has he come in here? Never. He was also too busy with soccer, or student council, or service club, or the debate team, or he was spending time with Ashley, or with the boys or… There was always a reason. He never even saw him in their dorm, save a smile in the morning before parting for their classes—and those slowly grew into something resembling indifference—or hearing him get home in the wee hours in the morning from studying. Studying, studying, studying! That was all that he ever did, and he never needed it. Bradley is sure that maybe he would have gotten valedictorian if he had actually slept. “I’m sorry, okay,” Bradley appeases. There is a pause. “But, I have other things that I want to do with my time than just waste away in a library. We used to talk, Ted. Long conversations, more than just saying ‘hey’. We used to go outside and play tag and stuff, and swim, and…” He trails off when he realizes Ted has stopped looking at him. “SSSSHHHH!” calls the librarian. He will never get anything out of Ted. He has not in the millions of times they have had this same conversation, Bradley trying to convince him to try a sport, or join a club, or get a life, and Ted giving some noncommittal “uhhuh” or “maybe”. At what point did he just stopped trying? “We’re going off to college in a week, Ted. You’ll be in New England, and I’ll be in California. Are we going to keep in touch?” Bradley is desperate now, trying to recover his friendship and erase his mistakes. Even if he stopped acting like it, his relationship with Ted means something to him. He is not ready to let go of that, too, along with everything else, and just start over. “I’ll try,” Ted says, half heartedly. The two of them make eye contact for a moment. Bradley is intensely focused, pleading. Ted is guilty. He grins again sheepishly. Bradley stands up and leaves. He is blinking back tears, but he can never show Ted that. It stings in his core to realize that Ted values this place over him. Bradley can imagine those lonely nights spent in the library, the feeling of abandonment Ted must have felt, but… he never realized. He half expects Ted to get up and come after him. But, as he leaves the library for good, he hears no one calling after him, no pat on his shoulder, no footsteps running to join him. Ted does not come. It feels like he will never see him again. Bradley tells himself that it was inevitable. That he would have to begin again at some point, anyway, if he was moving across the country. He might as well just get a head start.
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Cole Powers 6
7 Anna Kate Lucas
Graduation By Elizabeth Copeland The day has come It’s finally here. Say bye to your friends, the ones who have been so dear. Throw your cap in the air and look around To a new journey, you all are bound.
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Faith By Emma Duncan Hogue Following your own path Allowing God to lead you. In the brightest and darkest times, The path is always there Helping you reach your final destination.
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Samuel Chustz 10
11 Sophie McIntire
Raygaen Hall 12
13 Caroline Johnston
Mr. Charming By Lucy Elfert You have the smile of the Cheshire Cat Everyone thinks you’re all that Your false bravado shines through the screen They never see that you’re so mean You beg for girls to ask you on a date But you only want them at a certain weight We starve our bodies just to be your type Then you don’t live up to the hype Easy for you to walk down the street A false feigned personality created so neat Easy for you to flash a smile and laugh Never seeing anything from someone else’s behalf Hey, Mr.Charming It’s so disarming How you can say one thing and mean another Disappointing your mother Hey, Mr. Charming It’s so alarming That you won’t meet the lowest of standards No thought or caution behind your cruel words You have nightmares about diamond rings Veils and cakes are such scary things But if a girl don’t want it you don’t want her Still ask approval from her father
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Politics and alpha male podcasts Outside of those what personality lasts Send unsolicited pics with no thought at all That the girl was thirteen years small Easy for you to pretend that you’re the nice guy Always get rejected no matter hard you try Easy for you to finish last, pretend you’re cursed Must be disappointing when the nice guy finishes first Hey, Mr.Charming It’s so disarming How you can say one thing and mean another Disappointing your mother Hey, Mr. Charming It’s so alarming That you won’t meet the lowest of standards No thought or caution behind your cruel words You always say we’re so dramatic We’re all high-standards fanatics Crying like a toddler because you can’t control That women don’t wanna play a 1950’s role Hey, Mr.Charming It’s so disarming How you can say one thing and mean another Disappointing your mother Hey, Mr. Charming It’s so alarming That you won’t meet the lowest of standards No thought or caution behind your cruel words
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Caroline Johnston 16
17 Jeffrey Gao
Ducks By Owen Carter Green, Brown Flying, Cupping, Diving Down in the marsh Under a cypress tree Calling them up Ducks
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Dogs
By Amelia Dare Bowman
Dogs are very loyal and true, They’ll always stick by you. Their wagging tails and happy barks, Are sure to light up any park. They’ll cuddle up and give you love, As if you’re the only one they’re thinking of. Dogs are truly a girl’s best friend, Their love and loyalty will never end.
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Caroline Johnston 20
21 AC Lake
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Julia Parker 26
27 Sophie Henderson
AC Lake 28
29 AC Lake
Dancing Princesses By Morgan Cheatham Twelve beautiful daughters Slept in twelve beds all in one room Princesses danced at night Shoes found worn every morning
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31 Sam Roberts
Sam Roberts 32
Kindness By Emma Duncan Hogue Knowing how to love others Is the best gift of all. Never leaving one without a cover Deciding to forgive any flaw. Needing to be someone to another Even when the moments are small. Sweet moments to smother Someone in need of a call.
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Julia Parker 34
35 AC Lake
CHILDHOOD FEARS ANONYMOUS By Lucy Elfert List of Characters: ROBIN: Tries to be edgy and mysterious, but has a chronic fear of Santa Claus that weighs on her every day. TAYLOR: A boy/girl who seems perfectly normal and sociable and leads the session, but they have a chronic fear of the sun. MANNY/MINNIE: A boy/girl who is outspoken and impulsive, and has an intense fear of the movie Cinderella. (Three chairs are set up. Each character enters and takes a seat. They look at each other suspiciously. ROBIN gives death stares. MANNY/MINNIE is intimidated. ROBIN slouches in their chair) TAYLOR: Um… (None of them respond.) TAYLOR: Hey…guys…are you here forROBIN: Shh. TAYLOR: What? ROBIN: We don’t need an introduction. We know why we’re here. We’re supposed to get over our childhood fears or something. MANNY/MINNIE (scared of ROBIN/ROBERT): Yup. That about sums it up. Can I leave now? TAYLOR (to MANNY/MINNIE): Ooh! I betcha I can guess your childhood fear that still addles you to this day. Long stretches of time! MANNY/MINNIE: That’s not why I’m trying to leave.
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TAYLOR: Then why were you trying to leave? MANNY/MINNIE (pointing at ROBIN): She SCARES me! ROBIN: I scare you? Typical. TAYLOR: Why do they..um… ROBIN: Name’s Robin. TAYLOR: Right. Why does Robin scare you? MANNY/MINNIE: Um…okay this is really stupid, but she looks like…like… ROBIN (pleased): A delinquent? A thug? Someone dangerous? Give me something I haven’t heard before. MANNY/MINNIE: That- that CAT! From CINDERELLA. (Whispered) Lucifer. ROBIN: Good job, dude. Something I ain’t heard before. TAYLOR: Do you think that your perception of Robin might have a connection with your childhood fear? MANNY/MINNIE (incredulously): DUH. Of course it does. My perception of everybody has a connection with my childhood fear. I mean- if they’re blonde they look like Cinderella. If they’re old, they look like Lady Tremaine, if they’reROBIN (interrupted): Wait, wait, wait- you’re scared of Cinderella?! Oh my god, that’s HILARIOUS! MANNY/MINNIE (hurt): Listen, I HAVE my reasons! The movie is very scary! ROBIN: Have you even seen it?
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MANNY/MINNIE: Of course, I have! And it’s SCARY. It’s HORRIFYING. ROBIN: That’s absolutely ridiculous. How the heck is someone afraid of bibbidi-bobbidi- (ROBIN has an idea). TAYLOR: Isn’t this supposed to be a safe space? Let’s have our friend tell us more about his movie fear; we all have irrational fears, it’s okay. ROBIN (excited): Yeah, yeah, let him/her speak! (While MANNY/MINNIE speaks, ROBIN plans her ambush. She is obviously ecstatic.) MANNY/MINNIE (sadly, dramatically): Okay. I first saw that accursed movie when I was four. I’ll never forget. They put it on in my Pre-K classroom. I saw my teacher smile- she knew the kind of trauma she was going to put upon us. First, that old lady- the STEPMOTHER. Have you seen her? Crazy. Terrifying. And when she speaks in that low voice- I’ll be honest, when I first heard her be evil, I RAN out of the room. DASHED. And as I was in the hallway, I heard the teacher calling: “Manny/Minnie, come back!”. And THEN, I heard the echoes of a distant song. A dream is a wish your heart makes. The melody kept ringing in my ears, and I cried and THEN I sawROBIN (interrupting): Bibbidi-Bobbidi-BOO! (MANNY/MINNIE screams, having been scared to death) MANNY/MINNIE: That was SO mean. ROBIN: That was SO amazing! Imagine being scared of Cinderella! MANNY/MINNIE: Oh yeah? Well, if my fear’s so wimpy, what’s yours? I’ll bet it isn’t any better. Given that we’re all here for irrational childhood fears. (ROBIN is silent, she is furious.)
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TAYLOR: He/she has a point. Why don’t you go ahead, Robin? I’ll go last. (ROBIN sighs. She is defeated.) ROBIN: Alright, fine, fine. (TAYLOR cheers) ROBIN (almost inaudibly): It’s…it’s Santa Claus. TAYLOR: What now? ROBIN (angrily): Santa Claus. MANNY/MINNIE: Are you serious?! That’s no better than Cinderella! Santa’s just an old man! ROBIN: NO. He is NOT. He is so much more than that. Santa Claus is an ever-looming threat. His terror is depicted in an ancient song. I cannot possibly sleep at night, I can’t do ANYTHING. Because I know that he is WATCHING. You’d better watch out, you’d better not cry. I always have to look behind me, in case he’s there. You don’t understand, he’s HORRIFYING! He sees me when I’m sleeping, he KNOWS when I’m awake, he’s constantly watching and I can NEVER ESCAPE! TAYLOR: Scary. (Beat.) MANNY/MINNIE: Uh…you do know that Santa Claus isn’t real, right? TAYLOR: Oh yeah. ROBIN: And YOU do know that Cinderella isn’t real? MANNY/MINNIE: The movie exists!
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ROBIN: Mall Santas exist! MANNY/MINNIE: What if I have to go to Disneyworld? My fear’s valid because of Cinderella castleROBIN: And what if I have to go to the North Pole?! MANNY/MINNIE: You will never have to go to the North Pole! TAYLOR: Alright guys. Stop. Calm down. Breathe. There are simple ways to rationalize these fears and make them a less pertinent part of your life. First, Manny/Minnie. Cinderella isn’t real. Neither are any of the other characters. You don’t have to be afraid. You don’t have to talk about Disney if you don’t have to. You will be okay. People are just people. There is no princess or evil stepmother- you can move past this. Second, Robin. No Santa Claus is watching you. Maybe go see a therapist and ask about paranoia. During Christmas, just don’t go where a Santa will be. Trust me, you can sleep in peace. No one is watching you. ROBIN: …Thanks. So, what is your fear? TAYLOR: Um…well…it’s really hard to explain, but…I am terrified of the sun. MANNY/MINNIE: The son? You’re scared of the son? As in “Father, Son, Holy Ghost” the son?! (Beat.) MANNY/MINNIE: You’re scared of JESUS?! TAYLOR (gesturing): No, the SUN. ROBIN: As in…the flaming ball in the sky. You’re scared of the sun. TAYLOR: How exactly is a flaming ball not scary? MANNY/MINNIE: The sun is a part of life- it gives us energy and does photosynthesis-
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TAYLOR: But what if it comes down from the sky? Just falls down and sets the world on fire?! Robin, you talk about Santa Claus always watching, but don’t you think the sun is always watching?! Watching…and waiting to fall down and burn us all into a crisp? ROBIN: I mean…doesn’t the sun just…stay up there? How would it fall? TAYLOR: How wouldn’t it? (Beat.) ROBIN: Uhh…I actually don’t know. I never took physics. Sorry. (Beat.) ROBIN: Oh god, nothing is holding it up there! TAYLOR: Do you see?! MANNY/MINNIE: No, something is holding it up there! The sun is kept in place by its own gravity. TAYLOR: But what if one day it just decides not to have that gravity anymore? MANNY/MINNIE: That won’t happenROBIN: And what if it suddenly gets really hot and burns us all? MANNY/MINNIE: Again, that WON’T happenROBIN: Well, what if CINDERELLA is controlling the sun and you can NEVER escape her?! MANNY/MINNIE (stunned): Oh my God. WHAT IF Cinderella is controlling the sun?!
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(Through the next dialogue, the characters spiral, quickly.) TAYLOR: Do you see? The sun is a cruel star meant to kill us all! ROBIN: Sent by the government! MANNY/MINNIE: Run by Cinderella! TAYLOR: The end of the world! ROBIN: The North Pole! MANNY/MINNIE: The inevitability of death! TAYLOR: Hellfire! ROBIN: Arson! MANNY/MINNIE: Murder! TAYLOR: The inevitability of(The characters frantically hug each other, all scared of the sun for completely different reasons.) ALL: THE SUN!!
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43 Crystal Gao
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but something within him awoke as he found himself drawn to the call of the child before him. A strong, familial, paternal urge consumed him, a desire to keep the skinny, malnourished, only slightly malformed baby before him safe and well. As the years passed on, Chicken was still that baby to Mitchell, the infant he discovered all those nights ago. Sometimes he wondered if they were, indeed, years, for Mitchell’s young life had already begun to seem miserably stretched, the way that unhappy and unfortunate people’s do. All Chicken every really did was cluck. He never grew much, never started talking, only making his odd but endearing little clucking noise. He was forever destined to be a chicken, skinny, clucking, and mindless. Or, maybe it was only a few months. And then the white flashes started to come. Mitchell had passed them off as dreams or hallucinations at first. He remembered his first one, huddled in a caved-in area of pavement large enough to fit the two of them. His whole world became white, and for two jarring seconds he felt detached from everything, like he was dissociating into a million little particles streaming a million different ways. He felt his heart begin to constrict, heard a horrible shredding sound that he guessed was the rattling scream emaciating his own throat… and then it ended. Chicken was out of sight, and for one horrifying moment, all lingering pain and disorientation was ripped from Mitchell’s mind as he scrambled out of the hole in fear. But there Chicken was, standing a few feet away, motionless. “Chicken!” Mitchell screamed frantically, knowing he must appear crazy “Chicken! What are you doing, kid, what are you doing?!” He crawled over to his skinny friend and wrapped him in a tight embrace. He started to sob. Whether it was out of relief, or pain, or a confused terror, he did not know. He did not care, just then, because he still had Chicken. It was only later that he realized that that day was the first time that Chicken had ever walked. It happened again. And again. Each brief hot flash came with growing fear. Mitchell was going crazy, he just knew it. He was seeing things, feeling things that he had no power over. But he had to keep this under control, if not for himself than for the child he had to defend against the world. Every time Mitchell returned from his detached state, he would find Chicken further and further away from him, every searing white nightmare running longer than the last. Mitchell was afraid, afraid that he would lose Chicken forever. The only thing that ever wanted him. The only thing that ever needed him. The only thing that he was remotely good at. The only thing, he resolved, that he would not let down. “Stay in control,” he would whisper under his breath at night, as he spied on the gang fights and brown-shirted men with their traps and cages that he tried so hard but just could not run away from. “In control, in control, in control.”
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He was not sleeping. He never could rest anymore, due to the threat of the next looming outburst of white and stars under his eyes and the petrifying inevitable reality that one day, someday soon, he would fail. Either way, something within him buzzed at night, an electrifying sensation always under him, always coursing within his veins, that prevented him from closing his eyes for more than a moment or two. Things began to go haywire, to get hazy, and blurry, and red, and shadowy, and all of a sudden, Mitchell could not see anymore, but feel. He was thinking and experiencing things not within himself, but as if through a telescope from the sky watching the clubfooted and scraggly boy beneath him struggle through life. At some point it ended. By then, Chicken was gone. It ended when Chicken was gone. Mitchell still cannot remember just exactly what happened. He never was good at remembering, either. Chicken was gone. Everything was over. Mitchell failed, he insisted to himself. You failed. You failed because you could not stay strong, you couldn’t handle him, and so you dropped him, even when he needed you. You let him get taken away. You know that he was taken away, and you know that you could have done something to prevent it. You went crazy. You are crazy. You are worthless, and you turned away the only thing you could ever have any worth to. You broke the only promise that you ever made. You are worthless, your are crazy, and you are weak. Mitchell tried to infer what happened, but he failed. Nothing new there.
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47 Raygaen Hall
Nathan Biggs 48
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Caroline Bush 50
51 Jolie Pirie
Sophie Henderson 52
53 Darbie Brewer
Home By Emma Duncan Hogue Has a special place in my heart One no other can replace My comfort and peace rest here Each and every day
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55 Samuel Chustz
A’miracle Owens 56
Summer By Mia Healy Sea breeze blows ahead The book flows and the sun glows Perfect summer day
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Darbie Brewer 58
IMAGES 2023 Staff
Staff: Amelia Dare Bowman, Owen Carter, Morgan Cheatham, Addison Comer, Elizabeth Copeland, Kriston Edwards, Lucy Elfert, Mary Mannnig Farese, Mia Healy, Sydney Grace Hewitt, Emma Duncan Hogue, Jada Lester, Mary Elise Lowe, Ellie Morgan, A’miracle Owens, Gracie Drew Pratt, Sophie Rhoden, Miller Usry Advisor: Dr. Katharine Todd
Editorial Policy
IMAGES is a magazine produced by Jackson Academy students enrolled in Creative Writing. Artwork, photography, and writing submissions from Upper School students are considered through an anonymous screening process. Works featured in the magazine were chosen by the staff based on creativity and quality of the piece. Editors reserve the right to make technical corrections to any work freatured in the magazine. Authors and artists reserve the right to their individual pieces. The views expressed in published works are those of the individual students and do not reflect the views of the IMAGES staff, advisor, administrators, or board of Jackson Academy. 59
Magazine and Writing Awards
The following works have been recognized in the Mississippi Scholastic Writing Competition and are featured in IMAGES: “Mr. Charming” by Lucy Elfert: Gold Key “The Last Day in the Library” by Miller Usry: Honorable Mention
Acknowledgements
The IMAGES 2023 staff would like to thank all Upper School students who submitted artwork, photography, and writing to the magazine. A special word of thanks also goes to Mrs. Susan Ingram and her art students for their expertise and cooperation, to the JAA for their generous support, and to the staff at Mahaffyes’ Quality printing for their assistance in producing IMAGES 2023.
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COLOPHON
IMAGES 2023 was produced on an Apple Computer using the Adobe Creative Suite, in particular CS6, version 8.0.1. Cover stock is 80# gloss cover. The following fonts have been used: Academy Engraved LET, Angelic War, Another Danger Demo, Beach Type Medium, Blackout-Sunrise, Bohem Press, Bradley Hand, CF Jack Story, Comfortaa, Frenchy, IL Shakefest, Iron Man, Minion Pro, Moms Typewriter, Sunshine in My Soul, Tekton Pro, Throw My Hands Up in the Air. Artwork, photogaphy, and art slides were scanned or photographed by Mahaffeys’ Quality Printing on Hidelberg Nexscan. Color separation, printing, and binding were done by Mahaffeys’ Quality Printing of Jackson, Mississippi
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2023
IMAGES Volume Thirty-Seven
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In the name of the bee And of the butterfly And of the breeze, Amen! - Emily Dickinson
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Sam Roberts 64
“A human being is a part of the whole called by us ‘Universe,’ a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts, and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” -Albert Einstein