ART BY LEAH SIM, PHOTO BY MATT LORENTZ
the
EDGE literary & news magazine May 2017
The Wooster Blade production staff | vol. 2 | issue 4 | 515 oldman rd. wooster, oh
INDEX t
1
i n d e x
2
f
r
o
n
s u b m i s s i o n s
3-7
s u p e r l a t i v e s
8-11
contr ibutor s
12
Artwork provided by Tricia Taggart Photos by Tracy Morgan
2 | index | May 2017
INDEX t
1
i n d e x
2
f
r
o
n
s u b m i s s i o n s
3-7
s u p e r l a t i v e s
8-11
contr ibutor s
12
Artwork provided by Tricia Taggart Photos by Tracy Morgan
2 | index | May 2017
WHS Student ART Savannah Ebin 10
Dani Legg 10
PHOTO CREDIT
Corbin Lanker 11
May 2017 | student submissions | 3
1
2 3
4 1
Kaylee Peet 12
2
4| student submissions | May 2017
Evan Rice 12
3
Sarah Monahan 11
4 Bri Raynor 12
Drulane Holmes 12
Evan Rice 12
Autumn Bradley 10
Audrey Cass 12
May 2017 | student submissions | 5
Mountain Highest Climbing the Hannah Reikowsky 12
I walk into the attic with damp armpits and a sticky forehead. I drag the mop and the duster behind me and wonder how long it will take to make the wood panels sparkle as they have before. Stumbling forward clumsily, I nearly face plant, as I stop myself with my hands to keep my head from smacking the floor. I swivel my head as quickly as a rolling chair rotating, and my gaze fixates on a box, torn into shreds, that is barely able to keep its shape. My memory darts through the catalogue of my past to try to recall where I have seen the intriguing piece of cardboard that lays at my feet, but nothing comes to my mind. Smiling, I reach for the newly found treasure that this box may contain. I lift the demolished lid and my heart drops: it is just still-shots of old family vacations from my childhood. I smile as I pick up a favorite picture of my dad and I from 1993. Suddenly, the room feels like a snowglobe being shaken and my head begins to spin. I wake up next to my dad’s Carhartt jacket and a pair of overalls. Gaining my bearings, I realize I am laying in a pile of sawdust and I gag at the powdery remnants that have found their way into my mouth. Something about this house feels oddly familiar, oddly like home. My chest rises and falls as I grab my knees and gasp for air. Like an air horn sounding off in my ear, my father elatedly shakes me and dances with excitement. The day arrived for my first journey up the mountain. This is not just any mountain, this is the steep, beautiful mountain on which my father proposed to my mother. Eyes gleaming, my father dances Fair use photo courtesy of Life of Pix
6 | student submissions | May 2017
around the living room with my mother. She strains a smile and a laugh squeezes out as her cheeks widen and crack wider. Dad lunges for his light brown, faded Carhartt jacket, which is necessary to stay warm while travelling light, he reminds me. He throws a musty windbreaker on my shoulders as mom runs to the kitchen with wide eyes. Approaching me again, she squeezes out a lump of white scentless, lotion-looking gel onto her hands and grabs my face and begins to rub. I squirm like a worm through her fingers and try to escape her grasp. My ears pick up barking in the distance. I shove the white, front door open and my lab, Callie, rushes in at full force. Before I can shut the door, heat from the warm, sunny day radiates through the open door. I squint, realizing that I will probably need my vibrant, electric orange, plastic shades to make it through the treacherous climb later in the day. I feel a hand on my shoulder and smell the strong scent of aftershave, and turn to see my father next to me. A deep voice tells me that he was silly to think that we would need a coat today. I reach for the zipper to my own windbreaker, but a different voice behind me reminds me that I tend to get cold, and the mountain will be windy. Dad grabs his visor, and we venture to the car to begin our journey. Cool wind blows through my dirty blonde hair as I sit next to my open window in the backseat of our shiny, silver 1988 Ford Taurus SHO. Bickering ensues in the front two seats, and I lean my head back in to see both of my parents pointing and staring at a map. Pulling over, more shouting at strangers happens until both of them seem to reach a middle ground. Rolling my eyes I repeat, “Are we there yet?,” to which the response is always “Five more minutes,” regardless of
if there is five minutes or two hours left. The door loudly latches behind me with a click as my feet search for flatness among the bumpiness under my feet. Mom grabs our camera, while I complain of the stickiness from my spilled apple juice that I discover on my hands. A few wet wipes later, we set off on the trail. Suddenly, we are surrounded by sunlight and songbirds that chirp sharp and loud and I duck and hide my eyes while my mom tries to comfort me. The trail seems to wind on for hours, and all I can see in front of me are my two parents and pine trees that appear as tall as the sky from my vantage point. While on the trail, I grab my knees and breathe out heavily as my mom hands me my inhaler and the world clears as if a layer of fog is lifted.
A calm, comforting tapping on my shoulder shakes me out of my daydream and I turn to see mom pointing miles ahead. Smiling, I see no ground left in front of me, and the beauty of the rolling green, smooth hills and prickly pine trees as far as I can see surrounds me. I sit down with my dad. He smiles and puts his arm around me. I can smell the sap of the pine and a strong, thick cologne radiating off of my dad. A familiar click sounds from behind my left shoulder as mom lowers her hands from her eyes. Mom’s eyes glisten as she says, “A picture can hold a thousand memories. This is where your father and I stood. This is where I said yes.”
Winter Hills Remind Us Rachel Wood 12
Do you remember what peace looks like? It looks like hair-thin branches rising from winter trees Spreading like fur carpet under the wispy feet of clouds It looks like a peach-tinged mantle laid o’er the Earth Like emerald pines standing watch on distant hills Do you remember what hope looks like? It looks like steadfast leaves holding fast to winter trees Like a pebbled path to heaven paved by clouds It looks like pale beams steaming down to warm the Earth Like the twisted oak bent low to whisper to the hills Do you remember what happiness looks like? It looks like the old man who finds his memories among the trees Like the child who can spot the castle in the clouds It looks like the adult who still delights in sun-drenched Earth Like the one who finds contentment in the quiet winter hills.
Fair use photo courtesy of Weather Wiz Kids
Dewdrops Rheanna Velasquez 9
I know there is no Lorax, No speaker for the trees. No listener to listen to Nature’s wants and needs. That greenery has no guardian, My mind is clear of doubt. For every morning I wake up, The plants have cried their hearts Out. Their dewdrops in the air Weep without a sound. Silently, they leave a trace Of dewdrops on the ground.
Fair use photo courtesy of Sony llce-7
May 2017 | student submissions | 7
Senior Superlatives Each recognition is based on a poll of 66 WHS seniors. The polls were distributed the week of May 1 throughout the school day. All votes received were counted, but not all categories are included.
“MOST LIKELY TO WIN AN ESPY AWARD” COLT MORGAN AND
“BEST ROLE MODEL FOR UNDERCLASSMEN” - COLT MORGAN AND SOFIA DAVIS
“MOST LIKELY TO HAVE WORK FEATURED IN A MUSEUM” - EVAN RICE AND BRI RAYNOR 8 | senior superlatives | May 2017
“MOST LIKELY TO HOST A TED TALK” - JESSIE BALLOW AND ASVIN GIREESH
MAUREEN MCKEOWN
“MOST LIKELY TO WIN THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE” - RACHEL WOOD ANKD ALEXANDER THOMPSON
AUSTIN McCULLY
AND MAUREEN McKEOWN
“MOST LIKELY TO MAKE A POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE WORLD” - COLT MORGAN “PERSON YOU WISH YOU KNEW BETTER” - NATALIE COVERT AND
“MOST CONTAGIOUS LAUGH” - ISABELLE CANNON AND ARMAND RUTTER
“MOST LIKELY TO TO SHOCK EVERYONE AT REUNION” - ZACH STEVENSON AND JACKIE WENDELL “MOST LIKELY TO LOCK THEMSELVES OUT OF THEIR CAR” - WILLIS SNYDER AND HALLE KOTULOCK
“MOST LIKELY TO CRASH ON YOUR COUCH” - EDDIE ROONEY AND LEXI REHM
WILLIS SNYDER AND HALLE KOTULOCK
“MOST LIKELY TO NEVER READ A BOOK... EVER” - ALAZAR COETZEE AND HANNAH CHINN
MOST LIKELY TO BECOME A REALITY TV STAR - HANNA MORGAN AND DREW FRIEDHOFF
“MOST LIKELY TO BECOME A CIA AGENT” - ALEX NGUYEN AND NATALI EDGERTON May 2017 | senior superlatives | 9
TITUS THIND AND SHANTÉ EDWARDS
“LOUDEST”
“MOST LIKELY TO BE A CAT PERSON” WIL GASTIER AND VALERIE ANDERSON
“DYNAMIC DUO”
ISABELLE CANNON AND
NICK BALLARD
“MOST LIKELY TO TRAVEL THE WORLD” BETH CLAYTON AND SAHIL ARORA
“MOST LIKELY TO RETURN TO WHS AS A TEACHER” MATT CHIDSEY AND TRACY MORGAN
“MOST LIKELY TO JOIN
“MOST LIKELY TO START A
THE PEACE CORPS”
NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION”
CHRIS CANNON AND RACHEL WOOD
AUSTIN MCCULLY AND HANNAH REIKOWSKY
10 | senior superlatives | May 2017
AND JESSE BALLOW
“MOST LIKELY TO BE PRESIDENT” - RYAN MILLER “MOST LIKELY TO STAR IN A BROADWAY SHOW”
- ADAM KIRK AND HANNAH REIKOWSKY “MOST LIKELY TO WIN A GRAMMY”ADAM KIRK AND TATUMN MCGREW
“MOST LIKELY TO WORK FOR VOGUE” - SARAH HOPKINS AND EVAN RICE
“MOST LIKELY TO WRITE A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING NOVEL” - RACHEL WOOD AND NATE
VALERIE ANDERSON
“MOST LIKELY TO SAVE THE BEES” - NATE KING-SMITH AND
KING-SMITH
“BEST PERSON TO BRING HOME TO MEET YOUR PARENTS” - ISABELLE CANNON AND COLT MORGAN
PICTURES TAKEN BY TRACY MORGAN.
May 2017 | senior superlatives | 11
the
EDGE contributors About Us
The Edge is a literary and newsmagazine hybrid that showcases the creative work of our students. Our staff consists of many of The Wooster Blade staff members. We meet every day during Newspaper Productions classes throughout the entire year. Editors were chosen based on their demonstrated interest in the magazine and in their production of featured work.
Editorial Policy The Edge Letters and submissions should be addressed to the editor, with a limit of 400 words or less. Submit letters by email to thewoosterblade@gmail.com. If published, the meaning of the work will not be altered, however, we reserve the right to correct grammatical errors, punctuation and spelling. The opinions expressed in the publication are those of the individual writers and do not represent the opinions of the staff as a whole. We reserve the right to amend this policy at any time.
Co-Editors-in-Chief Isabelle Cannon Estelle Shaya
Faculty Adviser
Emma Strong Rachel Wood Matthew Lorentz John Gorman Nick Cosmo Alexis Florence
12 | contributors | May 2017
Tracy Morgan Leah Sim