6 minute read
Alexandria and Jedediah Hurst, bibliotheca discipulus
A Song for the King of Mars
GWEN E. LEMNA Prelude: This song is a fictional narrative written in a futuristic society where people have moved to planets when Earth ran out of space and space travel was as easy and common as a train ride. People’s class level and jobs are dictated by the planet they reside on. If it helps, think of the districts in the hunger games (but this is not what gave me the idea). The only planet that did not work, contained the top 1% of people in society. This planet was Mars.
I’ve heard tales Of men on one planet, Who flew and sailed To a shore and began it.
There was a time Where travel gave fruit, And life had rhyme; Where lands would dispute They had everything but time. Their lives were full And busy and new, Their lives were exempt From this planet of blue.
This planet Neptune Is for the lower class. We’re called the Fishing Tool; No time to raise a glass Or for teachers and school. No time to rank class With money that pools.
I have no motivation. No education. No future. No past. I have today, Just like yesterday, Just like tomorrow, Just like every day.
The King of Mars Declared that society Shall always be steady, Shall always be this way.
But if I may, I'd like to disagree. You see, Back in the day, Not just one would say “This ought to be,” But society made way, And history was made; Democracy had say.
People had a choice. I like that choice gave chance, Made change. I’d like a choice. We need a chance To raise our voice, To make a stance
Against a man, Highest in society, With no need To practice sobriety. We need not Have any more propriety Towards this ludicrous, meticulous, anti-piety society.
Hear my voice, Listen to my song! Remember your choice To sing along To his song.
bibliotheca discipulus
ALEXANDRIA AND JEDEDIAH HURST
*To be sung in the style of a Gregorian Chant
Long ago, in times distant past Stood tall a great library, its holds vast; And all the books of Alexandria, nay, the world Were meant to be sheltered therein, as indeed many were. But hark! That library is gone now And naught remains, as even the ashes are swept away. First came the fires of a civil war, then next the plundering of radicals, And now the great and legendary Library of Alexandria is gone. But fear not, my friends, for its equivalent has returned! A new repository of knowledge and literature; And surely all the world shall rejoice, For this Wikipedia has achieved what once was lost! But halt, what is this? This miraculous repository is forbidden! Distrusted, marked as duplicitous, viewed as a harbinger of deception; Its very reference is forbidden and discounted in the great halls of academics! How can this be? How can we have come to this? The answer is simple, my friends, and lies in the very structure of this digital library: For any who so chooses may add to this library at a whim, And may present any mistake or deception as the truth— Or so is supposed. You see my fellows, this repository is protected; This vast expanse of knowledge kept safe. Wikipedia is guarded all hours of every day! Hark! Surveillance has saved the day! The requirement of sources and bibliographies Here is made to protect and ensure integrity. Why then? Why ban the modern Library of Alexandria? With the guards in place and the integrity upheld, Why must we prevent our students from learning the most useful of lessons? Why can’t we encourage them to learn to identity well supported arguments? And differentiate them from falsities? “Why don’t the children read?”
Asked day after day after day, The blame going to the electronics, Yet here are the children, enthusiastic to learn And banned from our generation’s library. Is every book in every physical library truthful? Is every argument made in person accurate and well rounded? Why are students expected to think critically there, Yet thought of as naive when on Wikipedia? It is an injustice to students everywhere. Give us back our Library of Alexandria!
Acknowledgement
The Synecdoche 2021 team began this journal in the middle of a global pandemic, from the messy bedrooms, couches, and desks of six soon-to-be college graduates. The final journal is the zenith of countless hours of emails, reading, editing, and more emails. We are incredibly grateful for the dedication and passion of this year’s team, a team whose origins are as diverse as the journal, from transfer students from universities across the nation to students in different majors (or with double majors), whose individual passions range from teaching, law, creative writing, and scholarly works. We would like to thank this year's team: Zachary Hileman, Elijah Lemna, Kyley McAuliffe, Idalis Moscoso, Noah Sales, and Julia Weimerskirch. Special thanks to the English department for their unwavering support in publishing a student-led journal every year and providing feedback to their students on how we can continue to improve and grow: Warren Doody, Laurie Hatch, and Jennifer Russum. We also want to thank the professors at Vanguard University whose passion and kindness championed the students writing that have been published, including the various adjunct professors whose impact does not go unnoticed: Crystal Couch, Kyle Durham, Mary Frandson, Shana Koh, Ona LaMotte, Karrie Preasmyer, James Prothero, Matthew Walker, Amanda White, and Heidi Zameni. The journal would be impossible without the hundreds of submissions from students across varying departments at Vanguard University and especially the students whose hard work and creativity are coming to fruition in their publication in Synecodoche: Volume 18: Felix Albrecht, Michael Angel, Emilie Bakker, Rachel Birdsell, Elter Bright, Grace Brown, Angelea Carrol, Asia Collins, Kristian Davis Jr., Em Christine Dodge, Tabitha Eggington, Madison Elizabeth, Laura Esther, Alexa Garcia, J. Luke Herman, Aly Highleyman, Matthew Holgate, Alexandria Hurst, Jedediah Hurst, Grace Israel, Gwen E. Lemna, Megan Luebberman, Chelsea Mann, Jaden Massaro, Molly McAuliffe, Molly McDowell, Alexandra Niebaum, Jameson Nizo, Chloe Noelle, Jack Pascua, Isabella Perez, Anthony Pooni, Rebekah Pulaski, Abigail Reid, Leah Rodriguez, Noah Sales, Heather Marie Siracusa, Nicole Smolinksi, Alyssa Soria, Madison Spiegel, Noah Stecker, Ethen Tucker, Sophia Trejo, and Julia Weimerskirch.
We dedicate this journal to all past, present, and future students who will continue to express their creativity and passion through literature.
Synecdoche Team
Julia Weimerskirch Editor-in-Chief “Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough." - Emily Dickinson
"Every secret of a writer's soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind is written large in his works." - Virginia Woolf
Noah Sales Production Editor & Scholarly Works Editor “But in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself." - C. S. Lewis
Elijah Lemna Copy Editor "No half-heartedness and no worldly fear must turn us aside from following the light unflinchingly." - J.R.R. Tolkien
"Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning." - Maya Angelou
“Every wrtier is a frustrated actor who recites his lines in the hidden auditorium of his skull." - Rod Sterling
Zachary Hileman Creative Works Editor & Photography/Art Committee Member
