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Poetry has always marveled me with its ability to craft words together and create magic on a page. The power present in and between words, hidden in the white space and embedded in the title astonishes me every time. I have found strength in the confined space of a poem, and this art form has taught me more lessons than simply what is seen on the page. Enjambment helped me overcome boundaries. Forced me to take leaps and surprise myself. Titles taught me to take control. Meter gave me a voice in its melody. Listening to my whispers amidst the commotion of life. Hyperboles warned me not to take things too seriously. Metaphors took me deeper. Forced me to understand all sides of a story. Taught me to explore the mind. Ambiguity allowed me to keep things to myself, to have secrets. Symbolism changed the way I viewed minuscule details. Suddenly nothing felt insignificant. Imagery gave me colors and instructed me to paint. Images awakened my world. Sensory details found their way around my body, hiding under my tongue and deep in my ears, becoming a part of me. Poetry has given me a different outlet for expression, one where I challenge myself to understand my own perceptions. It has pushed me to understand the origins, implications and the underlying details. Poetry has transformed my process of thinking and has inevitably affected the way I respond to the world. For the beauty it holds, and the power it has given me, I am incredibly grateful for the art of poetry. -Briana Lopez, Junior Social Media Editor

Welcome back! With the smells of sharpened pencils and fresh paper comes classes, homework and peers. I’m so honored to take the lead this year and carry the torch hand in hand with my fellow co-editor, Sarah Buckman. The Élan staff as a whole is eager to take the brand new foundation we constructed last year and keep progressing. With the new building and construction occurring on campus, it comes natural. It’s almost unreal to try to image we could implement anymore change than we previously did. But I’ve already been proven wrong. This year’s homecoming is held in an entirely new location. And no one’s complaining about having to move the event out of the muggy gym. The new venue will hopefully attract a larger crowd. More people showing up means more people learning Élan’s name. Last year was strictly all about branding and defining our identity. I see this year’s focus being directed towards projecting that fortified identity to the public. We want people to know who and what we are. A large portion of gaining followers is making sure we’re directing our attention to the people who actually want it. The Élan will be striving to reach out the writers’ of this community and securing their presence with us. It’s so exciting to know that new art and writing will be in our hands in a matter of only thirty days. The submission period can be intensely chaotic with the hundreds of pieces to be read, but I’ve missed it. It’s so rewarding to be a part of a staff that has a shared, overarching goal: the dispersal of art. The process to achieve that distribution, no matter how hectic, is always worth it. Here’s to a new year, new land to trek and a new Élan to discover. -Mariah Abshire, Editor-in-Chief

If I had a nickel for the number of times I’ve heard the phrase “write what you know,” I’d probably have fifty nickels. While that is only a whopping $2.50, the point is, fifty times is a lot, considering I’ve only considered myself a writer for the past two years. This phrase used to grate on my nerves, making me want to scream, because I didn’t really know anything. Or at least, I didn’t think I did. I knew that Romeo loved Juliet and that anything that wasn’t poetry was prose. But how do you write about that? The answer is: you can’t. After many moons of biting my nails and unsuccessful third, fourth, and sometimes fifth, drafts, I realized the key is much more than writing what you know. A brilliant poetry teacher once told me poetry was like an onion, and with every read you pull of layers of emotion, meaning, truth. The core of it is writing what you know, but all the layers around this core rely on–get ready for it—lies. Tim O’ Brien said it best,  “A lie, sometimes, can be truer than the truth. And that’s why poetry gets written.” (Alright, he said fiction, but I think poetry still applies here.) After this brilliant discovery my poetry seemed to blossom. I took the core of it, what I knew, and all of these lies blossomed. Lies like beautiful images I’d pay to see, people I’d kill to meet, love I’d die to have, and loss I’d barely live through. I’d found that the images, or the lies, I created were indeed truer than anything I’d ever written, because once they were complete and on the page, I realized they were simply truths I’d never acknowledged. And so I’ve realized that lies are the key to all brilliant poetry, or maybe even all brilliant writing. Because the lies bound to page by an author’s hand really aren’t lies at all, but layers of an onion that were otherwise unacknowledged. –Darcy Graham, Fiction Editor

Over the past two years I had the opportunity to get to know and bond with the Élan staff. This closeness has helped us to work together and develop a cohesive magazine. However, I have always felt that there was an unseen divide between the staff and our readers. I think that it is important for our patrons to really know the individuals who work behind the scenes—the editors, public relations teams, and web designers who make the book a possibility. Therefore, below are interviews that highlight a several staff members, so that our readers can get to know the students who work to create Élan for them. Kiera Nelson, Fiction Editor Who is your favorite author and why? My favorite poet is Nikki Giovanni because I love her originality in the way she manipulates words to evoke emotions. For fiction I would have to say ZZ Packer because she knows how to integrate the reader into the story. What do you like to do outside of school and writing? [Laughs] That’s funny. Well, I like to binge watch TV shows like American Horror Story and Carrie Diaries. What lessons or skills have you gained from your experience on the Élan Staff? I have learned how to take responsibility for my actions and manage complex tasks without getting overwhelmed. I have also learned how to think as a group, a staff, rather than just as an individual. Mariah Abshire, Poetry Editor Who is your favorite author and why? Right now I’m reading Pink Elephant, so I’m really into Rachel McKibbens. What lessons or skills have you gained from your experience on the Élan Staff? Teamwork. Having to be a small part in a big production and having other people depend on me has really allowed me to develop a sense of responsibility. As a staff member I have to meet other people’s expectations, not just my own. If you were stranded on an island and could only have three items with you, what would they be? Well I would need to finish reading Pink Elephant, so I would bring that with me. I would also bring an unlimited supply of Tijuana Flats Chicken Tacos and a journal with a pen. Emily Cramer, Editor-in-Chief Who is your favorite author and why? Taylor Mali and William Carlos Williams. Their poetry is so simple but deep—it seems to be about small ideas but once you delve into them, they’re so complex. Both also have other jobs outside of writing, which gives me hope that it’s possible to always be a writer, no matter what field I go into. What lessons or skills have you gained from your experience on the Élan Staff? I’ve learned what it means to be a leader, how to make sure that all work is getting done, while understanding the needs of individuals and maintain our magazine’s mission and standards. Who are your favorite musical artists? Mumford and Sons, Jose Gonzales, Sufjan Stevens, The 1975, and Fleet Foxes. Emily Leitch, Layout and Design Editor What do you like to do outside of school and writing? Wow, that’s funny. Writing and school are literally the only things I do. I go on Tumblr… is that an answer? What lessons or skills have you gained from your experience on the Élan Staff? I have gained a sense of community through this staff. I feel like we work really well together and we all participate. I have learned how to organize and collaborate. Being a layout editor requires me to work with every member of the staff when it comes time to layout our online and print books. It is very important to learn how to cooperate with each other as a staff and I know this will help me in the future. If you were stranded on an island and could only have three items with you, what would they be? Jason Schwartzman. My collection of poetry books. My pet turtle Phillip. That's all I need. --Emily Jackson, Creative Non-Fiction Editor

Sometimes I am not a writer. Despite the common misconception that many have that a writer is someone who “writes”, this is quite untrue. There is more that constitutes a writer than just the act of putting paper to pen. For some people writing is a spiritual expedition, one in which the worlds they create are more than just a figment of imagination but friends, cohorts, the voices in side their heads if I may. Borrowing Sidney Sheldon’s words: “A blank piece of paper is God’s way of telling us how hard it is to be God.” Writing is becoming God and creating matter out of thin air. I learned in Physics (and it might be the only thing I learned) that matter cannot be created or destroyed and yet writers defy that rule. I am a writer when I am creating more than ink on paper, more than black pixels on a computer screen. I am a creator of people, feelings, and moments that are more real to some people than their own lives. And as a writer, I break down barriers and flout social rules and shed light on the shadows of humanity. But sometimes I fall short. Sometimes my first draft is something that I use to mop up the spilled coffee on my table, something that I’d have to beg a dog to eat. But I get back up. I pick up my pen, and I become a little bit closer to God. The following a three poems that I feel come unreasonably close to describing the unique experience of writers everywhere: “Teaching Apes to Write Poems” by James Tate “Beware: Do Not Read This poem” by Ishmael Reed “Oatmeal” by Galway Kinnell --Stephanie Thompson, Public Relations & Marketing

We chose Moose in Traffic because it is broad enough for interpretation. This piece is unique and tells a story. We also thought that the color schemes, distinctive lighting, and shadow-play was interesting, and allowed the message to pop from the flat surface. Also, the piece displays a balance of abstract and realistic concepts which we felt made it extremely unique. We chose the art for our Winter 2013 Edition and it will be available to you online November 15, so save the date! –Sarah Buckman, Junior Art Editor

http://kandkadventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Eiffel-Tower-Paris-France.jpg I’m drawn to a certain style of writing that only specific genres can bring. Of course I love to curl up next to a fire scented candle in the winter and read a good fiction story. But fiction doesn’t have the honesty that I strive for when I read poetry. And Poetry, loaded with ambiguous language, can send my mind into another galaxy. So I look for one of my favorite genres, creative nonfiction. It is probably one of the most over looked and underrepresented genres in writing but it is a mix of truth, honest, imagery, and figurative language that connects like no other genre. People neglect that Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood is actually a creative nonfiction story. Under the lingering coarse details of a family murdered in Kansas, there is a pile of truth that no other fiction story or poem could reach, though creative nonfiction doesn’t have to be that dark. David Sedaris has written many essays and even published a book titled Me Talk Pretty One Day exploring his move from New York to Paris with a satirical witty approach. These writers both take either their own or other’s trials and tribulations in life load it with thought provoking and striking scenes before feeding it to readers. -Chrissy Thelemann, Submissions Editor

National Poetry Month is quickly drawing to a close, so as a bittersweet farewell we asked the Élan staff for their favorite lines of poetry. “For whatever we lose (like a you or a me) it’s always ourselves we find in the sea” –e.e. cummings. “maggie and milly and molly and may”. (Emily Cramer. Editor-in-Chief.) “Well what’s in the piñata they asked. I told them God was and they ran into the desert, barefoot.” –Natalie Diaz. “No More Cake Here”. (Sarah Buckman. Editor-in-Chief.) “You have my permission not to love me; I am a cathedral of deadbolts and I’d rather burn myself down than change the locks.” –Rachel McKibbens. “Letter from My Brain to My Heart”. (Emily Leitch. Layout Editor.) “Suddenly I realize that if I step out of my body I would break into blossom.” –James Wright. “A Blessing”. (Taylor Austell. Layout Editor.) “Now you say this is home so go ahead, worship the mountains as they dissolve in dust, wait on the wind, catch a scent of salt, call it our life.” –Philip Levine. “Our Valley”. (Raegen Carpenter. Poetry Editor.) “then I awoke and dug that if I dreamed natural dreams of being a natural woman doing what a woman does when she’s natural I would have a revolution.” –Nikki Giovanni. “Revolutionary Dreams”. (Brittanie Demps. Poetry Editor.) “we are for each: then laugh, leaning back in my arms for life’s not a paragraph And death i think is no parenthesis” –e.e. cummings. “since feeling is first” (Mariah Abshire. Poetry Editor.) “I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.” –Maya Angelou. “Still I Rise”. (Kiera Nelson. Fiction Editor.) “I had the new books—words, numbers and operations with numbers I did not comprehend—and crayons, unspoiled by use, in a blue canvas satchel with red leather straps. Spruce, inadequate, and alien I stood at the side of the road. It was the only life I had.” –Jane Kenyon. “Three Songs at the End of Summer”. (Emily Jackson. Non-Fiction Editor.) “I’m carrying my box of faces. If I want to change faces, I will.” –Naomi Shihab Nye. “One Boy Told Me”. (Shamiya Anderson. Non-Fiction Editor.) “The names of women melt in their mouths like hot mints.” –Yusef Komunyakaa. “Moonshine”. (Haley Hitzing. Social Media Editor.) “And I’d like to be a bad woman, too, and wear the brave stockings of night-black lace and strut down the streets with paint on my face. –Gwendolyn Brooks. “a song in the front year.” (Madison George. Social Media Editor.) “So as not to be the martyred slaves of time, be drunk, be continually drunk! On wine, on poetry or on virtue as you wish.” –Charles Baudelaire. “Be Drunk.” (Makenzie Fields. Submissions Editor.) “God comes to your window all bright and black wings, and you’re just too tired to open it.” –Dorianne Laux. “Dust”. (Stephanie Thompson. P.R. & Marketing Editor.) “come celebrate with me that everyday something has tried to kill me and has failed.” –Lucille Clifton. “Eve Thinking”. (Mrs. Melanson. Teacher Sponsor.)

Relationships aren't really something that I'm good at. I've never been the type of person that has had an easy time with making connections, whether they are romantic or platonic. I know the main reason behind this is me trying my best to protect myself from disappointment and heart-break, but I also have started to realize that walking this earth alone isn't the correct way to live. In the beginning of August, I decided that I would try something new, so I decided to make a connection with someone I knew I cared about and had the potential to love. it was a decision that terrified me but I had promised myself that I would try to change and put myself in uncomfortable situations. It turned out to be amazing, while it lasted. I knew going into something like this that it would eventually end because everything does end, but somehow I made peace with that and continued to fall for him. It all ended less than a month ago. I originally thought this would completely wreck me and close me out to the world again but the loss ended up doing the opposite. At first it hurt to know that I wasn't enough for someone who I believed was everything but the entire situation taught me that it's okay to feel things, to let people in. I was now more open than ever. I wouldn't cower away from  another opportunity to love someone again. Now that Valentine's Day is starting to make an appearance, I don't feel like I'm going to miss out because I'm no longer in a relationship with him (platonic or romantic). I've made peace with the idea that I'm better off alone and I'm content that way. I've learned that happiness is found within me and not within someone else. -Anna Dominguez, Junior Poetry Editor

As writers, we can use our journey of growing older in unique ways. On the days we are feeling three years old, we can write stories about being on a playground, kicking our feet out from swings and sliding against sand. On the days we are feeling seventeen, we can write poems about preparing to leave our families, going to college, starting lives on our own. Whenever I feel like I am in a writing rut, I always try to trace my memories back as far as I can and write from the perspective of who I was. Trying this can help you vary the kinds of voices you use in your work, and also help broaden the topics you write about. If you need a little extra push, here are some poems about childhood/ adolescence that stand out to me: Flashcards by Rita Dove - http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2007/08/27 Three Songs at the End of Summer by Jane Kenyon - http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/26442 Believing in Iron by Yusef Komunyakaa - http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16182 Enjoy your journey! I hope you have as much fun as I did. –Raegen Carpenter, Poetry Editor

“…and I was born, and raised, right here” were the last words spoken by Patricia Smith. The entire NJPAC theatre went silent. Breaths of the audience members were taken away for a good five seconds before an eruption of applause filled every corner of the auditorium. It was Saturday night of the Dodge Poetry Festival 2012, and Smith’s poem, Skinhead, was the most passionate reading I (and I think I speak for my fellow classmates on the trip as well) had experienced yet. Her immaculate use of pronunciation and articulation of each word captivated everyone within hearing distance, causing them to be on the edge of their seats waiting to hear the finishing lines of Smith’s ever-so-famous poem. This was the first time I ever experienced this poem in person; YouTube videos will never do it justice, and after that night I became an even bigger fan of Smith. With National Poetry Month in sight, that night at the NJPAC rings in my ears. I wondered what Smith has been up too since the Festival, last October. I emailed her to voice these questions, not expecting a reply, and was delighted when the “1” icon appeared over the mail app on my computer, signifying a response. Here’s what she said. 1)      Have you been featured in any other festivals since the Dodge Poetry Festival in 2012? “I haven’t been involved in any festivals as large as Dodge, but I travel constantly. For instance, I’ve been featured in smaller festivals in Ann Arbor, Michigan; Seattle, Washington; Vancouver BC and Boston. A good deal of my time was taken up at a writing residency in upstate New York. I was given space, time and solitude in order to work on my writing. The experience was nourishing, and invaluable.” 2)      Are you working on any new poetry books? If so, when can we look forward to it coming out? “I’m almost finished with my next book, although it may be some time before it comes out. I just had a book released last spring, and my publisher believes that if they come out close to one another, they’ll compete instead of complement. I edited an anthology of crime fiction stories that came out in November, and won an award for the story I contributed—so right now I’m dabbling with a book of my own short stories.” 3)      When did you first know you wanted to be a writer? “I first knew I wanted to be a writer when I was eight years old. My father, who was part of the Great Migration of blacks from the south in the 50’s, was a born storyteller. From him, I learned to think of the world in terms of the stories it could tell. And I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to have discovered that exciting way to live my life.” Being a writer sure is an exciting life, and I can’t until the next time Smith’s path crosses mine, to pour even more inspiration through her words into me. --Makenzie Fields

In the beginning was the word. And that word was very heavy, full of life and anguish. The word was existence but also the end of being. The word carried nations and dropped kings with the same move. The word embodied imagination, making us gods over the realms that we produce. So, in the beginning of my creating process, of becoming the god to a world that may exist solely by my observation, I listen to music. It starts from a random rhythm. Either it pumps my pulse up, to meet its tempo, or it drags my heart beat down, to drown me in what it wants to convey. Either way, I go to music before placing finger to keyboard (because there’s no pen to paper nowadays). I really can’t get into my writing without this overlaying, outside shroud that the harmonies become. I find the right song or playlist that carries the emotion that I need for the piece- whether it’s a raging rock album or soft, liquid dubstep mix. Then I follow the strongest feeling back to its home inside of me (usually in the gut area) and try to pull it out onto the page. I imagine the scenario and everything that is happening in order to mold the experience for everyone to feel. Either that or I know what emotional experience I want to convey already and I use the music as an enhancer to help myself become caught up in that emotion enough to find some kind of words to describe it. I never go in anticipating a masterpiece or a message to the world. I just go in wanting to say what I’m thinking or feeling. This allows me, for the most part, to get out whatever it is. After that, well that’s not the beginning. That’s the rising action and it varies by how I feel. For the most part though, I’m satisfied with myself for bringing this thing into existence. -Rey Mullennix, Fiction Editor