Search Our Writing:
Beholding Mystery: Tintoretto’s Last Supper and Magnifying the Divine
Sept 14, 2020 | By Sharla Moody BK ‘22
Upon the first viewing, Tintoretto’s Last Supper is wholly disorienting. The painting is a conglomeration of people, color, and mystery grouped under a title that immediately ties it to da Vinci’s older, more famous depiction of the same event. But Tintoretto imagines a less formal, more enigmatic scene. Like da Vinci’s painting, Christ is still central, but the rest of the painting crowds in on all sides, overwhelming the eye and mind. There are angels! And a cat! And so many people!
WONDERFUL CREATURES: An Interview with Marilynne Robinson
Sept 14, 2020 | By Raquel Sequeira TD ‘21+.5
“If you ever wonder what you’ve done in your life, and everyone does wonder sooner or later, you have been God’s grace to me, a miracle, something more than a miracle…It’s your existence I love you for, mainly.”
– Marilynne Robinson, Gilead
When Wonder Is Not Enough
Sept 14, 2020 | By Bradley Yam SY ‘20
It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.
– Wordsworth, The World is Too Much With Us
With a pithy sestet Wordsworth summarizes the wonder of the wilderness wrapped in mythological glory: Proteus rising from the sea, Triton blowing his horn. Wordsworth wrote during the Industrial Revolution when the divisions between the civilized city and the natural wilderness became sharply defined.
Broken Bridges of a Beautiful World
Sept 14, 2020 | By Daniel Chabeda ES ‘22
The natural world is beautiful. On a grand scale, the mountains arch toward the sky in their millennia-long and mile-high morning stretch. On the smallest scale, quantum theory invites us into a nanoscopic world where particles can teleport (quantum teleportation), exist in multiple places at once (quantum superposition), and physically pass through other objects (quantum tunneling). The most powerful microscopes in existence today, Scanning Tunneling Microscopes, are able to clearly resolve individual atoms to show us that even the quantum world is visually stunning.
Love Thy Neighbor
Sept 13, 2020 | By Shi Wen Yeo MC ‘23
It was just after midnight last night. There were raucous shouts coming from Cross Campus. I craned my neck out the window and beheld throngs of college students mere inches from each other, merry-making, to celebrate the end of their two-week quarantine. I can almost imagine the conversations going on (at a distance of less than six feet, of course). “I was SO bored during quarantine. I want to live the full, real college life that I deserve, not this subpar quarantined version.”
Response to Sutherland Springs Shooting
Nov 15, 2017 | By Christian Olivier TC ’20
I am writing this right after the news report flashes across my computer screen. It is 2:32 p.m. on November 5, 2017.
“Mass shooting reported at Sutherland Springs church in Texas.”
Disaster after disaster I managed to keep a straight face. While hurricanes ravaged my home in the South and my friends in the Caribbean, as wildfires burned the California coast to dust, and as the crack of bullets and smell of gunpowder permeated the streets of Las Vegas I managed to solemnly read, pay my respects, and carry on with my life. This… This was the gut punch that knocked the wind out of my lungs as I come to grips with the fact that all of this horror happened in three months.
Upcoming Events:
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Writing Voice Workshop
THURSDAY, JAN 22ND, 6:15-7:50 PM,
Elm Institute
This week, we will hone our writing voice in different styles.
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Editing for Writing with Voice Workshop
THURSDAY, JAN 29TH, 6:15-7:15 PM, Location TBD
Based on the previous week’s workshop, we will edit our pieces to hone our writing voice.
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Veritas Weekend
FEB 6-8TH, Boston
Save the date for Veritas Weekend in Boston! More information below!
Signup Date Passed
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Theme Introduction Meeting
THURSDAY, FEB 12ND, 6:15-7:15 PM,
Location TBD
Our theme this semester is… mirrors! We will be exploring the literary tradition and potential topics for mirrors.
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Theme Introduction at Elm
THURSDAY, FEB 19ND, 6:15-7:50 PM,
Elm Institute
We will be continuing our exploration of the theme of mirrors at the Elm Institute, with a session led by Peter Wicks.
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Writing Retreat
SATURDAY, MARCH 28TH
We will be adjourning to the countryside to spend a day dedicated to making progress on our drafts.