Synaptic

By Carter Piagentini ’25

I’m often haunted by the feeling of being called out of my 2nd-grade class during the middle of a lesson to go practice my reading skills every week. An old lady would quietly peek her head through the door, whisper something to the teacher, and then I would find myself being led down the hall to a different room.

By Bria Holthe ’23

We exist in an environment under severe threat. We are swiftly approaching the point of no return in the climate crisis. Eventually, we will be forced to figure out not how to stop it, but how to live through it.

By Quinn Deahl ’23

The medieval and renaissance periods of British history mark the point in time when England began developing its national identity. This evolution coincides with the increasing contact between the English and different national groups which allowed them to truly distinguish themselves. Early English literature reflects these developments and the subsequent attitudes that the English began to advance about themselves and their perceived others.

By Gannon Oberhauser ’23

RuPaul’s Drag Race is a reality competition show where the best queens from across the country compete for a grand prize of $100,000. The queens participate in challenges testing them in areas of fashion, design, comedy, and acting.

By Fynn Wadsworth ’25

In the early 1900s, artists were still largely defining who and what was worth documenting and drawing attention to. The upper classes still dominated the art world and while many artists were frequently depicting the lower classes in their work, they were still largely stigmatized subjects.

By Katie Wang

“No se espera que seamos buenas en física” es un poema que hace un comentario sobre las expectativas de la sociedad sobre las mujeres. Este poema fue escrito al estilo de Alfonsina Storni, una importante escritora de la literatura hispanoamericana.

By Matthew Dickinson

In recent years, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has provided some of the most popular and influential superhero movies. Starting with Iron Man in 2008, the MCU has generated massive revenue while also pushing the boundaries of the oft-maligned superhero genre and kept up with DC Comics, their main competitors. One such revolutionary film is Black Panther, which was released in 2018.

By Marin Harrington

In the opening credits of writer-director Lulu Wang’s 2019 film The Farewell, a single phrase appears on the screen: “Based on a true lie.” In one of the film’s first scenes, 30-year-old Billi Wang, the first-generation American daughter of Chinese immigrants, learns that her grandmother, Nai Nai, is dying of Stage IV lung cancer.

By Emma Chervek

Paradise Lost tells the story of the creation of the universe based on the Biblical account in the book of Genesis, focusing on Adam and Eve’s early life in Eden: earth’s ultimate paradise. This story is influenced by the natural characteristics of its setting and is therefore inseparable from the physical environment in which this story is set.

By Grace Patrick-West

During the Victorian era, interest in faeries began to peak. With the Brontë family connection to Ireland, Charlotte Brontë’s inclusion of faery lore in her novel Jane Eyre is quite useful in understanding her connection to both the time period she lived in and to her Irish lineage.

By Marin Harrington '21

Differences between cultures are frequently the root of conflict, and these types of conflicts are often well-documented. Less discussed are the instances when people unify despite their cultural differences, or, even more profoundly, expand their own worldview by understanding someone else’s cultural perspective.

By Allison Stuenkel '20

The short story “Recitatif” by Toni Morrison truly challenged the unconscious stereotypes I did not know I believed.

By Barbara Engleheart

In modern societies, violence is typically categorized into justified violence, or violence necessary for “the greater good,” versus violence as evil, criminal and unjustified. There are two constructs for which this differentiation has been naturalized so strongly that we usually would not even consider drawing parallels between them: soldiers and terrorists.

By Madaline Hucks '20

Adolescence is a time when both boys and girls are discovering themselves and interacting with their peers in new ways. First kisses and hand-holding are hallmarks of this time, and one’s first “puppy love” may take over their hormonal and dramatic selves. But what happens when this lovesick admiration goes wrong?

By Brandon Rosas '20

Tsitsi Dangarembga writes her debut novel, Nervous Conditions, with a liberatingly dense style. Unlike that of many other African writers, Dangarembga’s periphrastic, prolix prose harkens back more to that of Charles Dickens than to that of Chinua Achebe.

By Christian Warner '20

Jacques-Louis David’s Le Serment du Jeu de Paume, or The Tennis Court Oath presents us with a chaotic scene. In this unfinished painting, there are hundreds of people clustered together, seemingly in a frenzy. Yet, there is no physical violence in the painting. Although there is a sense of chaos from the sheer volume of people crammed in the tennis court, there is also a sense of communion—communion in the sense that all the people in the painting are together and regard each other as brothers or allies.

By Bailey Anderson '18

Postmodernist novels famously defy convention and resist unifying theories or ideologies. They lack conclusionary details and the most bizarre occurrences are often left “up in the air.” Even in the novels themselves, readers are sometimes advised against trying to make too much out of the stories they tell.

By Molly Timmerman '18

La Casa en Mango Street de Sandra Cisneros es narrada por una joven chicana llamada Esperanza. Durante la historia, Esperanza tiene doce o trece años y vive en Chicago, en un barrio pobre con muchos otros latinos.

By K.E. Daft '19

Willa Cather has been hailed, for decades, as an advocate for Bohemian culture.

By Matthew Wells '18

A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (GOT) is a laudable effort to put in players’ hands the chance to exercise their inner Machiavellian in a (hopefully) nonviolent fashion.

By Katie Haffenden '18

En el libro de relatos Una enfermedad moral, publicado en 1982 y escrito por Soledad Puértolas, hay un cuento llamado “La indiferencia de Eva.” Para el lector ocasional es posible que el cuento parezca como si nada significante ocurriera.

By Bailey Anderson '18

Ask anyone what the most important factor in a successful relationship is, and they will likely tell you it is love. However, even people who love each other face challenges which may jeopardize the relationship.

By Peyton Gray '18

In the popular Middle Eastern piece of literature entitled The Thousand and One Nights (The Nights), a frame-tale narrative is used to tell various stories that revolve around King Shahrayar and his relationship with women.

By Hannah Marcum '18

Aroused and angry, I thought to beat the alarum, and urge relentless war; But soon my fingers fail’d me, my face droop’d, and I resign’d myself. To sit by the wounded and sooth them, or silently watch the dead.