by Megan Li In the fall of 1996, my high school literature teacher Mr. Stephen Rippon befriended the woman who would become his wife. “ [She] mentioned Shakespeare, and I came across as just kind of lukewarm about Shakespeare, so that did not impress her,” Mr. Rippon laughed, “because she really likes Shakespeare.”  Ironically, he went on to teach literature at Delaware Valley Classical School, … Continue reading “It Is in Our Nature to Love”: What Romance Stories Can Teach Us

by Anna Jackson  Winner of the Barns Award for Excellence in Poetry A gentle girl in swirling skirts – the Sea Dances a mazurka with the moon Dressed in azure, trimmed in lace-like foam Which brushes softly on the sandy shore. But in the wind-tossed waves a monster starts To rise, distorts the dance, and soon Where once there was a girl a siren stalks. … Continue reading The Hurricane

by Grace Bryant Winner of the Dana & Elinor Kie “Rose Award” Characters:CHRISTOPHER: A plain, young man in a suitDAN: An older man in an undershirtPAULA: Dan’s tired wifeBETH: Dan and Paula’s neighbor, a Southern lady Set Requirements:3 free-standing doors, 2 ladders, a bouquet of flowers Curtain opens on city street in the late afternoon. There is a row of townhouses represented by 3 doors. … Continue reading Daisies for Jeanine

by James Lauve Winner of the Margaret Weymouth Jackson Award in Creative Writing What barren rock, what cruel, remorseless land Is now the grave of my belovéd ship— The fairest craft that sailed the celestial seas Above, until that curséd ast’roid rammed  Into her mighty hull and brought her down? What lifeless planet do I stand upon? For lifeless it is, no creature’s calling greets … Continue reading Deucalion

by Jack Golden In the March 2024 issue of the Hillsdale Forum, Tomasz Ignatik penned the thoughtful essay “The Rout of the Culture War,” in which he contemplated the extent of conservatives’ success in the battle to “stem the tide of cultural decay” and “revitalize the values of the forgotten Western Tradition.” As Mr. Ignatik tells it, conservative victories in the culture war are “often … Continue reading The Choir Still Needs the Sermon: A Response to Tomasz Ignatik