Category: Essays

ISSUE #52 | MAR 2026, Short Stories

The Crows Will Pick Clean Our Bones

By Isaiah Sasser Weathers followed the faint trail through the undergrowth. A broad bear print impressed softly upon the loam caught his eye; a left paw, pointing north. Four claw marks scored the earth. The claw second from the left was missing. Weathers nodded to himself. His breath quickened and his pace increased. The lever-action rifle strapped around his shoulder jostled with the forceful, deliberate … Continue reading The Crows Will Pick Clean Our Bones

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From the Faculty, history, ISSUE #50 | OCT 2025

The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Dark, Terrible, Wonderful, Righteous Things

Dr. Charles N. Steele Eighty years ago this past August the Japanese Empire was finally defeated. It took over four and a half years of bloody fighting and the ferocious bombing of Japanese cities with incendiaries and atomic bombs to beat them into surrender. It is a great thing that the Japanese Empire was crushed. It was a remarkably brutal regime and it had the … Continue reading The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Dark, Terrible, Wonderful, Righteous Things

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ISSUE #50 | OCT 2025, politics

Consent is More Than Voting

By Jacob Schulz Enshrined within the American system of politics is the foundational principle, boldly proclaimed by the Declaration of Independence, that governments “deriv[e] their just powers  from the consent of the governed.” That phrase, however, demands more than a single once-and-for-all expression of consent at the formation of the body politic and government. It also encompasses the right of the people to continually exercise … Continue reading Consent is More Than Voting

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From the Faculty, ISSUE #50 | OCT 2025

Jesus as Healer: An Interview with Dr. Kelly Franklin

What are your thoughts on Jesus as a “Healer”? I guess it’s been on my mind, this facet of the Christian faith, this facet of a fundamental part of Jesus’s identity that the Gospels lay out. I’ve been trying to tell people about miracles more, and the truth is that I have a friend who was crippled, and I’ve seen her run. I saw before … Continue reading Jesus as Healer: An Interview with Dr. Kelly Franklin

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ISSUE #50 | OCT 2025, literature, Religion

The Horror Novel as a Means to Conversion

By Frederick Woodward The horror novel is a unique subset of the fiction genre. In some ways, it can be understood as confronting the whole of reality more directly than many other types of storytelling, for it deals more intimately with the negative constants of our existence: evil, corruption in men, and the perversion of the natural order. The intent here is not to disabuse … Continue reading The Horror Novel as a Means to Conversion

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Book Reviews, ISSUE #50 | OCT 2025, Religion

Fire on the Altar: A Review

By Campbell Collins In his new book, Fire on the Altar: Setting Our Souls Ablaze through Augustine’s Confessions, C. C. Pecknold presents a “Catholic understanding of Augustine” (3) and thereby helps readers’ “souls to be set ablaze by that fire which burns for us in heaven and upon the Church’s high altar” (14). Pecknold’s approach is, perhaps, peculiar. The book is neither fish nor fowl: … Continue reading Fire on the Altar: A Review

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ISSUE #50 | OCT 2025, Short Stories

Storm Over Krakow

By Aidan Jones Black clouds gathered over Wawel Hill, twisting like the dragon that, according to popular legend, had once called the hill home. All throughout Krakow, citizens cast worried glances toward the sky, bidding quick goodbyes to their friends as they hurried homeward. Certain there would be no more business that day, the shopkeepers in the Cloth Hall shuttered their booths. Even the old … Continue reading Storm Over Krakow

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culture, Essays, ISSUE #50 | OCT 2025, literature

Libraries and Why You Should Care About Them

By Caitlin Filep There are few things that soothe me more during the crush of finals week than going down to one of the stacks in Purgatory and just sitting on the floor among the books. Most times it’s the children’s section for the nostalgia–I’ll often crack open an illustrated Harry Potter or a Percy Jackson book and lose track of time–but sometimes I’ll venture … Continue reading Libraries and Why You Should Care About Them

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ISSUE #49 | MAY 2025, Short Stories

Creative Writing Awards: “One-Point-Two Inches from Eighty Feet”

By Andrew Winter Mallery flung the map onto the dashboard, tearing it just at the point where a little dot said San Diego.  “Why not just drive off the cliff right here and be done with it?” she said.  Nub kept his eyes fixed forward, though he was not as calm as he seemed. “How many fights did we have growing up, and now that … Continue reading Creative Writing Awards: “One-Point-Two Inches from Eighty Feet”

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ISSUE #49 | MAY 2025, Short Stories

Creative Writing Awards: “No Time for Sparrows”

By Elizabeth Hoppel “I am tired—that’s the trouble, yes…just tired,” she thought, sighing deeply as she washed the dirt from beneath her fingernails in a large ceramic sink, filled to the quarter mark with soapy water. In the window’s reflection she saw wrinkles drooping down her face, every line etched like a tally mark, won in thankless labor. She began counting her wrinkles with her … Continue reading Creative Writing Awards: “No Time for Sparrows”

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