Undergraduates Publish in Intraminutia

English Department undergraduates Kayleigh Kearsley, Sadie Olsen, and Ella Stott recently published their work in the Sigma Tau Delta Far-West Region literary magazine, Intraminutia.

Kayleigh published a fiction short story entitled “The Truth” and a poem called “No Man is a Star.” Her short story followed an American family who discovered the atrocities of the Vietnam War, inspired by a course she took on the war with Senior Lecturer Dustin Crawford and combined with skills she learned in Assistant Professor Amber Caron’s fiction writing course.

“There was a lot of misinformation that was spread during this war, but it also became the first televised war, due to technological advancements. This allowed the American people back home to discover everything that was occurring over in Vietnam,” Kayleigh says. “It’s a fascinating topic that I became very passionate about, which is how my short story was born.” 

“No Man is a Star” was born out of an exercise in Senior Lecturer Shanan Ballam’s poetry writing course. “It’s about how ‘No Man is a Star’ and yet we still reach and yearn to be,” Kayleigh reflects. “To me, it’s a reminder of human resiliency and desire—that even when we know we can’t have something, we keep wishing and hoping anyway.”

Kayleigh reflected on what it meant to receive the email of congratulations from Intraminutia. “To be honest, I never imagined that I would publish anything. Growing up, I didn’t do much creative writing. It wasn’t offered in my small high school, and it wasn’t really on my radar as an option,” she says. “Being published helps me to realize that I actually can write, and I can write well. I have the ability to write pieces that other people will want to read and will hopefully be inspired by. I just want readers to know that you can do anything you put your mind to do. You don’t have to completely master something in order to be successful at it, but you do have to try.”

Sadie also published two pieces, both poems written in Assistant Professor CR Grimmer’s introduction to poetry writing class. She says, “My first poem, ‘blood-ridden-strata’ came from inspiration that struck when my friend and I visited May Swenson Park at the bottom of Old Main.”

Her second poem, “Wending,” is a version of a Golden Shovel poem, an invention of Terrance Hayes in which each word of one line from an existing poem is used as the last words in each line of a new poem. Sadie chose “Dreams” by Langston Hughes as her inspiration. “I’m so excited to see the poems taking on a life outside of my own computer,” she reflects.

For Sadie, this publication was an opportunity to share her love of poetry: “This is the first time that any of my work has been published, and I am so grateful to Intraminutia and Sigma Tau Delta for giving me a space to share my poems with others.”

Ella had a poem and nonfiction essay selected for publication. The poem, “Parallel Pendulums,” examined unrequited love and the haunting feelings it can evoke. “Through the lens of someone who believes their soul is intrinsically linked to someone else, the poem reflects on the most fundamental part of the human experience: heartbreak,” she comments. 

Her essay, “January or July,” was originally written in Professor Jennifer Sinor’s flash nonfiction class and explores the similarities between religious and sexual trauma. Ella reflects, “The essay explores the effects of PTSD as it relates to faith and relationships both with others and oneself. It can sometimes be very vulnerable to not only write nonfiction but put it out for publication. However, I hope there is something within this piece that others can relate to—writing is so beautiful because of its ability to connect people with other people, and I would be honored if my work was able to do that.” 

Ella spoke on the world of rejection for creative writers and how to get through it. “Publishing can feel incredibly daunting, especially when you’re used to getting rejection after rejection. I’m so grateful to Intraminutia for publishing my pieces, but I’m also proud of myself for continuing to put out my work despite the sometimes-negative game of publishing,” she comments. “For every acceptance you get, you get a million rejections, but the important thing is to keep trying. The pieces I published had previously been rejected, but they were still publication-quality, and I am honored to have them recognized by Intraminutia. So, you have to keep submitting work you're passionate about because it will fit into a journal or magazine, even if another one isn’t looking for it at that moment. If you believe it should be out there, it should. Listen to yourself and keep trying because it will happen.”