The release of this year’s edition of Penumbra, CSU Stanislaus’s art and literary magazine, will coincide with the book’s annual reading on May 9. The students behind Penumbra will host it in Main Dining from 6 to 9 p.m. Finger food, desserts and refreshments will be available.
“In comparison with issues from the past couple of years, 2014’s Penumbra is much more edgy,” Managing Editor Jessica Dickman (senior, English) said.
“Though we have our usual nature poetry, some of the pieces that the class selected were dark and tortured. There is a clear balance of light and dark, but I think the edginess of this issue speaks to the environment we are living in today. Life isn’t cupcakes and sunshine all of the time, so it’s only realistic that art and literature reflect that delicate balance.”
Among the pieces being read are “Driving San Joaquin” by Val Morehouse, returning reader Vanessa Brazil’s piece about loss, “Nothing to See Here,” and even a poem by a secondary school student, Brook Chau, “Ode to a Broken Heart.”
The balance of light and dark referred to by Dickman is present in the prose poem “Lock Box.” In its short length, the poem tells of the speaker’s seemingly impossible struggle to rejoice in her self while simultaneously locking that self away in fear. Yet “Lock Box” ends on a hopeful note, looking ahead to the day the speaker and her partner “will smash this miniature wooden cabin of shame into a thousand pieces.” The language is general enough to encourage readers to identify with its universal themes of self-discovery and acceptance.
“I hope it can be read in a number of ways, but for me it was about the experience of coming out and sort of learning to accept that there are going to be some people who don’t agree with my relationships,” Jamie Cook (senior, English) said.
“I’ve been with my girlfriend for four years now, and it took me a long time to learn to isolate that negativity. I think the poem was really cathartic for me in that way.”
There will also be a separate event for the artwork featured in 2014’s Penumbra. The showing will occur during a council meeting at Turlock City Hall on May 13 at 5:30 p.m., and a guest Penumbra writer will lead the session with a brief reading. Though the specifics are being finalized, the artwork will remain up for viewing in City Hall for a couple months.
Both events are free. Christina Abdou, Regina Droll and Tina Lane are emceeing the reading, during which the 2014 edition of Penumbra will be available for $10.