Creation
IS
ACTIVISM
Lead with generosity, feed with fish
Alexa Beaubrun
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day;
teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime
But through your eyes
people in need are just clutter
littering the pristine ground of your mind
Soiling the fresh taste of independence
inconveniencing america's royals
Give the man some sustenance, I say.
Two fish for him, perhaps.
Two fish to survive and thrive and have the ability to fish
Nourish him because he is human,
Then, fill him with skills that will aid him later.
But if we don’t feed the man before it's too late,
he will inevitably perish.
❧
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Staff and/or Submitting Art, Poetry, Photography, or Prose.
Red
Leonardo Castro
It could be a bowl of bright,
wet strawberries.
Or the hue of a sunrise
and sunset.
Even a roaring flame
eating a house.
Pools of blood or
some fruit punch.
A short, fancy dress at a gala.
The fire truck speeding
off to said roaring fire.
All of these things are
swelling, storing something
they want to burst out with.
Heat, flavor
passion, and intensity.
Whatever it may be, all of it lights
a spark of action and reaction,
defining our convictions.
Embers
Tyler Ritchie
Ash carries a prayer
Willed by charred fabric
From the match that marches
Trying to weave—trying to help create.
But its flame brings its
Work to ash.
❧
By Ariella Sanon
eurocentrism
Alexa Beaubrun
If I “fixed my nose” like they so often advertise,
I’d gaze at my reflection 100 times each day
Wondering— just who she was.
If I “fixed my nose” like they so often advertise
The hands of white supremacy would rejoice.
For another woman— a black woman
Has succumbed to their standards.
So I keep my nose wide and flat
Round and brown and beautiful.
Flaunting my history and difference in this world
Even when unrecognizable to the outside eye—
My beauty is surely unshakable.
By Asma Ahmad
Thank you for arriving!
The Speech Pathologist
Abigail Tavera
They were in the hospital
Just the man and the speech pathologist.
She scooping applesauce into his mouth,
And he just hoping he’ll be able to swallow
Without aspirating.
The man is gripping the sheets on his bed,
And all he is thinking is—
What a simple pleasure it is to eat?
And again, she tells him to open wide,
And the man is praying,
And the Speech Pathologist is too
Because he is only 43.
43 is kids and a wife.
It’s school nights and holidays.
It’s baseball games and vacations in humid places with palm trees.
It’s bike rides and a job at a place where the men wear ties,
And talk about important things in big rooms with fancy chairs.
The Speech Pathologist doesn’t say that, though.
She just says that 43 is young—
Young to be unable to eat.
Young to have a feeding tube.
Too young.
Again, the Speech Pathologist is studying her machine.
She is watching the esophagus,
Which looks black on the screen,
Gently push and pull the food down into his body.
And her red lips stretch into a smile
Because the food is on the right path,
And so is the man.
The Speech Pathologist tells the man, he’ll be okay.
Of course, she would’ve said that regardless, but she tells him
He’s not aspirating,
Instead he is only aspiring.
Aspiring for dreams he thought he lost
And the air which tastes like life.
Our Dear Cool Father.
Featured Artists
Wonderful to see you.
Our magazine prides itself on diversity amongst its artists. We are a publication run by students, for the student body. Here you will find lifetime creators and students who have built and shared something for the first time. We like to include all things that might inspire more creation. More voices.
Just take a walk around our gallery and you will be dazzled. Truly dazzled. Read a few poems and prose pieces and reflect on the voices and craft. Visit the art section and disappear into the oils and acrylics, the water colors and charcoals. Imagine the eyes of our photographers and love what they have shared. Go to the media page and listen to the TSDC live performances. Enjoy the raw, softly produced spirit of those musicians and spoken word poets.
This is a good place. A place that believes creation is activism. That the more we create, the more we exist. Walt Whitman wrote that a "kelson of creation is love." Yep, we agree. We are steered by it. We believe that a community of thoughtful sharing is a strong and beautiful place.
Want to read more about our team here at Xanadu? Head on over to our about page where we discuss our history and talk about our plans for the future.
By Paige Elar
2021/22 PTA Reflections
The PTA Reflections is an annual contest that honors the creativity and arts within the Whitman community. Students were encouraged to write and submit poetry based on the prompt: "I will change the world by." Below are the poetry winners for this year:
Award for Literary Excellence
Salma Laraki
Angela Shedlow
Congratulations, to the Xanadu community for the 2020 Silver Crown Award, one of the highest honors granted to digital publications this year by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. This award honors the top online student publications chosen from those of its members. Xanadu was one out of two online magazines nationwide to receive such prestigious recognition. The only gallery in New York. Much thanks to the many hands and hearts who contribute to the magazine.
Want to know more? Click here.
Walt Whitman
Over 200 years and there is plenty of evidence that Walt Whitman is very, very alive. And yet, there is plenty to reveal he is sadly absent. These days, we need his spirit and his funk more than ever. 200 years. Pick up Song of Myself and read one section a week (there are 52 sections) and we will bring him back- To Stay!
The "Father of the Free Verse,"- our town's very own Walt Whitman was an extraordinary essayist, journalist, and poet. Whitman was a controversial humanist who brought aspects of both realism and transcendentalism into his works. Whitman struggled to receive both recognition and compensation for his works when he first began writing, specifically his most famous work, Leaves of Grass. His writing was considered to be extremely controversial due to his mentioning of sexuality and broad thinking. Whitman fell in love with the written word at an early age through reading classic works of Shakespeare, Dante, and Homer, along with the Bible. Other than just being a writer, Whitman made a living through teaching and journalism. He continued working on his writing within newspapers, constantly developing his unique style. Whitman was praised for his non-conformist way of writing, as he was known to have little to no form, meter or rhyme. However, we know now that he did indeed have a wild new exciting and free and democratic way of exploring the human experience. We are so, so proud he is our father.