sincerity
truth
&
design
A Letter from the Editor
Is everyone surviving out there, in this bipolar Cleveland spring? As I write this note, outside looks sunny with minimal clouds, which means… there's about a 50:50 chance of apocalyptic gray weather in half an hour or ridiculous humid heat by 3pm. Hailing from the make believe lands of California, I sure am at my wits end, missing the consistent blue skies and San Francisco ocean breeze. The month of April always brings around that same straining feeling of the final push to summer. The seasons tempt us with longer days matched with equally long study sessions and homesickness hits, paired with the melancholy that soon we must say goodbye to our CWRU family for 4 months. Here at Sigma Tau Delta we wished to provide some aid and entertainment during these stressful times. “What is Sigma Tau Delta?” you might ask. No, we are not an underground Greek Life chapter, but we are the English Fraternity - yes you heard that right, English Frats do exist! While we may not be able to offer the satire of The Athenian or the reputable news of The Observer, we wished to contribute a unique "English-y" touch to the wealth of campus publications.
Dubbed "expert book nerds" and "the writing roommates", this publication features content from opinion pieces to original material like silly texts between our Secretary Susie and DEI Officer Tiffany. For expert book commentary and an in depth essay on Frank Ocean's Blonde album head to the "Reviews" Tab. In the spirit of course registration, see the “Course Rundowns” for a touch of sage advice on some major classes offered by our department, recommendations that go for both Majors and Non-Majors alike. Hop on over to the "Poetry" tab for featured innovative writing from your fellow undergraduates - their talent blows me away. Peruse our home page for miscellaneous items and take a look around to discover more about who we are. If the weather is getting you down, here is a reminder to find that treasured spot on campus to settle in till the sun comes out to stay. Whether curled up in your bedroom or on the banana cream yellow couches in the Guilford Parlor – my personal favorite – take a moment to breathe and budget some time for friends. Or a book (an equally valid option). We are going to crush the end of this semester, and if not thriving at least we are surviving.
I thank you muchly for joining me in reading our first ever publication of "sincerity, truth, & design", I hope you enjoy :)
Charlotte (Charlie) Goyal
Editor in Chief and External Relations for ΣTΔ
Women’s History Month Feature: Elizabeth Alexander
selected by Tiffany Mei, DEI officer
About the author: Elizabeth is an African-American poet, essayist, playwright, and educator. As of 2018 she is also the president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. She graduated with a BA from Yale University, an MA from Boston University, and has a PhD in English from the University of Pennsylvania! She has quite a few collections of poetry including The Light of the World (2015) which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize! She also composed and recited the poem “Praise Song for the Day” at President’s Obama’s first Presidential inauguration in 2009.
For more information on her please visit: https://poets.org/poet/elizabeth-alexander for her many more accomplishments!
Poem link: Blues by Elizabeth Alexander (1962)
Blues by Elizabeth Alexander
I am lazy, the laziest
girl in the world. I sleep during
the day when I want to, 'til
my face is creased and swollen,
'til my lips are dry and hot. I
eat as I please: cookies and milk
after lunch, butter and sour cream
on my baked potato, foods that
slothful people eat, that turn
yellow and opaque beneath the skin.
Sometimes come dinnertime Sunday
I am still in my nightgown, the one
with the lace trim listing because
I have not mended it. Many days
I do not exercise, only
consider it, then rub my curdy
belly and lie down. Even
my poems are lazy. I use
syllabics instead of iambs,
prefer slant to the gong of full rhyme,
write briefly while others go
for pages. And yesterday,
for example, I did not work at all!
I got in my car and I drove
to factory outlet stores, purchased
stockings and panties and socks
with my father's money.
To think, in childhood I missed only
one day of school per year. I went
to ballet class four days a week
at four-forty-five and on
Saturdays, beginning always
with plie, ending with curtsy.
To think, I knew only industry,
the industry of my race
and of immigrants, the radio
tuned always to the station
that said, Line up your summer
job months in advance. Work hard
and do not shame your family,
who worked hard to give you what you have.
There is no sin but sloth. Burn
to a wick and keep moving.
I avoided sleep for years,
up at night replaying
evening news stories about
nearby jailbreaks, fat people
who ate fried chicken and woke up
dead. In sleep I am looking
for poems in the shape of open
V's of birds flying in formation,
or open arms saying, I forgive you, all.
strips
texting with tiffany (1)
drawn by susie kim
There's no one who understands the difficulty of producing quality writing better than world-class author Snoopy, so don't be discouraged by that writer's block--you'll get your spark back!