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!