From the Editor
The final issue. What a great and interesting year it has been. I'm profoundly happy with the progress we've made as the new guys of the club. With this issue, we decided to let loose with Summer Freestyle.
Isaiah made a fantastic poem with great figures of speech. He's really developed over the course of the year into a really strong writer and poet! I decided to play with the idea of a chiasmus, with a story within a story. Mr. V-K brought up an excellent story from the archives from 1983!
Overall, it's a bittersweet feeling. It's been a great year but feels like it's gone by so fast. Only so much time left, in high school, but we just have to make the best of it. I'm really looking forward to next year, and to what we can accomplish as a team again.
Signing off,
Evan Carrillo
Isaiah's work
"A time long waited to be seen
was the summer after Covid-19..."
Evan's work
"My muscles throbbed. My hands were red, from strain. I could feel the sweat dripping down my face. The sun’s mighty rays beating down on my skin. The constant flip and slap of my hair. I had a big one on the line..."
From the Archives
Editor's note: Bill Caldarelli's story, The Rainmaker, from 1983, is typical of the type of works found in the early issues of 451Press. In them, we find relatively polished poems and short stories full of description, distinct settings and strong characterization. It's clear that the students of that era had revised their works considerably -- these are no off-the-cuff jottings. In its structure, Caldarelli's story plays with time and memory. In its content, it's a classic consideration of doubt, deception, dependence and faith. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. - Mr. V.-K.
The Rainmaker
Bill Caldarelli
For the first time since his wife, María, had died while giving birth to this son, Madra walked into the church. He had sworn that he would never again enter that building. He couldn't believe that there was any God that would have let her die. But now his son's life was in danger, and suddenly he felt he needed a God.