About Enlight’ning 2017: The Fresh Issue

Inspired by our cover photographs, the theme for this year’s Enlight’ning is “Fresh.” Our writers and artists will carry you into the dizziness of first attraction, or the sharp cut of raw feeling.  But not all that is fresh is new.  Betsy Tian, in her essay on her grandmother, explores her strength in caring for her grandfather in his final days and the grief that remains, folded away, an old experience still green in her heart.  Our upper school guest artist, Matthew McCallaCreary, in his print, MLK, shows us that our need for Dr. King remains a wound, even if, fifty years after his death, we don’t always rightly remember.  Brazen is another meaning of the word, and Aria Wong, in her prose piece, Red, goes deep into the beast mode of the athlete in just a scattering of bright words.  Vivian Jin, in her poem, Metamorphosis, takes us from anger and bitterness to a sweep of elation that “thrums” through the writer’s “alert veins.”  There’s more of course, but we’ll leave you to wander in now and explore.  Indulge in these creations plucked fresh from the vine.

Editorial Policies of Enlight’ning

 Our magazine was created in 2002 as an opportunity for talented middle school students at the Harker School to publish their outstanding writing and art.  Enlight’ning is a club that meets weekly during the school day, and club members solicit magazine submissions from the middle school student body. 

All written pieces and art are judged “blind.”  That is, no names are attached to the work during consideration; furthermore, staff members absent themselves from the editorial process for their own piece.  Club members rate the submissions and discuss their strengths and weaknesses during the selection process, occasionally suggesting possible revisions to improve a promising work.  Art and literature is chosen for publication on the basis of intrinsic quality and also to present a range of subject matter and points of view.