This short story is about an adolescent boy and girl who are best friends and the boy comforts the girl when she fears for her older sister taking her own life. We learn at the end of the story that the boy had his older brother take his own life two years prior. It’s a horrible thing that some young siblings have to go through and it changes people’s lives.
2. What genres would you say this story is in?
This story is in the literary fiction genre and is written in a young adult style that is very simplistic and easy to follow, but has a poignant message about love between older and younger siblings, and best friends.
3. How would you describe this story in two words?
Vintage, summer
4. What movie have you seen the most in your life?
The movie that I have seen the most in my life is Girl, Interrupted.
5. What is your favorite song? (Or, what song have you listened to the most times in your life?)
My favorite song is This Is What Makes Us Girls by Lana Del Rey.
6. Do you have an all-time favorite novel?
My all-time favorite novel is Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates.
7. What motivated you to write this story?
The loss of my older sister and her love for the 90s motivated me to write this story.
8. If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would that be?
If I could have dinner with one person (dead or alive) it would be Ernest Hemingway.
9. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
I am also passionate about art and music, and learning about the law.
10. What influenced you to enter your story to get performed?
I have received a lot of rejection letters for many of my short stories, and I just thought this competition would be a nice way to get some feedback and something tangible to motivate me to continue doing what I’m doing and have something to show people what I can.
11. Any advice or tips you’d like to pass on to other writers?
Well, I’m not really qualified to give tips about writing. I feel like I’m the one who still needs them, but if I have to I would say write a good title that makes you feel proud of your piece and don’t get discouraged by what could inspire you instead.
Produced by Matthew Toffolo ==== Get to know the poet:
1) What is the theme of your poem? The theme is about what role society wants you to play versus how you want to live your life and then how you fit into society by living authentically.
2) What motivated you to write this poem? I was motivated to write Hotel Confessional as I started to examine parts of myself and why I am who I am. It was an exercise in vulnerability and honesty. Sharing it turned out to be very cathartic.
3) How long have you been writing poetry? I started writing poetry during the Covid pandemic. It just kind of came about out of nowhere. I believe having a lot of free time gave me the opportunity to be more creative than I ever imagined.
4) If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would that be? Hmm, that’s hard. I’d love to have dinner with people from my favorite bands(My Chemical Romance, Pearl Jam, Deftones, Pierce the Veil) and pick their brains about how they create their music, but, ultimately, I would choose my father, who passed in 2010.
5) What influenced you to submit to have your poetry performed by a professional actor? I wanted to keep pushing myself out of my comfort zone by continuing to share my poetry in a very public way. I’ve learned I love collaborating with others. Why not do it?
Cindy LaFors, an admin assistant, accidentally summons a demon in her office while composing an update to her company’s SOPs.
2. What genres would you say this story is in?
Humor, Paranormal, Satire
3. How would you describe this story in two words?
Sinister fun.
4. What movie have you seen the most in your life?
Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. I used to rewind the part with Large Marge and watch it over and over again.
5. What is your favorite song? (Or, what song have you listened to the most times in your life?)
Kiss by a Rose – Seal.
6. Do you have an all-time favorite novel?
Wuthering Heights. I’m a sucker for the prose.
7. What motivated you to write this story?
It was an exercise for one of my writing classes in my MFA program at San Diego State University. I wanted to write a story about a woman who must confront an evil boss and stand up to him. The humor and paranormal aspects came naturally, drawing inspiration from Good Omens.
8. If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would that be?
Kurt Cobain.
9. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
I really like cats and have four of them.
10. What influenced you to enter your story to get performed?
This story received a lot of good feedback — and tons of laughter — from family, peers, and others when I read it out loud at the culmination of my MFA program.
11. Any advice or tips you’d like to pass on to other writers?
Write what you like because it’s essential to have good writing motivation.
It’s about my paternal grandfather. I wanted to write a poem “to” him and to “honor” him in a way, to make up a dialogue where I’m communicating with him.
2) What motivated you to write this poem?
I don’t know anything about my paternal family, so a lot of what I do is imagine random people and what they’d be like. I wanted to see if there was anyway I could voice that in writing, since it’s not something I particularly would like to talk about.
3) How long have you been writing poetry?
I’ve been writing for about 4 to 5 years now. As a kid, I tried to be the boy who journaled all the time, but it didn’t stick. Only when I got older did I learn how to write routinely (or something like that).
4) If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would that be?
At this point in time, I’d most likely would to have dinner with Lizzie Miles. She was Afro-Creole blues singer popular during the early and mid-1900s. I love listening to recordings of her powerhouse singing and her switching back and forth between French and English lyrics. She was fantastic! I’m a singer and I love music, so it would be awesome!
5) What influenced you to submit to have your poetry performed by a professional actor?
I wanted to see what it would look and sound like for someone else to perform my work. Plus, I figured it would be fun to do. I’m very new to putting my work out into the world, whether that’s performing on stage, doing readings, or submitting to journals and contests.
6) Do you write other works? scripts? Short Stories? Etc..?
Besides poetry, I write music (mostly R&B, arias, soul, indie-ish), short stories, and the occasional essay. Lately, I’ve been gravitating towards writing more prose and more scripts. I have some projects that may turn out to be something. Hopefully!
7) What is your passion in life?
My biggest passions in life are music and writing. I love the two as a means of expressing myself, storytelling, and reaching out to people. I also love history, genealogy, etymology, languages, and research. I’m a big nerd for learning!
____
POEM:
I wish I could’ve met you That you could’ve told me stories about your childhood, your family, anything I wish we could’ve had coffee together, or a breakfast as foreign to me as everyday-bacon Maybe sausage, Virginia-style! Or Carolina grits, anything! I got too many missed chances with folks, I had absolutely no chance of gettin’ to know you I pray you were enough of a God-fearin’ man, pray Heaven is where you are Maybe we could meet there, or maybe we were never meant to know of each other Only God knows.
The theme of my poem is vulnerability and the fear that often accompanies it.
2) What motivated you to write this poem?
I’m actually emetophobic. I’m also very introverted. One day, I wondered if there might be a connection between the two aspects of my life. I realised that maybe there could be. So, I started thinking about the similarities between my fears(vomit and opening up).
3) How long have you been writing poetry?
I have been writing lyrics/poetry since I was in first grade. I started picking up on it more when I was about 13 years old.
4) If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would that be?
Good question! There’s a lot I would choose. But if it has to be just one, I’d probably have dinner with Jon Bellion. He’s a music artist. From behind the scenes of his songs, he makes it clear how much thought he puts into the formation of his artistry. I gravitated to those videos. So, it would be amazing to learn more about how these ideas formulate in his mind and how he first started bringing these ideas into fruition.
5) What influenced you to submit to have your poetry performed by a professional actor?
I have a lot of creative works stored in my files for years. In fact, this piece was originally written 2 years ago in a creative writing course. Having recently graduated from college, I decided to trust myself a bit more in my creative writing capabilities by submitting a creative work. Of course, I went back and edited it before submitting it. I figured the worst I could hear back is “no.”
6) Do you write other works? scripts? Short Stories? Etc..?
I’ve written lyrics for original songs. I’ve co-written 2 plays that were performed. I’ve written short stories, and have even started teaching myself to write a longer-term project.
7) What is your passion in life?
My passions in life are singing, acting, and creative writing. I’ve sang all my life, started creatively writing when I was about 8 years old, and although I’ve only started acting at 19 years old, I’ve grown to love it just as much.
—– POEM:
Ugh, I don’t know. Maybe the reason I’m scared of throwing up is the same reason I don’t say what’s really on my mind, you know? You have an idea of what’s coming out, but you’re still not ready for what it is. Maybe, it’s because I would be sharing an ugly part of myself, in a way at least… Better yet, maybe it’s because when I start, I won’t be able to stop, right? I won’t be able to catch my breath and even if I feel somewhat relief, I’m also left feeling empty and shaken.
Shaken by what came out or shaken by the fact that I actually let it and now I’m seen in a different light… But, yep. I’m emetophobic. That’s why I’m afraid of getting drunk, or pregnant, or both. If I’m dumb enough to, that is. But anyways, I fear for my life when I get nauseous. When I see others even gag, I move to evacuate…Speaking of which, I think I had a bit of a breakthrough, huh? I should, uh…I should probably, you know… Same time next week?
The theme of this poem is “ghosting”–how people move in and out of each other’s lives and the hurt and longing it provokes–as well as sparking memories of joyous times spent together. I pride myself in staying in touch with people, but truth be told, I haven’t always been so good or absolutely reliable. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t portray myself as a victim to other people disappearing. I am part of this “system” too.
2) What motivated you to write this poem?
Finding out about the death of a friend. We had fallen out of touch and I wondered what had happened to her. This brought me to other memories, and also instances where I made the decision to stop a friendship. The biggest loss for me, though, is losing my mother before she could see me truly happy in my life. I have gone through all the stages of mourning, but the end result is that I still miss my mommy.
3) How long have you been writing poetry?
I have been writing poetry since I was a child. I started studying poetry in high school and had an excellent teacher, and I am still in touch with her (thanks Beth Thompson of SWS/Brookline High School). I returned to poetry again when I was in my late 30s, after writing nonfiction for many years as an academic. Though I write short poems focused on an image and an observation, I also like to write more sprawling narrative poems, filled with asides and indulgences.
4) If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would that be?
Elizabeth Bishop–her poetry, especially her works written in Brazil, continue to inspire me, especially how she describes becoming oneself away from home.
I’d love to have dinner with the Brazilian inventor and aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont (sorry Wright brothers, he was the first). I visited his self-designed home in Petrópolis, which is so lovely and also very wacky, I thought I’d like to sit down with this amazing eccentric. Who else? I love witty people with sharp tongues—so folks like Truman Capote, Dorothy Parker, Oscar Wilde, James Baldwin, and Fran Lebowitz would be great to listen to at dinner.
5) What influenced you to submit to have your poetry performed by a professional actor?
I don’t like reading my work aloud. I prefer it when other people read it. I’m told I have a good speaking voice, but when it comes to my own work I am never sure if I should act it with emotion or recite the words dispassionately. When I do readings, I prefer talking about the “back story” of the poem, rather than reading the work itself. I imagine a reading where other people read my poetry. Having a professional voice actor reading this particular poem, is a gift I just couldn’t refuse.
6) Do you write other works? scripts? Short Stories? Etc..?
I write creative nonfiction as well as poetry. For many years I wrote essays, but that part of my output is dwindling as I retire from academia. I teach media and film and I love advising students who are working on scripts but I don’t write them myself.
7) What is your passion in life?
Apart from writing, I love traveling, kayaking, floating, cooking, eating, napping, drinking flavored seltzers, making pesto, dancing, envisioning and working toward a re-awakened, more democratic USA.
—– POEM:
I. She was a difficult person, too smart for academia perhaps and reluctant to self-promote and angry that she was unsung unlike her acclaimed grad school chums. As Little Edie said she was a “staunch woman” and the world—or her particular subfield of art history— just didn’t like that. She told me about the numerous friends and infrequent lovers who had wronged her, so I knew our friendship had a time stamp on it. But O how we would kiki and make fun of our straight colleagues (and how some of them deserved our bitchy ridicule after all the phobic behavior they smugly presented to us queer folk!). She was so witty and so lonely too. Her lovely apartment on East End Avenue was covered in dust. Sometimes she wanted an audience more than a friend, other times I was her trusted ally, seeking and giving out advice, providing camaraderie. And then I never saw her again. Years later I found out she died from cancer.
II. We had a stormy, silly romance. I needed something time-consuming to avoid focusing on my dissertation and he certainly gave me drama with his erratic, if ardent, behavior. He wasn’t working and I noticed letters from the management company for back rent piled on the kitchen table— He lived in a doorman building, and I lived in a tenement. But I paid my rent. And had money to take us out to dinner at the diner. He had been a model for Valentino and was trained as a classical singer. He was funny and loved to laugh. He loved to call everyone Miss Thing, including me. He planned to become a Heldentenor but he wasn’t quite ready he said to be on stage to sing heroic Wagnerian roles. So he continued his voice lessons. One day I noticed his back had mysterious spots on it. He tested positive for HIV and I tested negative. I pledged that I would stand by him no matter what. But then I never saw him again. Years later I did a search on the Internet And saw that he was married and teaching voice at a college in the state where his mother was from.
III. My mommy was a regal German-Irish feminist from the Bronx, A strong swimmer afflicted with polio when young. She was also a cry-baby like me and when we watched Old Yeller together, we sobbed, and then laughed at each other. She cried too when Bewitched was interrupted to announce that MLK was assassinated. I tried to comfort her but couldn’t. No laughter then. Later when I thought I was grown up, I started calling her by her first name. She smiled each time I did this, as if to say, call me what you want— I know you are still my baby boy and no matter what name you use inside you are calling me Mommy and you always will. Mommy was your first word and it will be your last. O Jean. O Mommy. I have so much to tell you. I have a husband and a dog and I’m happy. Well, most of the time. I am taking care of your house, and its land, which is mine now, but it is still yours too. And it turns out, I’m not crazy after all, but the world is. In her last days she was in hospice care in her rented apartment in Brookline. Though she was ready to be released from her shrinking body, she took a turn for the better and I jumped on the Amtrak train at Back Bay to resume my NYC life, if only for a few days. But before the train pulled up to the Route 128 stop, my father called sobbing. And then I never saw her again.
IV. Sorry, but I refuse to sum up. Yet I must confess I have attempted the disappearing act too
Nothing happened in 2058, 30min., France Directed by Charles Ritter 2058. France is part of the Greater Reich, winner of the Second World War. All the world’s documents have been digitized by GAMOK, which has become the sole reference in History.
The World Needs You, 3min., Portugal Directed by 4.ºB Class Colégio do Marítimo In a world where unity makes a difference, small gestures build bridges, but a lack of cooperation builds walls. And you, will you be part of the problem or the solution?
(mis)Match, 3min., Portugal Directed by Grupo 5.º Ano ESC A self-centered man lives locked in his world until he has a moment of shock. A story of regret, empathy and cooperation.
Message of Change Directed by Grupo 3.º/4.º EBCC Two astronauts have a mission in space. Unexpectedly they issue a worldwide alert as a way to spread a message!
Rose Colored Glasses, 12min., USA Directed by Aiyanna Randolph, Frida Ajanel, Caper Ratchford A young girl meets a guy through social media and realizes that he has different expectations of her than she has of herself. This film follows the girl as she changes herself so that the guy will accept her, with interviews from young people who has experienced the male gaze a tried to change the status quo.
The Beauty in Being Different, 8min., USA Directed by Rebekah Grace de Guzman, Jairemei De Padua, Madison Mcmorrin Watson, Jennifer Tecum Three girls share their story about not fitting the mold due to their feelings of inadequacy stemming from the harmful effects of beauty standards and how they overcome it.
Work in Progress, 12min., USA Directed by Claudia Shin, Olivia Smith, Lenny Vargas Four women in positions of power discuss the hardships and triumphs of working in politics, academia, business, and entrepreneurship.
All You Need is Less, 9min., USA Directed by Adira Blades, Angelica Guillen, Erin Dela Cruz “All You Need Is Less” is a documentary film that unravels fast fashion’s hidden costs, from the factory floor to the For You page. Consumers don’t take into consideration the effects that trends have on the world, targeting mainly women who are more susceptible to fashion trends because of underlying societal issues. Everything comes at a price. The future of fashion is in our hands.
Where Home Never Was, 9min., USA Directed by Rain Herbert “Where Home Never Was” chronicles the lived experiences of Arielle Busby and her mother, whose lives are upended by homelessness. As mother and daughter confront the systemic barriers and personal challenges of homelessness, their story unfolds with raw honesty and emotional depth.
Words I Can’t Forget, 9min., USA Directed by Anabella Trujillo, Yaretzi Pineda, Catalina Kennedy, Izzy Medina “Words I Can’t Forget” follows multiple women’s experiences of being criticized on social media and in their own communities, and how this affects their personal and professional aspirations. Throughout the film, women reflect on their personal stories and take solace in the stories of others.
Roses Through the Cracks, 10min., USA Directed by Nargis Fazili, Alexandra Abundez, Leonora Garcia, Kimberly Ortiz-Ortega Story about 4 immigrants within Los Angeles, conveying their stories about the challenges and struggles within the immigrant experience that can also birth moments of beauty. Though there do exist challenges faced by a majority of immigrants, the immigrant experience isn’t miserable but accompanied by lively and joyful moments. The film de fpicts a contrast embedded within the concept of this experience, sharing how the difficult and virtuous coexists.
Festival Reviews 