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Nationwide Access to Paid Parental Leave
The Department of Languages, Literatures, Cultures, and Writing at Slippery Rock University hosts an annual scholarship contest, the James Strickland Award, for the best essays to come out of our first-year writing course (English 102.) Below is one of the honorable mentions for the 2021-2022 academic year. In selecting this essay for recognition, Dr. Strickland noted, “everyone, I am told, assumes that any program that would improve the lives of our citizens would be too expensive and too much government overreach. Jaden Boyle makes the case that Nationwide Access to Paid Parental Leave would actually have a positive impact on our economy. Jaden’s argument is so well presented that it is…
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Lifting a Financial Burden
The Department of English at Slippery Rock University hosts an annual scholarship contest, the James Strickland Award, for the best essays to come out of our first-year writing course (English 102.) Below is one of the honorable mentions for the 2021-2022 academic year. In selecting this essay for recognition, Dr. Strickland noted, “Melanie Putt’s essay is a well-reasoned argument in favor of providing a universal basic income for every United States citizen. Melanie offers the benefits and drawbacks of the plan and to those who find the concept unbelievable, she presents examples of how it has successfully worked in Alaska, California, Kenya, and Canada.“ By Melina Putt Money. It is something…
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Welding Compassion
In Selecting this essay for the third-place in the James Strickland Scholarship, emeritus professor James Strickland notes, “James Byron’s essay was a delightful surprise: a meditation upon the value of teaching meditation, controlling one’s breathing, and practicing compassion. All of it done while supposedly teaching welding techniques at a trade school. James’ unusual story includes the reaction of some of his students, like Leroy from Homewood, but the real joy of the piece is hearing how James himself became a convert. Imagine the karate kid with a welder’s mask.” By James Byron Have you ever considered the power of a single breath? We all breath, automatically, involuntarily. It’s something we do naturally, without…
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The Feminist Movement: The Needed Shift for Women in Their Careers
Each year the Department of English selects outstanding essays from ENGL 102 Critical Writing as entries in the James Strickland Award in Writing scholarship contest. RockScissorsPaper is proud to publish these pieces in our summer edition of the website. Below is the second-place winner for 2022, Sasha Jantsch. Dr. Strickland writes: “Sasha Jantsch’s essay on the necessity of the feminist movement in 2022 is a powerful argumentative essay in the traditional research genre. Not only is the feminist movement not superfluous today, but Sasha also argues it has established and protected the rights of women in the workplace, rights that would have never been realized otherwise. Her essay reminded me of a…
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Nuerotypicals Speak
Each year, the Department of English awards the James Strickland Award to the top essays from ENGL 102 Critical Writing. These pieces are selected first by writing instructors, narrowed down to 10 by a select committee of reviewers made up of department faculty, and then ultimately selected by professor emeritus James Strickland.Below we are proud to present the winner of the 2022 James Strickland Award for Writing, Zach Sterza.Dr. Strickland explains: “I enjoyed reading Zach Sterza’s essay, “Neurotypicals Speak,” because it was so professionally written, so carefully researched, and rhetorically so in control. I had some experiential understanding of autism, so I knew his essay was probably about autism spectrum…
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The First Peril of Love
By Aaron Caplea The first peril of love The picture of a younger man- A sentiment of long ago; Surrounding, an old woman stands, Remembering her time: A boy and girl, both holding hands, Not seeing where the night will go; Their unrepentant heads will band Together, they will find. . A girl will lock her dreams inside; A boy does what he knows: Himself, agree to never tell The very girl his name. The woman can recall the time: A land that god had sown- And one that ordered fire set To any ounce of shade. . But every thought of him felt false, The memories too hard to…
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The Voice in Silence
Story by Hailey Joslin Photo by Carson Denney Dear friend,Please take caution in beginning this work. I have shared a story that is deeply personal,but may also be traumatic to some readers. Please take caution if topics surroundingsexual assault, rape, and/or suicide trigger you in anyway. I hope you enjoy. At sixteen I walked around without a chip on my shoulder, head held high. With apassion for life, music, and friendship. I strolled down the hallways with hope of a bright andsuccessful future. My junior year was similar to many others, uneventful yet full of drama. Thegossip of who slept with who, the latest fight, and why the power couple…
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Downpour
By Austin Gray Cults come with some serious downsides. Dart had been aware of that going in, but hethought most of those problems were for the followers. Yet, here he stood, ankle-deep in waterand pig shit trying to stop the rain. It started two weeks ago, harmless and calming rain. Afterthree ceaseless days, the basements of the complex began to flood. Several of his disciples hadlost their food stores before they even realized the problem. Being the speaker of the God—theinflection of ‘the’ showing his divine supremacy over lesser religions—meant that he had thepower of ultimate sight, and as such he should have been able to foresee the loss of…
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My Perspective on Religion
By Carson Denney I was raised baptist. I went to a baptist church with my very religious parents from 1stgrade to 10th grade, when my dad stopped making me go. My dad never liked church, but hewanted me to learn all the bible studies and he was not confident as a teacher. I ended upworking at a church in early high school and attending that churches’ youth group regularly. Itwas around this time that I started to figure out I was queer, and I remember being reallyconflicted about my identity in relation to religion. I remember one particular day in freshmanyear, right after gay marraige was legalized. I sat in…
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The Human-Raised Prince: “Some Things Come with a Price”
By Alyssa Fallavollitti It was a rainy Tuesday morning, which meant it was a school day. “Noah! You’re going to be late for school again!” His mother shouted from the bottom of the stairs. This happened every morning because he was almost never on time. “I’m coming mom!” Although he was running late, he was in no hurry. He calmy walked down the stairs and grabbed a piece of buttered toast that was prepared for him and took a bite, leaving it hanging in his mouth. He grabbed his stuff and waved to her as he walked out the door. It was pouring, the air smelled like a combination of…
