Cities stream of consciousness

Where do all the houses come from? It seems like it must have been a lot of work to create all of the things that we see now, clustering in intricate coagulations. Brick buy steel beam by brick. Expanding on the outskirts, but slowly decaying within it. And as the cities grow, they overlap and replace anything in the way. The forest collapses in preparation for the incoming urban apocalypse, only to be re-planted in a desperate mimicry void of the fierce inexplicable wild that was somehow lost. Is this a bad thing? Not quite. Is it truly even an un-natural thing, in the end? Humans are just as truly pure and “natural” as any wild and free animal by themselves, but the real dispute seems to more concern their by-products. Mainly, their cities and towns. But again, why are they any less natural than the tools of chimpanzees? More complexity is not evil.

hillsman

It began with a devastating rumble that expanded across the waves, shaking boulders from the Cliffside, and creating a cause for the very heavens to shatter and mighty pines to splinter. Then rearing from the middle of the carnage, a colossal figure slowly emerged, eagerly clawing its way from its foreboding and vile place of origin. The first behemoth monster to desperately force its way up from the hellish fiery depths of the earth, to taste the cool night air with blistered, mossy skin, to peer with cobwebbed eyes towards its trembling victims. The hillsman cometh. First to rise from the eternal void beneath was the creatures wide head, the broad apex of which ended in a blunt, earthy growth that gave the creature its cursed name. The colossal shoulders and ribs as well were caked with earth, and festered with maggots and strange, sickly grass. The creatures contorted, wide face then rose from the sea. Its eyes were lifeless and vacant of the innexpliccable, lively quality with which all of god’s good creatures are indowed. Sprouting grotesquely from the beast’s huge mow, twin tusks, like two wicked twisting ivory blades. To gawk up at the creature’s immense form was akin to the tempest rage of the most carnivorous of storms. For from its goliath wrists twisted gnarled branch like fingers that grabbed with vile curiosity at all it saw.

Student Writing Contest 3

Where do all the houses come from? It seems like it must have been a lot of work to create all of the things that we see now, clustering in intricate coagulations. Brick buy steel beam by brick. Expanding on the outskirts, but slowly decaying within itself. And as the cities grow, they overlap and replace anything in the way. The forest collapses in preparation for the incoming urban apocalypse, only to be re-planted in a desperate mimicry void of the fierce inexplicable wild that was somehow lost. Is this a bad thing? Not quite. Is it truly even an un-natural thing, in the end? Humans are just as truly pure and “natural” as any wild and free animal by themselves, but the real dispute seems to more concern their by-products. Mainly, their cities and towns. But again, why are they any less natural than the tools of chimpanzees? More complexity is not evil.

student writing contest 2

As I walked through the wide expanse, the large space seemed much smaller by the addition of big rectangular pillars in the midpoint of the hall. On every available vertical surface, there seemed to be a smattering of color and form displayed in neat, modern frames. Many say that art is the purest form of communication, but this seems to beg the question: why do we make art? To communicate, yes, but why? why would the creative mind be urged so much as they are to spread his or her thoughts to the public? out of all of the vague, internal urges that the modern human feels, this one seems to be one more in-directly linked to our misty, primeval past. Is it that even the primitive, necessity driven man of pre-history had an inexplicable urge to create just like us? Could it be that the crude, simple shapes displayed on ancient cave walls prove the existence of this strange feeling? or is this urge just a by-product of our materialistic luxurious modern lifestyle, something that we only want because we can? But in the end, whatever the origin,art is still a fundamental part of our modern society, and as long as it can be appreciated and understood by others, it will continue to draw casual passers by and cultured critics alike to mosey through a gallery, invite us for a brief moment to quietly ponder, and to inspire, provoke, challenge.

slice student contest 1

To wander through a garden

To peer upon the plants

To solemn sit upon a bench

To touch the soil with hands.

The vines they have no consciousness,

the ferns are unaware.

they do not know of conflict, pain,

the have no quarrel there.

It seems that plants have no complaint at all within this earth

To never smile, but never weep

no sorrow, joy, or mirth.

But as I sit, my wrists are pricked by thistles on my seat

and yet in contrast to the pain,

sweet sun upon my feet.

So does the joy outweigh the pain, and is it all worth while,

or does the vague content of shrub

render real life too vile?

to never walk upon the sand, or use a tone of voice

but then I must remember that

we don't quite have a choice.