The Mayo Review commemorated their 52^nd annual issue this semester. Published students attended the event and had the opportunity to read their poems to the audience.

The Mayo Review launch event took place at the Hall of Languages and was open to students, staff, faculty, and anyone who wanted to learn and listen to the student’s poems. One of the students who read her poem titled ‘Flightless’, and she explained that her parents were very protective of her.

“My parents love in such a way that they want to keep me away from the outside world. It’s kind of like feeling trapped. So when I wrote that poem what I was really thinking of was that I wanted to get away but there was something that held me back. For me, as a little girl, I didn’t want to be the princess. I wanted to be a superhero,” freshman Quy- Image Miller said.

The journal is published every Spring semester. By creating poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, drama, and visual artwork, students are able to express their feeling, dreams, creativity, and fears. They let people know a little more about their life. Each individual has a story to tell that expresses who they are or where they come from.

“Tomorrow is always the day / they promise to let her escape,” Miller’s poem read.

The event featured special guest Dr. Courtney Craggett, a recipient of the Sherwood Anderson Editor Choice Award and whose work appeared on Ploughshare’s blog, and she has been nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize. She also teaches creative writing classes at the University of North Texas.

During the event, Craggett read three of her fiction. Before she started reading she introduced the work and the creative history behind it. The first one she started reading was “Statues”, a fictional what-if scenario about living statues.

“The day the statues came to life, we hid inside and watched through windows. In Texas, herds of mustangs stampeded into buildings. Down in Mexico, monks swept through the streets, and their footsteps split the sidewalks and sent spider web cracks up the buildings,” Dr. Craggett read who then opened the floor for questions from the audience.

In addition, Christopher Wydler, the Editor-in-Chief of the Mayo Review, explained details about the cover picture for this Spring 2017 issue.

“The cover of this year’s Mayo Review volume is an original drawing by tattoo artist Cesar Falcon. He lives in Killeen, TX where he works and lives with his wife and son. The medium of the piece is charcoal on paper. The title of the art is ‘Chac.’ The piece reflects the Maya rain deity often referred to as Chac or Chaahk,” Wydler said. “Falcon was inspired to create this piece following a trip to Mexico. As he describes it, he stepped off the plane and instantly had a feeling he could not articulate with words. He could only describe it as a primal awakening that gave birth to spiritual connections felt long ago. Using the craft he knows, Falcon immediately sat down and began drawing with charcoal.”

If you want to obtain a copy of The Mayo Review they still have issues available to purchase $10 each. You can email [email protected] for your issue.