The Glendale Community College English Division & Alternative Field present
under/neath
an anthology of student writing
Under/neath. What lies beneath? It’s a question that has animated scientists from archaeologists to psychiatrists, microbiologists to chemists, geologists to physicists, and many more. It’s a question that speaks to the soul of therapists, surgeons, priests, deep sea divers, spelunkers, shamans, mushroom hunters and tree people of the world, as well as the explorers and fun-seekers, the curious, the brave, the soulful, the young and the young at heart. And of course, writers. Writers look at the undersides of things. We dive beneath the surface and look around. Touch what terrifies us and then find ourselves in thrall of the great mysteries. Just as we plant seeds beneath the soil in spring where they can germinate, we sometimes have to face the darkness in order to regenerate and grow, and discover new ways of being in the world. As we mourn the loss of so many communities and places in the aftermath of the LA fires, and as we face a time of great uncertainty and fear as a nation, we contemplate what’s under/neath.
This year, we are pleased to announce under/neath as our theme. Writers are people who look at the undersides of things, dive beneath the surface, touch what terrifies us –and in doing so, become enthralled in the great mysteries. And like seeds planted underground in spring, we sometimes go underground to bring forth new life. As we mourn the loss of so many communities and places in the aftermath of the LA fires, and as we face a time of great uncertainty and fear nationally, we invite students to contemplate what’s under/neath. We welcome all forms or genres of creative writing, including personal essays, short stories, monologues, or poems. Fragmented or hybrid work is also encouraged.
Writing prompts and sample readings for inspiration and discussion can be found below. You can use these prompts for an assignment in your class or just share them with students to help them get started.
Under/neath could be a place where exiled ideas and people go to live freely. Write about an imaginary or real place that allows and encourages people to speak truth, be bold, and agitate.
Write in the tradition of the deep image, metaphor, or symbol, where we write into abstractions and feelings, or thoughts that have no words because symbols and metaphors often say what our bodies might say if our hearts, livers, or bellies could speak.
Write something that explores the science of underneath. Recent discoveries reveal that trees communicate through root systems, fungi, and pheromones, that plants cry when they’re thirsty, and that sperm whales communicate using a highly complex system of clicks. Explore the science in a poem, short story, or memoir.
Write about the psyche, that which speaks through dreams and stirrings. Write about intuition, gut instincts, and the deep knowing that asserts itself in our bodies.
Write about the LA wildfires. After a fire, nature experiences a period of dormancy. We live through the unimaginable and then keep living. What was sleeping that has been awakened? What waits for fire in order to burst open and bloom? What will we build in the aftermath of the destruction? We invite you to write about the fires in any way that feels necessary to you, whether poetry, stories, or creative nonfiction. Use this as a chance to document your experiences or process your grief, or take a more scientific view that looks at the natural cycle of wildfire, or the new extreme nature of fires.
Submissions due by Monday, 5/5 at 11:59 pm Pacific Time
Up to 3 pages, double-spaced for submissions in prose (fiction or creative nonfiction), poetry or drama
Open to all students at Glendale Community College
Please write your name (how you would like it to appear in the publication) and contact information at the top of your submission, and please include the city in which you live.
.doc or .docx files only please
Email submissions directly to Kate Martin Rowe at kmartinr@glendale.edu
& then, join us for the reading & book launch on
Thursday, May 29th AT 6PM PACIFIC TIME
@ AVENUE 50 STUDIO on fig, 3714 N. Figueroa st, 90065
All work will be published by Alternative Field, as part of a zine project coordinated by Kate Martin Rowe of Glendale Community College. Alternative Field, and it’s imprint Alternative Field Notes, is committed to disengaging from writing that perpetuates violence in its many forms, and as a publisher, this means not accepting work or writers of work that support racist, xenophobic, classist, sexist, misogynistic, ageist, ableist, homophobic, and or or transphobic ideologies.