Welcome to the 2008 Literary Issue

“Getting published isn’t the important thing. You write in order to be able to breathe.” – Samuel Beckett

Thirteen or fourteen, bent over an open notebook, I wrote furiously, passionately, about a couple in love – being chased by gangsters. A simple plot, regarding matters I knew little to nothing about. The urge to write the story came suddenly, forcefully – like something gripped my lungs and, as Beckett alludes, only as the words fell to the page could I find air, soothingly sweet air.

Before plot was even a relevant term to me, before I began to understand the mechanics of a comma, before college professors stood at their podiums and repeated the same two words over and over – “sensory details” – I wrote and wrote and wrote without a sense of purpose or motivation. I locked my shared bedroom, lit three violet candles, and filled the dark space with the melody of a slow Spice Girls song on repeat. My mother was concerned for my sanity while my sisters were annoyed by my absence. Yet, I craved pen and paper like others crave instruments, cameras, paintbrushes, and clay. I craved the sheer satisfaction of imagining, creating, and exhaling.

This contest embodies that natural, phenomenal impulse to create and to revel in others’ creations.

I would like to thank all the artists, writers, poets, and photographers, who put their work out there. Whether you find your story, poem, or photograph in these pages or not, keep creating – not for an audience, a publisher, honor, glory, or money – for yourself!

I would also like to thank the judges, Henry C. Timm, who has judged the Literary contest since the beginning, and Linda Aschbrenner, who stepped in as this year’s poetry judge at the last minute and graciously obliged our every request, for their time, effort, and expertise, as well as the Peninsula Pulse staff for their aid, patience, and participation in the judging of the photo contest.

Finally, I would like to thank the readers of the Peninsula Pulse, for supporting this paper. Enjoy the literary edition of 2008!