Literature

Sydney Berry

Carly Cole

Amy Coté, Ph.D.

Film

Greg Young

Greg Young

Creative Writing - Poetry

Joanna Blaine

Sarah Chew

Hannah Collins

Edie Smith

Creative Writing - Personal Narrative

Anonymous

Jennifer Ellis West, Ph.D.

From the Editors’ Desks - Special Series: Gender and Sexuality

Clay Birchfield

Preston S. Blakeley

Ellen Kessler

Grace LaFave

Juliana Mink

Contributors

Sydney Berry is a Samford alumna from Memphis, TN. In her spare time, she imagines worlds and people and attempts to make them into literature.

Clay Birchfield is a senior English major from Leeds, AL. Between doing schoolwork and managing life’s responsibilities, he enjoys chipping away at his “to be read” pile of books and trying to make enough time to write any of the creative pieces he has endless plans for.

Joanna Blaine is a senior English major from Gulf Breeze, FL. She enjoys solving calculus problems and reading Shakespeare, sometimes simultaneously. You can find her at Taco Mama with friends when she isn’t overthinking in the English department Annex.

Preston S. Blakeley is a senior English major from the small town of Argyle, TX. When he is not serving as the Managing Editor for Wide Angle, he is most likely playing racquet sports, bantering with buddies, or listening to The 1975. He hopes to flee the U.S. after graduation.

Kyle Bowman is a graduate accounting student from Fort Worth, TX. Between his early morning breakfast meetings and his regular night classes, you might find him on a run, with his friends, doing homework, reading a book he’s still in the middle of, creating something new, enjoying the outdoors, or sometimes just taking a nap.

Sarah Chew is a sophomore English and Philosophy double major, originally from the foot of a mountain in Albuquerque, NM. She finds that playing piano, listening to friends, and putting words to things makes life a little more worthwhile.

Carly Cole is a junior English major with a minor in business from Mountain Brook, AL. She is a member of Sigma Tau Delta, and she is planning on furthering her education with an MBA. When she isn’t studying, she enjoys playing tennis, running, reading, and trying out the local coffee shops.

Hannah Collins is a senior Philosophy major from Roswell, GA with minors in Communication Studies and Writing. She plans to pursue a career in publishing and work on hobbies like reading, writing, and gently (she hopes) correcting other people’s grammar.

Dr. Amy Coté is an assistant professor of English at Samford, where she teaches a little bit of a lot of things. You’ll likely meet her in classes like British Literature II, Fiction and Film, the Core writing sequence and, as her piece in this issue of Wide Angle chronicles, the History of the Book. Her two literary loves are the Victorian novel and letterpress printing.

Ellen Kesler is a junior English major from Franklin, TN. If she is not editing for Wide Angle, she is probably running, playing pickleball, writing, or trying out subpar stand-up material on her friends. She has a multitude of ambiguous plans for her life after graduating.

Grace LaFave is a junior English and Secondary Education dual major from Franklin, TN. In her spare time (which is not often lately), she enjoys reading, writing, being outside, and playing the piano. She is not completely sure what she wants to do with her life after college, but she is excited for the adventure.

Juliana Mink is a junior English Major. She is passionate about Wide Angle, Wendell Berry, learning the guitar, overalls, and peppermint tea. After graduation, she hopes to stay in school and fend off the corporate world for as long as she can.

Edie Smith is a junior English major with a Film Studies concentration. When she is not at cross country practice, doing schoolwork, or teaching swim lessons at the YMCA, she is most likely listening to Motown on a long walk or accidentally falling asleep while re-watching Dawson’s Creek. In the future, she hopes to be a middle school English teacher who coaches cross-country and track (or swimming) on the side.

Dr. Jennifer Ellis West is a teacher of writers, a scholar of writing, and a writer herself. She loves witnessing students’ growth from their first college essays in the Core Writing program to the varied writing they do in their lives and careers after graduation. Her scholarly work about how writing works to effect change in the worlds of health and medicine can be found in Literature and Medicine, Women’s Studies in Communication, and Gender and Society.

Anonymous is a proud Samford alumna. She is inspired by the prose of Sylvia Plath, the poetry of Mary Oliver, the creative nonfiction of Malcolm Gladwell, and the fantasy and theology of C.S. Lewis. She dreams of being an author and an attorney (not necessarily in that order).

Greg Young is a senior Engineering Physics major with minors in Computer Science and Mathematics from West Melbourne, FL. Besides physics, cinema is one of Greg’s greatest interests, having served as the president of Samford’s Film Club since he was a sophomore. After graduation, Greg will be attending graduate school in pursuit of his Ph.D. in Physics.

Submissions will be accepted from all Samford students, faculty, and staff. Publication of any and all submissions is up to the discretion of the Wide Angle editorial staff. Upon acceptance of submission, the contributor will be required to sign a copyright waiver prior to publication. All written submissions must follow current MLA style guidelines and be free of any grammatical errors. All submissions must be anonymous.

Critical Essays

Reviews and Commentaries

• Reviews of recently released novels, short stories, poetry collections, scholarly works, and anthologies. Reviews should be around 1,000 words.
• Commentaries on recent literature- related events (poetry readings, poetry competitions, plays, author readings, conferences, lectures) or other topics in print culture. Commentaries should be around 1000 words.
• Reviews of recently released films, DVDs/BluRays, and scholarly works pertaining to cinema. Reviews should be around 1,000 words.
• Commentaries on such subjects as: local film-related events/topics (Sidewalk and Snapshot film festivals, repertory and independent screenings at The Alabama Theater and The Edge, etc), national/international film-related events (the Academy Awards, Sundance and Cannes film festivals, conferences, etc.) or other topics in film culture. Commentaries should be around 1,000 words.

Short Film

• Short films must be original and should not exceed 10 minutes in length.
• Short films should be submitted as .mov or as another format compressed into a .zip file.

Poetry

• Submissions may consist of one to three poems.
• All poems must be contained in one Word document. Each poem must be formatted on its own page with a title for each poem. Include explanatory or contextualizing comments if necessary.

Prose

• Prose may be short fiction or creative non-fiction.
• Submissions should not exceed thirty pages.

Screenplays

Managing Editor: Preston S. Blakeley

Preston is a senior English major from the small town of Argyle, TX. When he is not serving as the Managing Editor for Wide Angle, he is most likely playing racquet sports, bantering with buddies, or listening to The 1975. He hopes to flee the U.S. after graduation.

Assistant Managing Editor: Juliana Mink

Juliana is a junior English Major. She is passionate about Wide Angle, Wendell Berry, learning the guitar, overalls, and peppermint tea. After graduation, she hopes to stay in school and fend off the corporate world for as long as she can.

Literature Editor: Grace LaFave

Grace is a junior English and Secondary Education dual major from Franklin, TN. In her spare time (which is not often lately), she enjoys reading, writing, being outside, and playing the piano. She is not completely sure what she wants to do with her life after college, but she is excited for the adventure.

Film Editor: Ellen Kesler

Ellen is a junior English major from Franklin, TN. If she is not editing for Wide Angle, she is probably running, playing pickleball, writing, or trying out subpar stand-up material on her friends. She has a multitude of ambiguous plans for her life after graduating.

Creative Writing Editor: Clay Birchfield

Clay is a senior English major from Leeds, AL. Between doing schoolwork and managing life’s responsibilities, he enjoys chipping away at his “to be read” pile of books and trying to make enough time to write any of the creative pieces he has endless plans for.

General Editor: Dr. Geoff Wright