Ivy Schneider

Spotlight Editor  

At lunchtime on September 17, Eva Gellman ’14 shared a collection of her short stories and poetry to a group of students and teachers. In the program, Writes of Passage, students are motivated to share their work with classmates and faculty to create a strong literary presence at the school.

Gellman mainly presented her narrative, The Corner, a coming of age tale that displays the endless struggles many teens encounter in their lives, ranging from how to confront their friendships to supporting entire families.

“He went to his small room and closed the door. He pulled a glass jar full of his limited savings from under his bed and emptied his pockets. The coins clanked around the glass, the bills bent and crumpled at the bottom. He laid on the bed, his body tense, waiting, listening,” Gellman writes.

She explains that she came up with her idea of The Corner after listening to Notorious Thugs by the Notorious B.I.G and other songs. Instead of the typical gang member character, who has no apparent emotions, the author strived to create an image of an older brother looking after and guarding his younger sister, similar to how Gellman feels with her older brother.

“I wanted to write something that would take me out of my comfort zone,” Gellman said.

Her story transported readers to a whole new lifestyle that introduced happenings teenagers are faced with today.

Gellman also shared two of her poems, “Survival of the Fittest“ and “Insomnia”, in which she brought up ideas that all people can relate to.

Ms. Melody Mansfield, Faculty Advisor of Writes of Passage, as well Alison Rollman ‘14, Marc Pakravan ‘14, and Lizzy Cohen ’14, Creative Writing Leaders, also presented other poets who shared their work. Such students include: Andrew Binafard ‘14, Brian Younessi ‘14, Megan Taban ‘15, Carly Nasch ‘14, Brandon Yeshoua ‘15, Ricky Toren ‘15, Yoni Yasmeh ‘15, Bella Emsallem ‘15, Keren Givol ‘14, and Heddy Bokhoor ‘15.

The next spotlight poet, Anna Stern ’14, will be reading at the upcoming Writes of Passage meeting on October 10 during lunch.