Northern Lights

Leinster approaches the notion of ‘othering’ through the element, vision, and its related elements, light and darkness. According to Dr. Stephen E. Palmer’s textbook Vision Science: Photons to Phenomenology, “vision relies on three basic elements, adaptation, sensitivity, and perception”(5). Eyes adapt to various levels of light in order to sense and perceive any figures within the environment. As light decreases, the eyes adapt up to a point until the range of sensitivity drops to a level that…

I am Scout, I can't move or talk. My brother is Jem, he too can't move or talk. We are soap. We were carved yesterday by Boo Radley. Yesterday, Boo took us out of the upstairs bathroom and brought us downstairs into the kitchen. He grabbed some knives out of the cupboard and took us toward the living room rocking chair. He sat and started to carve me first. I am, of course, made of soap so the process wasn't painful. Boo slowly curved the knife while stopping now and then to recall his memory of…

Almost a year ago, when I was 15, my house was broken into. My parents had given me permission to stay home from school because I was feeling extremely stressed. Instead of going to school, I was to spend the day working from home. Since I hadn’t slept much the night before, I decided to take a quick nap before studying. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to rest for long. I woke up to the sounds of glass breaking and unfamiliar voices yelling across my house. At first I thought it was just a bad…

Cars come and go. People stumble in. People stumble out. I wait longer and longer for my dad. Slowly turning over each individual page of my book, till I’m finally done. As the time ticks by I can glimpse the sun’s light rising over the country side. The smooth glazing of light slowly circling around the horizon amazes me. How does it do that? More people stumble in. More people stumble out. The stench of alcohol and smoke on people as they stumble out is excruciating. The chemicals of the…

The bright yellow light of the sunlight beamed right into my eyes. Half blinded I adjusted to my surroundings. I sat up and looked around, I fixed my tousled hair. Looking up at Devon and Anthony past asleep I knew I was up early. My phone had no signal and was at the point of dying. I turned around and see danny wide awake. He smiled big and said goodmorning . We greeted each other and gave a tight hug. We both got up and began to see what was going to happen at our last day in Wisconsin. We…

unbearable. The room I was in was pitch black, But it seemed that the walls were painted plain white, with no windows and no light. There was a wooden floor stained and old it looked as if tomato juice was spilled on the floor...or that’s what I hoped it was. The room I was in seemed small but had an empty feel in it. I see a bed and a bookcase in the room. But I can’t see a light switch of any kind. I finally got the nerve to knock on the door, to see if I can get anybody’s attention. Nothing I…

going to happen, I just know it. ‘How did I end up here?’ I think to myself. I cannot remember anything. The room is pitch black. I warily feel my surroundings, cautious of what is around me. ‘How did I end up here?’ I reiterate. Suddenly the room lights up and a scrawny man with a dour disposition appears. His gaping eyes stare blankly at me. “What’s your problem?” I ask. No response from the man. “Can you at least tell me what’s going on?” I question. Still no words from the stolid man. I…

got set. Another full run-through of the show. It started to drizzle, then slowly but steadily, it began to pour. The band’s yells echoed off of the bleachers as the drum majors began to conduct, “Dut, Dut! DUT! DUT! DUT! DUT!” The searing bright lights flashed on like the lightning in the sky, one by one, striking in the air. “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the time has come for the show you’ve all been waiting for...give it up for the Metamora...Marching...,” the announcer took a…

At first, she tried to get the attention of anyone who would stop and look at her. Unfortunately, these were the same people who worked in the carnival. They seemed unimpressed and unmoved by her pleas. Perhaps they all knew already what went on in that tent, or maybe they just didn’t care that some strange girl was begging for help. And if she thought she might get help from one of the attendees, she was wrong. Reaching out, Ruby Ann stopped a young couple. They looked a little embarrassed to…

The painting is in form of asymmetrical balance, although both the left and right contain similar elements, which are a humanoid figure and a tree, the visual weight is heavier on the right due to the usage of a more saturated colour, which creates a more intense contrast between the red of the humanoid figure and the green of the tree nearby. Moreover, the size of the forms mentioned above is also larger than those of the left, and thus also contribute to the heavier visual weight. In terms of…