SCF Venice — A Literary and Arts Magazine
Night at the Fair by Christine Penxa
Beautiful Imperfections by Tatyana Sumakova
Reflections by Andrew Colantuono
Sleeping Sun by Andrew Colantuono
Steps to Heaven by Andrew Colantuono
Ring of Fire by Andrew Colantuono
Cleared for Landing by Deborah Kiewiet
Line Dancing by Deborah Kiewiet
Under the Bridge by Daniel DeBrun
SCF Sky by Daniel DeBrun
Morning Dew by Daniel DeBrun
Beautiful Weed by Becky Raph
Elegant Lady by Beck Raph
Remember Your Brother by Bill Graydon
Not Forgotten by Taylor Meredith
My Brother’s Masculinity by Grant Kayashima
Melting Point by Kat Douse
My Surely Doomed Flight by Michelle Papini
Auction by P.J. German
The Retard by P.J. German
Searching for Judy by Melissa Laterza
The Shaper by Adam Gadomski
Because Santa Had a Rash (faculty selection) by Douglas Ford
Michelle Papini (Editor in Chief) is in her sophomore year here at the State College of Florida. She will be receiving her AA at the end of the semester and transferring to Florida Gulf Coast University in the fall to receive her BA in Journalism/Creative Writing. She was the fiction editor of the fall 2009 issue and hopes to continue pursuing magazine production.
Christine Penxa is in her first semester on the Elektraphrog Staff. She is currently working on her Associates of Arts Degree at SCF, and plans to go on to FSU to major in International Relation. Some of her hobbies include listening to music, writing, and reading, photography, singing, and playing instruments. She enjoys traveling and learning about world culture. More recently she has volunteered at the Sarasota Film Festival, and won second place in a Photography competition at SCF. When she is not hanging out with friends she can be spotted most often at Barnes and Noble, or Starbucks.
Cherstin is co-editor-in-chief of Elektraphrog, and is part of an elite, wandering group of college students with no academic goal as of yet. A native Floridian, her vices include writing, caffeine, nicotine, and Palahniuk, in no particular order. A former HUMINT collector, she’s traded in her Army stripes for life as a mom. Her work has been recently published in Dog Oil Press.
Becky Raph will be a junior this coming semester at the University of Central Florida to obtain her degree in Event Management. She is recently engaged and has more pets than can be counted. Becky also founded “Jason’s Cure” which is a non-profit organization focused on helping those who are struggling with addiction. She has had a blasty blast working with the Elektraphrog family and being a part of this magazine!
Brenda Weiss has been self-employed for 30 years with husband John Weiss in the field of concrete and contracting. Brenda has attended SCF for two semesters now working toward a degree in Journalism/ Photography.
Kenisha Pittman is a nineteen year old and has been a CNA now for two years. She is an independent mother and has a two year old daughter. In her second semester at SCF, she intends to finish pre-requisites to become a dental hygienist
Julie Kashishian is finishing her 2nd semester here at SCF. She’s working towards her degree in Journalism/Photojournalism, and has big plans for write for the “Alternative Press Magazine” in Ohio some day. She lives in a crazy household and has eight brothers and sisters, and for a fun fact, she enjoys being the Vegetarian that she is :]
Daniel DeBrun is the current Web Master of the Elektraphrog web site. Daniel will graduate from State College of Florida with an A.A. and plans to transfer to one of the area’s art schools to pursue a degree in Web Design and Interactive Media. Daniel is father to the most amazing two boys on the planet, Austin and Aiden, and has almost been married for two years. He has been part of a “Three Time State Champion” wrestling team (placing third individually), spent three years working avionics on the B-1b Lancer, B-52 Bomber, and the B-2 Stealth bomber for the United States Air Force, and spent a few years working in casinos in Las Vegas as a Blackjack and Roulette dealer. Daniel has also done Hollywood extra work in a movie called “Race to Space” starring James Woods and Annabeth Gish, and recently took on the leading male role at Lemon Bay Playhouse in the stage performance, “Cheating Cheaters”. He currently works as a student assistant in the remedial reading and writing lab, and in the computer information systems lab for State College of Florida (Venice). Daniel is proud to be part of State College of Florida’s online literary arts magazine!
PJ German – former editor in chief for two semesters and current student advisor of Elektraphrog, president of Swamp Scribes, student blogger for the SCF website, and teacher aid in the English lab – does much more writing than he has time for. He is graduating in 2010 with his A.A., and will attend USF in the fall to continue his education in English.
Doug Ford has now served two semesters as the faculty advisor for Elektraphrog. His other duties at the State College of Florida include teaching a variety of literature and writing courses, including creative writing. His own work (often of the macabre sort) has appeared in such publications as Poe Little Thing, Wicked Hollow, and Spinning Whorl. Meeting him can cause nightmares.
Cherstin is a thinker, part-time student, writer, full-time mom.
by Kat Douse
“I want to tell you something,” he murmured into my ear. His body felt safe nestled around me and his breath was warm on my neck. The soft of our fleece blanket cocooned us comfortably.
“What?” I answered, playfully snuggling closer to him, pressing myself against him as though trying to make us one. I was always trying to get close enough to him.
He rolled away from me, reestablishing distance between us. “I don’t think I can do this anymore,” he whispered coolly. “You’re my girlfriend. I don’t want a girlfriend.”
As he sighed his confessions, my mind wandered to the list I found, peeking out at me from underneath a stack of bills, earlier that morning. At first, I thought it was an old grocery list. I started to crush it into a ball to throw it away, but at a closer glance I realized it was not meant for my eyes. It was a list of reasons, judgments.
The two columns were divided by a line. The serpentine squiggle slithered its way down the center of the crumpled page. It couldn’t have taken more than two seconds to draw. The heading of the first column was titled “REASONS NOT TO.” It was scrawled sloppily in all capital letters, bleeding into the crooked division. As I read each of the scribbled accusations, rebuttals composed themselves in my mind.
I don’t want a girlfriend.
“We don’t attach labels to our relationship.”
Like kissing an ashtray.
“You smoke, too.”
Social butterfly.
“You know half the town, I know the other half. It’s not my fault our friends want to pull up a chair in the middle of our romantic dinner dates.”
Not physically attractive enough.
I didn’t have a quick comeback for this one. I couldn’t believe my soul mate was so shallow, so like my father.
I don’t want a girlfriend.
I didn’t think it necessary to respond to this one a second time, even though my lover felt required to state it twice. My eyes moved to the second column, a shorter itemization than its cruel twin. “REASONS TO.” At that point, I was surprised there were any.
Love.
My heart responded to this, rather than my mind. “I love him, too. More than anything or anyone. I’ve never felt this way about anyone else. What we have isn’t just physical, its also a spiritual connection. We’ve known each other forever – through lifetimes. The first time my eyes met his, I recognized him – the piece of myself in him.” My heart was much more emotional than my mind.
Passion.
“Between us? Or mine?”
Love.
I found it touching he wanted to write that twice, at first. I thought it was a testament to just how strong his love for me was. Then I decided, maybe, it was a reminder rather than a declaration. At this point, my irrational heart began to sink. Tears welled up in my eyes. I couldn’t stop them from spilling over. Instead of crushing the list into a ball, I tore it into little pieces, as though destroying the physical would somehow cause the indelible ink on my mind to dissipate. I finished going through our bills, and left for class.
That day my Calculus professor lectured on derivatives. I loved the logical way every beginning was always reduced to x=h. The concept was brilliant in its simplicity. I started looking at the rest of the math in my mind and started looking at equations. No matter how complex the problem, and no matter how many variables were included, x always ended up equal to something. This comforted my wounded heart because if x=h, then love must be enough.
Then I thought about when x is undefined, or when x has no solution. There are problems like that, too, and I got scared. I don’t think I took very good notes in Calculus that day. I decided to switch subjects. I moved on quickly to my Chemistry class where we learned about the boiling points, melting points, and freezing points of certain chemicals. We discussed that the definition of a melting point is the point at which a solid changes into a liquid. With certain substances, this melting point is at an incredibly high temperature, and with others, a mere thirty-three degrees Fahrenheit is sufficient. I just wanted to concentrate on class, definitely not what I was going to face at home that evening.
The universe aligned perfectly to allow me to segue into work straight from school, and by the time I was done with a six hour school day and an eight hour work day, I was ready to sleep. I got home. I showered, and climbed in bed beside him in the dark. He inhaled sleepily and kissed me hello. We made love slowly and tenderly. I was sure everything was okay. His “REASONS NOT TO” were just passing annoyances, I shouldn’t have read them in the first place. They were his, not mine. He was here, with me, in this moment, and it was as it should be.
I was jolted back to the present conversation, or rant, rather, because a conversation implies two participants. As he cataloged his grievances, I tried to listen patiently, even though, mere hours before, these points had been hammered into my brain. None of the initial rebuttals I had made their way through my lips. I felt frozen, numb. He looked at me, searching my eyes for conformation or disagreement. At that point, I wasn’t sure which. I met his eyes with a blank stare in mine.
“Come on, Lana. Say something,” he barked briskly at me.
“I guess love isn’t enough,” I responded, yielding to my melting point.
Kat Douse is a current student at SCF, Venice Campus. She enjoys her exciting career as a barista, and her challenging course load. She grew up in Brentwood, TN, and relocated to Venice, FL in 2002. She loves writing, especially poetry, and hopes to continue it for as long as she can.