The 2021 issue of the Dawson English Journal is here! Enjoy essays on humour, poetry, horror, fantasy, music, and contemporary fiction. Many thanks to our diligent student editors, student authors, faculty advisers and you, our readers!
Issue No. 12: Academic year 2020-2021
FEATURED
I am in my last year of the Liberal Arts program. I wrote this essay for a course I took in my third semester titled “Hardcore Hamlet,” taught by Amanda Cockburn. My current interests include whining about the state of anything and safely making my way into the world (and by “safely,” I mean incurring as little emotional damage as possible, since sources report the outside is scary). My plans for future studies include perhaps actually doing them. I would have said that…
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I am in the Child Studies profile of the Social Sciences program. I wrote this essay in my first year for a Reflections course called Don’t Go There: Trespassing, Transgression, and Taboo in Literature and Film. I look back on this class with fondness because I took it when my cegep experience was just beginning. This essay is something of a time capsule for me, as it contains what was on my mind during this optimistic time. It also includes…
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About the Author I am a second-year student in the Literature Profile of the ALC program. I wrote this essay for my Reflections class, analyzing the female monsters in the Odyssey. I wish to continue my studies in Literature for a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree. Feminine Monster By Beatriz de Souza Neves For The Odyssey, with Prof. Rebecca Million Maleficent, Cruella de Vil, Bellatrix Lestrange, Hela, Queen of Hearts and The Wicked Witch of the West are just a few examples…
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Kwey! Yowtz! Hello! I’m Arlo (they/them). I’m 18 years old, I’m from Kitigan Zibi Anishinaabeg and Haisla First Nation, and I’m in the Literature profile of the ALC program. In my essay, I examine themes of Indigenous Science Fiction present in Eden Robinson’s “Terminal Avenue,” as well as her portrayal of intergenerational trauma within Indigenous communities. As an Indigenous student, having the space to explore these topics is very important to me and I would like to raise awareness on…
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About the author: I’m Julie! In four semesters of Literature at Dawson, throughout almost 30 classes and an immeasurable number of essays I’ve written, this may be my favourite. It was written during my Literary Theory course and inspired by the mass confusion my peers and I experienced on the topic of poststructuralism. As one of my old teachers professed: it’s baloney! However, don’t take my word for it. Read about it and Susan Sontag’s opposition to interpretation in my…
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My name is Vithuya Sivakolunthu. I am currently a social science student in the Law, Society and Justice profile. I love English, history, and sociology, so I was not particularly surprised when I enjoyed a play about the Troubles this much. I hope to continue overanalyzing creative works of all kinds and to make some of my own. In Your Head, They Are Fighting: Gerry Adams’s Metaphorization in Cyprus Avenue By Vithuya Sivakolunthu In Cyprus Avenue, Northern Irish playwright David Ireland…
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My name is Noah Leve. I am in the Cinema and Communications profile in the ALC program. I have loved my time studying film and exploring my interests at Dawson which has led me to pursue Political Science in university next year. I wrote this essay after a semester of reading and analyzing the work of Shirley Jackson. I began by searching for a clear link between the three stories. I came away with greater insight into the life of…
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About the author: I’m Julie, and I’m a fourth semester Literature student. This essay was written for my first real poetry course– before this time, I wasn’t really sure how to, or why I should, analyze poetry, but my professor Luke Reid’s love and enthusiasm for poetry rubbed off on me, and here we are. Of all the poems we read for this class, John Keats’ “Ode to the Nightingale” is one which I still think about to this day, and the…
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About the Author This article was written last spring, just as the world was falling apart. Sequestered at home with my eyes glued to the news, I witnessed the BLM protests and sudden re-ignition of activism after the death of George Floyd. I felt powerless. Writing seemed the most substantial way to feed this renascent wave. I graduated from Dawson College in the Health Science program in winter 2020. Now, I am studying Microbiology & Immunology at McGill. To this…
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About the author: My name is Ruby Gosa. I am in my third year of the Physiotherapy Technology program. Though I chose to pursue a career that is somewhat more manual and active, I have always loved reading and analyzing different works, particularly those which are more ambiguous to me. This is where my interest was piqued in my Cinema Styles course when we viewed Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin, an admittedly weird film that nonetheless moved me. While soon…
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This analysis on “Anatomy” was written during my second-semester English course called Poetry in the Liberal Arts program. Professor Sue Elmslie was the instructor and the one who encouraged me to submit my essay to the Dawson English Journal. I thank her for inspiring me to continue to work diligently when the pandemic first arrived and my motivation was low. Thank you, Professor Elmslie, for nurturing my love for poetry and for allowing creativity to flow through your class. I…
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I’m in my fourth semester of Liberal Arts, and this essay is from a poetry class I took in my second semester. While it’s been 30 years since Anita Hill’s trial, her struggles are still very much relevant. I hope Hill’s strength and the poem analyzed in this essay resonate with some of you. Next semester, I plan on studying Political Science at McGill University, and I am looking forward to learning and writing about other powerful women such as…
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I am a fourth-semester student in the Liberal Arts program. My historiography on Katherine Phillips sparked an interest in the coterie — the insular network of poems and letters is so distinct from our current methods of producing and consuming art. My study of the sources of history has since extended to my work as a copy editor of Dawson’s The Plant newspaper, where we are in the process of making our archives digitally accessible. I am an avid reader and creative…
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About the author: Despite opting to study music technology after high school, and now being in my second year of 3D Animation and CGI here at Dawson, I’ve always been certain that in a not-so-distant alternate universe, a version of me is pursuing either creative writing or journalism. It’s unfortunate that English classes usually end up pretty low on my list of priorities these days, since my core classes have been so intense, but I’m still grateful for the push…
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I am currently finishing up my last semester in Health Sciences and looking forward to studying applications of genetics. Exploring Shirley Jackson’s works (and horror in general) for the first time was not easy but captivated me by how readers are handed an honest and deep reflection of our internal struggles. My essay was built on the foundation of the observations of many of my peers and of an innovative and passionate instructor. Jackson’s Use of Horror to Liberate…
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About the Author Hi, my name is Naomi Abramovich and I am a second-year Liberal Arts student. I wrote this essay about the poem “Post-War Procession” by Anita Lahey, focusing primarily on the psychological aftermath of war on soldiers. This paper was written at the beginning of the pandemic, and re-reading my analysis of Lahey’s work, I find it particularly relevant to our present experience. Faced with this war of our own, this collective trauma, it is hard to imagine…
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