Author: The Wild Grain

OneFiveHundred

THREE LINES BETTER THAN EVERYTHING I’VE EVER WRITTEN – Hongtao Hu

OneFiveHundred Mission Statement  0: three lines I consider “Special Registration in MECH 340” a prose poem of sorts, better than most of the poetry I’ve written.  I remember reading the email for the first time on Fizz, (an anonymous posting platform), and bursting out laughing. It’s really a diamond in the rough, as Fizz frequently consists of students bemoaning their classes or commenting irreverently about life events (as they should).…

The Wild Grain
OneFiveHundred

OneFiveHundred Mission Statement – Hongtao Hu

There are things too large for us to handle. There are things that overwhelm us. There are things that can take us away, break us, twist us, keep us alive. There are things in this world that need to be done and aren’t, things that shouldn’t be done and are. There are worlds within our world that are incorrigibly plural, there are worlds born dead and still living. What I…

The Wild Grain
Poem of the Month

December Poem of the Month: Themes on an Exit by Alina Zhong

Themes on an Exit Novelty, and I’m not sure— Yesterday I felt a casual breeze and the loneliness of previous autumns came rushing back. I have the sense, or the symptom that the more I lose in sleep the more myself I become. It carves around myself: I pare down more tender, sore and supple, organic bruises beneath my eyes cosplay something more lovely. Winter is coming. It’s a warning.…

The Wild Grain
Outside Reading

Books To Procrastinate With: Easy Reads From the Editors

As September approaches its end, the semester is in full swing. With midterms around the corner, it is peak procrastination time at Rice University. Rather than encouraging you to do your work, The Wild Grain wants to help you procrastinate in the best way: with a fresh book. Here are the best books to procrastinate with, from the editors!  The Idiot – Elif Batuman Calling The Idiot an easy read…

The Wild Grain
Prose of the Month

Prose of the Month: How to Grapple with the Fact That You Will Never Be Extraordinary by Caitlyn Ladd

How to Grapple with the Fact That You Will Never Be Extraordinary First, you must know that one day you will be asked a question you cannot answer. It does not matter how prepared you may be, or how many times you rehearse your reply to the unknown query: it is not a response to be spoken aloud. The next few steps will be critical to your understanding of what…

The Wild Grain
Events

Prof. Morín’s Poetry Reading and Book Launch

Fairy lights twinkled against the dark bluing night sky as the murmur of the audience drifted in waves, carried by the breeze, weaving in and out of rows of seats, dissipating towards the front, where a wooden lectern stood against the red-bricked background of Rice University’s Ray’s Courtyard. It is here that poet Dave Lucas began to speak. Lucas’s curled hair, thick-rimmed square glasses and colorful shirt caught the eye…

The Wild Grain
Features

“Molding Clay” by Sarah Easley

We are thrilled to feature Sarah Easley’s final project from Dr. Castromán Soto’s “Graphic Novel in African American Literature” course. Titled “Molding Clay,” this amazing series of papercut art compositions imaginatively visualizes excerpts from W.E.B. Du Bois’ well-known speech/essay, “Criteria of Negro Art” (1926). Sarah Easley is a visual artist and recent Rice graduate with degrees in Visual and Dramatic Arts and Political Science. Working primarily in sculpture and illustration, Sarah explores…

The Wild Grain
Features

Video Essay: “DIASPORA”

In this stunning video essay, “DIASPORA,” Sanvitti Sahdev, Kelly Park, and Joyce Chen meditate upon the intimate threads that weave the complex webs of their transnational identities. Considering their relationship to diaspora, Asia, America, and “home,” they craft a profoundly nuanced portrait of the complicated ties that can at times bind, while at other times connect. This project was created in Prof. Marte-Wood’s “21st-Century Asian American Literature and Racial Formation” course.…

The Wild Grain