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Creative Writing: 2006-2007 Winning Entries

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Poetry

Short Story

Personal Essay

One-Act Play

About the Authors

Janet Burruel

HONORABLE MENTION, ONE-ACT PLAY: Simple Machine
Janet graduated cum laude from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Education and enrolled in Creative Writing classes at Phoenix College in 2001. She thanks her teachers, Laraine Herring and Jed Allen and fellow student, Nicole DeLeon. She also thanks Manny Burruel and Jane Monachello for their constant support and encouragement.

Michelle Aigner

HONORABLE MENTION, ESSAY: Solace in the Written Word
Michelle was a professional ballroom dance competitor and a social dance instructor for ten years. She returned to college a year ago where she is discovering new passions, including writing. Michelle also enjoys traveling, hiking, rock climbing and music.

Jennifer Pillen Banks

HONORABLE MENTION, POETRY: Death’s Kindness to the Living
Jennifer holds a bachelor’s degree in English Education from Arizona State University and a master’s is English from George Mason University. She owns a writing and editing business. She would like to thank her son, Cade, for reminding her to pay attention to things like dead butterflies.

Carrie Behrens

SECOND PLACE, ONE-ACT PLAY/SCRIPTS: Taco Palace
Carrie’s love for telling less than mature stories began in high school when she penned a hundred-page comic book entitled, Beauty and the Frogman. In addition to writing she enjoys running, sketching, and laughing at the world with her husband, Richard. This is her first award.

Janet Burruel

THIRD PLACE, ONE-ACT PLAY/SCRIPTS: Signs
Janet Burruel graduated from Arizona State University in 1990 and has been enjoying writing classes at Phoenix College since 2001. She would like to thank Jed Allen, as well as Ken Kulhawy and the Saturday morning playwriting class.

Beth Drechsel

HONORABLE MENTION, ESSAY: Enlightened
HONORABLE MENTION, FICTION: The Big Swing

Beth was born in Kansas in 1957, the fifth of six children. She moved to Arizona when she was two and was raised in a remote area on the Navajo Indian Reservation. She has always loved reading and writing. Her favorite childhood memory is visiting the local library (90 miles away) and coming home with stacks of books. Beth has been married for 23 years and has two sons. She is now back in school learning to write with hopes of seeing her name on the cover of a library book.

Harmony Nicole DeLeon

SECOND PLACE, POETRY: Missed Call
FIRST PLACE, FICTION: Homecoming
HONORABLE MENTION, ONE-ACT PLAY/SCRIPTS: Eight

Nicole has written fiction, poetry, and one-act plays for over twenty years. Last year, she completed the first draft of her novel My Father's Son, from which the piece "Homecoming" is taken, despite the efforts of a pit bull named Hunny and a beagle named Scout to coerce her into giving up writing time for long walks and stomach rubs. In addition to Larraine Herring and Jed Allen, she thanks her family and friends for their continued support of the most neurotic, self-effacing task a human has ever undertaken.

Rose Fields

HONORABLE MENTION, POETRY: Ho’zhooji, Your Spirit Rides Forever, My Brother
SECOND PLACE, FICTION: Dragged Bread Across the Sky

Rose Fields worked 25 years as a medical research scientist for the National Institutes of Health and Center for Disease Control. Numerous publications on her work, with Rose as co-author, are in various scientific journals. She is writing short stories on Navajos and other Native American emphasizing the traditional ways, and also plans to write about her experiences in the medical field also. She wishes to thank Dr. Lois Roma-Deeley for her encouragement and for her stimulating creative writing class at Paradise Valley.

John Haaheim

FIRST PLACE, ESSAY: The Goose
John Mikal Haaheim is a retired veterans counselor and former instructor of English at Rio Salado College. He is married, has a daughter and two grandchildren. At age 62 he plays basketball, and has a goal of becoming a recognized author of literary fiction.

Rebecca Holaway

THIRD PLACE, FICTION: Slow Boil
Rebecca will be graduating from Paradise Valley Community College in May, 2007 and will continue her studies at Arizona State University pursuing a degree in English literature. She wishes to dedicate this piece to Dr. Lois Roma-Deeley, whose encouragement and instruction made this achievement possible.

Tiffany Howard

HONORABLE MENTION, FICTION: As Usual
Tiffany is a huge video game geek and met her husband while working at Gamestop.She is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in English and will be attending ASU West next fall. This is Tiffany’s first writing award.

James Legg

HONORABLE MENTION, ONE-ACT PLAY/SCRIPTS: Unwanted Observations
James has spent the last four years concentrating on screenwriting and has written ten feature length scripts and a myriad of shorts ranging from three to sixty pages. He has had several scripts produced by students from the Art Institute of Phoenix; this is his first at Phoenix College.

Valentine Pierce

FIRST PLACE, ONE-ACT PLAY/SCRIPTS: Orleanne the Refugee
Valentine Pierce is a multidisciplinary artist: writer, poet, performance artist, photographer and graphic designer, who has recently returned to her home and her job as the graphic designer for The Louisiana Weekly newspaper in New Orleans. She is a member of "Uprooted: The Katrina Project," a multidisciplinary group which will perform at the Scottsdale Performing Arts Center April 20-21, 2007. Pierce is involved in several other performance projects as well, including preparing to present her monologue, "Fanatical Fanny and the FEMA Fantasy Homebuilders Association Cozy Cottages and Beatific Bungalows" at Ashé Cultural Arts Center summer 2007.

Alan Rademan

HONORABLE MENTION, ESSAY: Blind Date with God
Retired from a business management career, Alan now takes writing classes as a hobby. Alan has been married 33 years and has three children. His essay was derived from experiences following the first draft lottery of the Vietnam Way.

Cheryl Shonk

HONORABLE MENTION, ONE-ACT PLAY/SCRIPTS: Wake Up Call
Last year, Cheryl received first place for her short story entry in Paradise Valley’s campus creative writing competition and had a screenplay make the semifinals in a Hollywood screenwriting contest. She has written and produced a short film and reads for the Phoenix International Film Festival and International Horror and SciFi Film Festival screenplay contests. Wake Up Call is Cheryl’s first one-act play.

Meghann Strickland

SECOND PLACE, ESSAY: Sticks and Stones
Meghann is currently pursuing a degree in journalism and mass communication. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with family and friends, reading, and traveling.

Francis Thomas

FIRST PLACE, POETRY: Silence Deep and Dark
A former social worker with a M.A. in Gerontology from the University of Illinois, Francis Thomas lives in Sun City with her husband Joel. She affiliates with the nonpartisan Grandmothers for Peace International and the local group, Poets of the Sun. After nine years as a self-taught publisher/editor of a small community newspaper in rural Yavapai County, upon her move to the Valley, Francis began to explore the writing process in earnest. Silence Deep and Dark marks her first effort.

Kyle Troup

HONORABLE MENTION, POETRY: I Am
Kyle’s life centers around his family. He is a proud father, step-father, and husband. He finished his A.A. requirements at Mesa Community College last semester and will continue his education at Arizona State University majoring in journalism.

Yao-Hwa Wen

HONORABLE MENTION, FICTION: Homecoming
Yao-Hwa Wen came to the United States decades ago in pursuit of a Master’s of Science degree. Since graduation, she has taken various literature classes. In 2000, she enrolled in Dr. Roma-Deeley’s creative writing class at Paradise Valley Community College and has repeated it several times to follow her passion for writing. Her work has been published in the Paradise Valley Review. Yao-Hwa will always be grateful for Dr. Roma-Deeley’s encouragement and guidance.

Mark Young

THIRD PLACE, POETRY: Revelation
THIRD PLACE, ESSAY: Falling on Deaf Ears

Mark Young moved to Arizona in 1996 after spending only 12 years bouncing from one midwestern college to another trying to complete a bachelor’s degree. Now a proud University of Kansas graduate, Mark works as pastor of fine arts at a local church. He is also a husband of 25 years and a proud father of three beautiful daughters. Mark has recently returned to college because he missed it. He thanks Sandra Desjardins for her honesty, encouragment and her ruthless editing.

 

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last modified: 10-Jan-08 : 3:24 PM
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