INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the second issue of Write on the Money Literary Journal, a collection of the winners and finalists of Mid-State Technical College’s annual student writing contest, cosponsored by the School of General Education and Learning Resources and the Student Leadership Board.

Now more than ever, with the advent of large language models, artificial intelligence that can generate text indistinguishable from human writing, is the time to share our personal stories, our unique research into the questions that ripple through our lives This journal contains the stories of a sampling of students from Mid-State Technical College These essays and research papers teach us important life lessons gained from actual human experience They teach us about finding success after years of mental unwellness, about maintaining optimism during a dire diagnosis, about a harrowing escape from a communist country, about the joy of helping a neighbor in need, and about overcoming fears fears of forgetting, fears of water, fears of the effects of divorce. They include researched arguments on medical emancipation, slaughterhouses, standardized testing, Alzheimer’s’, and universal 4-k These words come from the minds of our friends and neighbors and reading them reminds us of the power and importance of real voices in the burgeoning world of technologized writing.

We thank our 2023 contest judges, Louis V. Clark III and Briah Kreuger, who selected our winners and honorable mentions Louis V Clark III is the author of How to Be an Indian in the 21st Century, which received the 2017 Midwest Booksellers Choice Award as well as an Oneida/Wisconsin Arts Board Award, and Rebel Poet which won a Midwest Independent Publishers Book Award. Briah Krueger, a former Mid-State student known by her pen name B.A. McRae, has pursued her passion for writing since 2008 and has traveled on her indie author journey since 2015, with 8 published books, including collections of poetry, short stories, and a novel

Clark had this to say about liberal arts student Maria Boggs’ essay “Not All Wounds are Visible,” which he selected as the winner in the essay category:

With the opening line, “It’s not a disorder, it’s just laziness,” my curiosity was piqued. I was then overcome with sadness as “The famous words of my father” landed like a shroud, final. The journey that the author was taking me on brought to mind Sisyphus’ struggle, but wait, the author then called out my wife’s favorite saying, “never give up-never give in.” Here the human spirit of helping one another, helping mankind, blossomed and the author was able to climb the mountain. “I finally got my tools” was a wonderful way to end our journey.

Clark selected early childhood education student Elizabeth Hellweg’s essay “The Good Things” as the honorable mention and praised the essay with these words:

The first paragraph began with a cadence. The sentence structure built a tension that filled this reader’s mind. Then, “or at least that's my side of the story” forced me to continue to find out, “what the heck is going on?” Immediately we learned the answer, but the author dispelled their awful diagnosis with the avant-garde texture of “it was a pretty great time.” Then to the third paragraph where the author states “To start from the very beginning,” brought visions of Maria from The Sound of Music singing, “That’s a very good place to start.” Being privy to this type of journey as seen through a child’s eyes was quite refreshing, for example, the writer notes “I got to miss out on school.” Who couldn’t identify with the good feeling of that? This was a very clean, well-written, and moving story.

In the research paper category, Briah Kreuger selected nursing student Lauren Koopman’s piece, “Medical Emancipation of a Minor in My Sister’s Keeper vs. Real Cases,” as the winner, writing:

From the notable articulation to the compelling and informative breakthroughs in the realities of minors seeking medical emancipation, I was impressed with this essay from start to finish. Within this essay, the topic of medical emancipation in the case of minors is explored, and every factual piece is not only backed up, but the research is interwoven perfectly together. The reader gains clarity on what medical emancipation for mature minors entails and why it should be advocated for. Congratulations, and remarkably well done!

Kreuger awarded honorable mention to Kylie Grady’s, “Effects of Slaughterhouses on People and the Environment” commenting:

This paper grabbed hold of my attention with its visual beginning, emotional connections throughout, stellar points, relevant and detailed facts, and in-depth research. Terrific job!

We thank all students who entered the writing contest It takes courage to put pen to paper and share your ideas with the world On the pages that follow, please enjoy the winners and finalists of the 2023 Write on the Money Contest who agreed to the publication of their essays.