Melodrama Literary Magazine 2024

Reverie

Melodrama

Ladue Horton Watkins High School 2024

Mission Statement

Melodrama is a literary magazine with the intention of showcasing the art, writing, photography and videography of the Ladue Horton Watkins High School stu-

dent body. Our purpose is to be an outlet for student expression and accurately school community.

Editorial Policy

Melodrama is a literary magazine creatof Ladue Publications and student body submissions reviewers at Ladue Horton Watkins High School. Melodrama accepts submissions of any writing, art, photo or video throughout the school year. Detailed submissions guidelines are provided to the submitters throughout the submission process. Submitters are invited to include additional information regarding their submission. Submissions and notes are reviewed by a student editorial board at monthly meetings and accepted, reject-

ed or deferred based on quality, quantity and similarity of subject matter. Melodrama only accepts submissions from current students of Ladue Horton Watkins High School. Melodrama reserves the right to edit student writing for grammar errors that are not intentional, stylistic choices, and reserves the right to design the magazine using elements from visual pieces that do not misrepresent art or prevent the unaltered work itself from being featured prominently. Melodrama requests permission from creators before making any image alterations and grammar edits.

Dear Reader,

ANNIE ZHAO EDITOR IN CHIEF

MIMI ZHOU EDITOR IN CHIEF JUNIOR EIC

EMILY LIU JUNIOR EIC

ARTI JAIN

The Price of Vulnerability

How do you grieve in silence. Grenades of agony thrown in your shelter of peace.

Cries of horror shriek from your soul. You claw at your skin, your hair, and your bones. Thrashing around in excruciating anger, as now your soul is ignited. How can you sleep, as you’re burning to a crisp. How can you breathe as your lungs implode. How can you cry for help when your mind has already caved in?

NYLA ROBINSON POETRY

Against

Bloom

GRAY MIXED MEDIA

ASHLEY

Sisters on the Beach

JANE CARRICO ACRYLIC

Portraits

SOPHIE MILLER PHOTO

SOPHIE MILLER PHOTO

Am I Not a Woman?

AMELIA GOLDWASSER

POETRY

In the Making

“I wrote this after going to a protest in

Am I not a woman?

Waking up everyday despising my body as it does not conform?

Am I not a woman

wanting to control my body? Am I not a woman hiding my righteous anger for fear of being thought of as too masculine? Am i not a woman protest for my medical rights?

you is what is between my legs when you yourself say that is not what a woman should be reduced to. I should have been a mother and I should have been a wife, but according to you I am not a woman. The piles and piles of black and brown and asian and native and created by the corrupt and careless cops who patrol them and you care that I want to be who I am?

There is a genocide right in your neighborhood. My genocide. The transgender genocide.

Am I not a woman? Tell me!

from the lips of an ignorant neighbor than the laws of a hateful leader.

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The Other Side

EVA BUSKER ACRYLIC

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A video of the creator explaining this piece.

In the Making

“This painting is about how I think about climate change, and how the

LEVI MILLER ACRYLIC & WOOD

Memory of Improv

FIONA VAN ALLEN ACRYLIC

ENCHANT

ENCHANT

CODY PHOTO COMPOSITE

EVAN

Snowy Night

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A video of the creator explaining this piece.

Anchor

POETRY

In the Making

“I wrote this after walking away from my favorite person in the world. I had to come to terms with the fact that our relationship was toxic. I was dependent on her, and she liked that I relied on her. It took a lot of work to build myself back up. This poem was about learning to be my own “anchor,” or learning how to do things on my own, without her. It’s about independence and grief.”

Opposites Attract

Human Tragedy

NYLA ROBINSON POETRY

Why be scared and paranoid about possible tragedies con cerning the future and dwell on the past, being irrelevant to the present have but are blind for it is right in front of us

and loathing hatred for each other

worlds and utopias, then collapse into a cycling rotation of agony redemption, weeping,on our hands and knees

Why be contempt with the vulnerability to age timelessly

Why be triumphant as death lingers above the pure and golden, watching them morph into a miserable heartless being

Why be frightened to look in the face of death itself,

Midnight Madness

NATALIA SZCZYGIEL ACRYLIC

Runaway

DIMITRIOS TOMPRAS PROSE

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There is no home in structure or setting. There is no warmth in the light, nor any foreign terror in the dark. From conception, we were torn from the light. Pitched into a world of despair and strife. To be tricked and betrayed by our own, out of the chaos which stemmed from our exile. Yet, the answer lies nowhere. The warring will know no end. The home we all truly long for, is reachable only by of death awaits the fated warrior and the mere pygmy. In reaches down to return us all to the light we so dearly miss. So beckon forth the silent dawn. Truckle not in the face of will only be understood too late. So dread not the passage

An audio recording of this piece.

I Wish I Was Famous

EDDIE MCDONALD COLLAGE

ANASTASIA AMROMINA COLLAGE

In the Making

“[Wordless] was a project that I did in my painting class, and I really like the fact that it’s unique, in the sense that it’s not made traditionally of paint, pencil, etc. The project is put together [with paper and glue] in a way that pushes you to be more creative and get out of your comfort zone.”

GRAY BAKER ACRYLIC & PAINT MARKER

Let's Catch Up!

TRANSCEND TRANSCEND TRANSCEND

TRANSCEND TRANSCEND TRANSCEND

The Moon Over Your Shoulder

EVA BUSKER ACRYLIC

Revolution

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An audio recording of this piece being played.

LUCAS VONALLMEN MUSIC

Spirits SURI JOHNSON ACRYLIC

I'm Your Man

I think I’d rather be a performer than a fool

I would rather be like shards of glass

Pink is closer to the color of blood then black

And I feel safer when I do not bleed

I cannot be quiet when the screams tear at my lips

Because I know no war was ever won in silence

How can I be dainty and sweet

With a dark red covered rock in my hand

Bashing the container of my lipstick

All my girls before me

Marilyn, Sylvia, Anna, Britney, Courtney and Amy

All abrasive, loud and infamous

What is a woman if not a performer

And today I will act the hydra

In the Making

“I was inspired by my mom’s rain chain, I wanted to capture the way the metallic wings grab my attention on rainy days.”

ANDY MACHADO ACRYLIC

Fig Me

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A video of the creator explaining this piece.

ANDY MACHADO ACRYLIC

ANDY MACHADO ACRYLIC

Riot Grrrl

SOPHIE CULLETON MIXED MEDIA

Maniac

AIMEE DALTON DIGITAL

Untitled

LALIN SEAGRAVE ACRYLIC

Into The Woods

NICHOLAS EDGAR GOUACHE

In the Making

“I really just wanted to use gouache – the house is made up, as well as the surrounding forest, but I think that’s what brings its charm – I made this random house and gave it life. There’s no real reason for it, I just wanted to paint, so I guess maybe that’s a reason in itself.”

Act IV :

Skull Study

Water Under The Bridge

EVAN CODY PHOTO

Earth, Swallow Me

MIA LALOV POETRY

Crimson vines wrap around my body, Thorns digging into my side,

How I wish I was smaller so I wouldn’t have to feel, The blood trickling down my hips and thighs.

At the hard Earth around me,

Fighting not to be reclaimed by the ashes,

And just as I thought I had reached the end, Particles of sunlight stinging my eyes;

I see the ground begin to close around me once more, Mud enveloping my size.

As the blood begins to gush, The vines strengthen their grip,

I cry, and cry, and cry for freedom, As back into the grave I dip.

M27, The Dumbbell Nebula

In the Making

“I took many raw black and white pictures Hill’s Morehead Observatory. I then wrote code to stack them on top of each other to get the

ABHEEK DHAWAN PHOTO

EVAN CODY DIGITAL

Chaos of Mourning

SOPHIE MILLER DIGITAL

Luck

Scan For

FRANK CHEN POETRY

Cracks in the sidewalk the street the city

Cracks in the nation the world the future

A little boy jumps over the ones in the sidewalk and lands on the others

An audio recording of this piece.

OLENA CHERVONYAK

Pugnacious for Primacy DIGITAL

Golden Stars

SYDNEY PROPER ACRYLIC

Hanfu Maiden

RACHEL TANG DIGITAL

Portrait of a Daisy

Scan For

An audio recording of this piece.

JANE CARRICO ACRYLIC

Tantura

FRANK CHEN

POETRY

Over graves that no one knows

Through death and earth, they appear

Whisper in tones men cannot hear

That beyond the walls and fences

And the sprawling desert sands

That somewhere in the distance

The olive tree still stands

That despite the wind and thunder

The tree will never kneel

Our olive’s roots, deep in the ground

Will outlive their walls of steel

Grow and break the hearts of stone

Over graves that no one knows

In the Making

“This poem was inspired by a documentary of the same name. The Israeli military massacred more than 200 Palestinian civilians in this town in 1948, and their corpses remain buried under the parking lot of an Israeli beach resort. This poem is dedicated to those who died, and those who live on.”

Bridge at Dusk

AMELIA ROSSI PHOTO

Ocean View

SOPHIA XU PASTEL

Melodrama Staff List

advisers

SARAH KIRKSEY

ABIGAIL EISENBERG

editors in chief

ANNIE ZHAO

MIMI ZHOU

junior editors in chief

EMILY LIU

ARTI JAIN design editors

MAC HUFFMAN

OLIVIA CHEN

writing editor

RILEY COATES

art editor

TAREK AL HUSSEINI

staff

LAURA SHARESHIAN

WILL KODNER

KELLY ZHANG

SYLVIA HANES

IRA RODRIGUES

VINCENT HSIAO

MAYA MATHEW

CELINA ZHOU

Strawberries

Colophon

Design: Adobe 2024 software

Paper Type: Cover: #80 Classic Linen; Inside: Smooth Opaque

Text 70#

Page Size: 9” x 6”

Typography: Helvetica Neue, Gracheva, Athelas and Nofex

Content Creation: All pieces are student-made

Paper: 250 issues, distributed to students free of charge

Publisher: The Missourian

PHOEBE CHEN ACRYLIC