Milton Magazine, Spring 2022

Page 69

Adam Shalev Shoihat

Postscript

CONTINUED FROM P. 68

CHILD OF NAOMI HAUSMAN SHOIHAT ‘00 AND HER HUSBAND, BORIS (SEE PAGE 62)

ing an expansive imagination is, I think, generally finding the world and its people fascinating (and perhaps other worlds, too). What helps me as a writer is twofold: First, as with my family dinnertable conversations, there needs to be a lull. A pause. Some quiet when I’m walking the dog or doing laundry or planting potatoes. And in the quiet, my imagination breathes. My mind benefits from being away from phone, from screen, from distractions. Just being. The second is what was there all along—the ability and desire to ask questions: What’s the most exciting idea in mathematics these days? What was your favorite childhood food, and who made it with or for you? What do you miss most when you’re at sea for months at a time? What do you wish people knew about you? I write to understand. I write to be better informed. I write to share uncommon experiences that can explain a common truth—something relatable that might help a reader or listener feel less alone. Imagination has the power to ease suffering. Imagination is wondering what could be from what we already know. Most of all, imagination is thinking. Wondering. Listening to people, finding out who they are, where they’ve come from, what they know, I find my own views expand, informing how imagination is at play in my work and in my day-to-day life. To use imagination on the page, we must first use it in our day-to-day lives. We have to wonder about others. We have to find ways to connect.

Byron “Hunter” Anderson

CHILD OF JOANNA CHOW ’04 AND BRET ANDERSON (SEE PAGE 62)

Cora

CHILD OF LILY BROWN ’99 AND HER HUSBAND, CHARLES (SEE PAGE 61)

Spring 2022

EMILY FRANKLIN ’90, P’17, ’22, ’25 IS THE AUTHOR OF MORE THAN 20 NOVELS. HER DEBUT POETRY COLLECTION WAS PUBLISHED IN 2021. HER NEXT NOVEL, BECOMING ISABELLA, BASED ON THE LIFE OF ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER, WILL BE PUBLISHED IN 2023.

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