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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
MONDAY, APRIL 16, 2018
VOL. 110, NO. 25 ● SINCE 1908
Thunderstorm reaches Cola following US devastation
Courtesy of Tribune News Service
Larissa Johnson @LALARISSAJ
Ethan Lam / THE DAILY GAMECOCK
Rose Steptoe (left) and Susan Swavely (second from left) won awards for their written work on Friday.
INK! conference recognizes work of English students outside of class. “It feels so much like they’re ... doing their thing,” Forter said. “It’s like the thing that you know Undergraduate English society they can do and that you usually INK! held a campus-wide literary only see them do in class, and here festival April 13, featuring many they are doing it in public, sharing critical essays and original creative their work with each other, having pieces by Universit y of Sout h a collective conversation, it’s great.” Carolina students. Awards were The keynote speaker for the given in two categories — literary INK! conference was Columbia’s analysis and creative writing — Poet Laureate Ed Madden, who with four students receiving prizes is also an English professor and for their work. director of the women and gender Su sa n Swavely, a f i rst-yea r studies department. Through his English and theater student and Poet Laureate experience over the social events coordinator of INK! past four years, he has new insight , won first place in the creative in sharing literature with the public. writing category for her short story, “I’m t a l k i ng about get t i ng “The Birth of Arta Javier-Alvarez.” literary arts into public forums so Swavely said she greatly appreciated the conference is English majors the recognition from professors presenting their work, both creative who evaluated her work and is and critical,” Madden said. “And excited for her future with INK!. my presentation is very “I think obviously, much about how can just being selected for we incorporate literary the conference was an arts into daily life.” incredible thing in itself Public expression and that’s def initely of literat ure is one encouraged me to keep of the driving forces writing,” Swavely said. behind INK!. English Three other students students write often for — Kathleen Blackwood, class, but many essays Rose Steptoe and don’t make it past a Hannah Quire — took professor’s desk. INK! first, second and third pushes for students to in the literary analysis share their work not d i v i s io n . Ev e r y o ne only their professors involved with INK! has been looking forward Ethan Lam / THE DAILY GAMECOCK but their friends and to this year’s conference 20 students participated in the conference, competing the community. “English can kind a n d t h e c h a n c e t o in two categories: creative writing and literary analysis. of be a subject you recognize the work of do by yourself like gifted writers. this awesome from the beginning reading and writing are things “It’s the thing we’ve had on really helped me with that transition you do completely on your own, our minds since we fi rst sat down and find my place and be happy.” most of the time,” Swavely said. toget her as just a few people English professor Greg Forter “So I think this is such a wonderful who didn’t know what INK! was serves as the faculty advisor of opportunity for people who are going to be this year,” said Mikki INK!. His favorite part of the usually doing their own craft to Antonio, third-year English and literary conference and INK! as a come together and share their craft studio art student and president of whole is the interest the students with each other.” INK!. “We knew that if anything, have in sharing their original work
Hannah Dear
@THEGAMECOCK
if all else failed, this conference was going to happen because it’s the one thing INK! does every single year. So I’m looking forward for it to be a celebration of everything we’ve done together this year.” The main purpose of INK! is to provide writers and lovers of literature with a community in which they can share their passions. A ll year long, I N K! has been hosting events such as Piranha Parlor for creative writing and panels for professional and academic development. These events have helped to foster a community that extends outside of INK!. “INK! was the first group that I joined and stuck with this year,” Swavely said. “It’s really hard to transition from high school into college and finding a group of people who is this supportive and
A storm that has caused damage across the South reached Columbia on Sunday, bringing gusts up to 74 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service. As small branches and debris filled the roads, thousands of houses in Lexington and Richland counties lost power — at around 2:30 p.m., as many as 50,000 were in the dark. SCE&G reported 354 outage-causing incidents, mainly falling tree branches, in the two counties. Columbia was among the most severely impacted areas of South Carolina. The storm began with a simple lake wind advisory at 12 p.m. Afterward, AccuWeather reported an area f lood advisory ending at 2:23 p.m., a tornado watch ending at 7 p.m. and a severe thunderstorm warning ending at 4:30 p.m. While no tornado touched down in the Carolinas, storm damage from wind and branches was widespread across the Midlands. No major damage occurred on USC’s campus, although wind and driving rain brought down branches around the Horseshoe and Thomas Cooper fountain. During the worst of the storm around 2:30 p.m., the university recommended on Twitter that everyone “seek safe shelter immediately.” Lexington County called in the Red Cross to help with the destruction, although no injuries were reported. The county Twitter shared photos of fallen trees, ruined farm structures and damaged houses. Three deaths has been reported as a result of the storm. A two-year-old girl was killed by a falling tree in Louisiana, and two died in a storm-related car crashes in Nebraska and Wisconsin. Injuries were reported throughout the Midwest, although none have happened in South Carolina.
Screenshot by Larissa Johnson / The Daily Gamecock
Twelve homes were damaged in the Midlands, including several in Lexington.