ARTSBILL 2025-2026
The HEALING POWER
ARTS
TRINITY PREPARATORY SCHOOL OF FLORIDA
What is Patrons of the Arts?
Patrons of the Arts is a parent organization whose purpose is to promote, support, and enhance the arts at Trinity Preparatory School of Florida.
The arts include eight disciplines: Band & Percussion, Chorus, Creative Writing, Drumline, Forensics, Orchestra, Photography & Film, Theater, and Visual Arts.
We encourage you to attend one of our monthly meetings—it’s one of the best ways to learn about us.
Visit the Patrons of the Arts website at trinityprep.org/poa, or scan the QR code provided to view meeting dates, volunteer opportunities, and learn more about how you can support Trinity Prep’s Fine Arts program.
Questions? Contact:
Tobin Finwall-Baum
Melanie Brenner Grenadette Bittenbinder
POA President VP Performing Arts VP Visual Arts tobinbaum@yahoo.com melpg2000@gmail.com grenbitt@gmail.com
Thank you to our 2025-26 Corporate Partners for your continued support! GOLD
Massey Cadillac SILVER
The Benenati Law Firm
Batts Morrison Wales & Lee Accountants
Bianca Botelho, PA | Remax
Cover by Nathan Bitman ’27
Florida Cardiology, P.A.
Florida Dental Implant & Aesthetic Center
Future Physicians of America
Garton Realty Group
Granny Nannies
JETSET Modern Pilates
Rawle Orthodontics
Sodexo BRONZE
Florida Retina Institute
German Excellence
Metz Culinary Management
Sihle Insurance Group
A MESSAGE FROM PATRONS OF ARTS PRESIDENT
“The earth without art is just eh.”
— Demetri Martin
Welcome to the 2025-26 season of Fine Arts at Trinity Preparatory School of Florida!
On behalf of the Patrons of the Arts, I want to extend a warm welcome to our new families. We are thrilled to have you here, and to our returning families, thank you for your enduring support. I am honored to be serving on the Patrons of the Arts Board, alongside other dedicated parents who enhance our Fine Arts program and help our students shine. All parents and guardians of Trinity Prep students are automatically members of our Patrons of the Arts (POA) organization, so welcome! Your POA membership includes FREE tickets to our auditorium and black box theatre productions and concerts, so we look forward to seeing you at the many Fine Arts events that showcase our incredibly talented students.
The POA organization supports our Fine Arts students and faculty in countless ways. We help provide financial support for educational trips and master classes, we help set up for performances and receptions, and we are our students’ biggest fans. This past year, the POA helped students travel to Miami for the Art Basel festival and also supported our orchestra students’ trip to NYC, where they performed at the Juilliard School. Our band and orchestra students collaborated on an amazing “Symphony of Spells,” and the POA helped send them to Universal Studios, where they performed for the public. We helped fund an Art Book showcasing our students’ photography and artwork, as well as helped to send our musical theatre students to Scotland, where they performed in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The POA helped our choral and Vocal Society a cappella students attend the National A Cappella & Choral Convention, as well as the 2025 International Championship of High School A Cappella South Quarterfinals, where both groups advanced. We also helped fund our forensics team’s trip to the National Speech and Debate Tournament, where our students earned numerous top awards, including an impressive back-to-back national championship title in Extemporaneous Commentary.
The POA helps provide arts enrichment for all of our students to experience at school. Last year, students enjoyed performances by Orlando Shakes and the Yale University Whiffenpoofs a cappella group. The POA funded new equipment including a large-format photo printer, a new raku kiln, and music stand holders. Our wonderful POA volunteers helped run the Arts in April weeklong event, where our a cappella singers, Jazz Band, and orchestra performed in the quad while students’ artwork was displayed around campus. This past May, the POA proudly welcomed back and celebrated two acclaimed Fine Arts alumni who were then inducted into our Arts Hall of Fame. Our 2025 inductees were Broadway and TV actor and singer Denee Benton ’10 and ceramic artist Landis (Livingston) Carey ’99.
These are examples of how the POA helps provide students with unique and life-changing opportunities. Volunteerism is a vital part of the Patrons of the Arts, and as a member, we welcome you to get involved with our program and see how art can enhance students’ learning and growth. The fine arts are inspiring and necessary aspects of every student’s experience at Trinity Preparatory School, whether as an artist or as an audience member. Go Saints!
With gratitude,
Tobin Finwall-Baum President, Patrons of the Arts
LETTER FROM FINE ARTS CHAIR
Dear Art Supporter,
Welcome to Trinity Prep’s Fine Arts Program! I’m writing to you today to discuss something that’s often seen as a bonus in education, but is, in fact, absolutely essential: the performing and visual arts. While we rightfully focus on STEM subjects—science, technology, engineering, and math—and recognize their critical role in our future, the performing and visual arts play a critical role in our students’ development here in the Trinity Prep community. They’re recognized to be vital for our students’ creativity but also for their overall development.
The arts foster creativity and innovation. In a world that’s rapidly changing and where automation is becoming more common, the ability to think creatively and solve new problems is a major advantage. When students are in a painting class, they aren’t just learning to mix colors; they’re learning to express unique ideas and perspectives. Similarly, students in a drama club aren’t just memorizing lines; they’re embodying a character, understanding complex human emotions, and bringing a story to life. These skills aren’t just for artists; they’re for entrepreneurs, engineers, and scientists.
The arts build a range of essential life skills. When a student performs in a play or a concert, they are developing public speaking skills, building confidence, and learning to work as a team. A visual arts student is honing their fine motor skills, developing patience, and learning to pay attention to detail. These aren’t “soft” skills; they are fundamental life skills that transfer to every aspect of a student’s life. When students collaborate on a mural or choreograph a dance, they learn to communicate and compromise, a form of teamwork that’s just as important as the collaboration required for a group science project.
Arts develop skills that are used beyond the classroom. Perhaps most importantly, the arts help students develop empathy and cultural understanding. When we read a play, we step into someone else’s shoes. When we look at a painting from a different culture, we see the world through a new lens. The arts are a universal language that allows us to connect with people from all backgrounds and understand their stories. They teach us about our own history and identity and help us appreciate the diversity of the human experience. They teach us to see beauty, to find meaning, and to express what can’t always be put into words.
Let’s recognize the arts for what they truly are: a core part of a well-rounded education. They are what make us human, what teach us to be resilient, and what prepare us not just to make a living, but to make a life.
Warmest regards,
Jolie Joseph-Spelman Fine Arts Chair
Mavis Li ’26
Peyton Keith ’26
LETTER FROM HEAD OF SCHOOL
Dear Trinity Family,
In the early 2000s, I visited the University of London to attend a conference called the Anglo-American Conference of Historians. While I was in London, I walked through the British Museum and the Tate Modern, and each amazed me with the sheer volume of artifacts and the expanse of human history enveloped in their walls.
At the end of my trip, I bought this book titled The History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor. For me, I found it most curious that even when survival appeared to be the driver of all evolution, man adorned its objects. In the earliest and (dare I say) every period of human activity, we can always find some evidence of creative expression, something we call art.
I know we take the time to nurse this most fundamental human yearning, to imagine and to create, and then to share.
Come join us this year as we celebrate our art teachers’ and students’ gifts to each other and to those of us who watch them perform.
Sincerely,
Byron M. Lawson, Jr. Head of School
Trinity
Preparatory School of Florida
CARLOS RAUL ACEVEDO
is the new Theater & Stagecraft teacher/director at Trinity Prep. An accomplished, award-winning producer, director, actor, and writer in theater, film, and television, Carlos has been the artistic director of his theater company, Dramarama, Inc., for more than 25 years (with more than 70 shows in Puerto Rico, Miami and Dallas). Some credits include the world premiere of renowned author Paulo Coelho’s best-selling book adaptation; “Eleven Minutes”; the Americas (north, south) premiere of Pedro Almodovar’s Best Foreign Film Oscar winner adaptation; “All About My Mother”; Pulitzer and Tony Award winners such as “Angels in America,” “Death of a Salesman,” “The Crucible,” and “Glengarry Glen Ross,” and eight Shakespeare plays. As a playwright, Carlos is the only three-time winner of the “Playwright of the Year’ award by the I.C.P. in his native Puerto Rico. Teaching since 2017, Carlos ran two Jesuit school theater programs in Dallas and Miami, staging 22 shows.
ERIN ARMSTRONG
is beginning her fourth year as instrumental music director at Trinity Prep. She received her bachelor and master of arts degrees in music education from Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama, where she was principal oboist in Chamber Winds and also participated in jazz band, steel band, and the Marching Southerners. She received a graduate administrative assistantship, working directly with the University Bands department in orchestrating rehearsals, travel, scholarships, and day-to-day functions of the music department. Erin is teaching Beginning and Introduction to Percussion, Beginning and Introduction to Winds, Honors Trinity Wind Ensemble, Honors Advanced Percussion, and Blue and Gold band, working along with Mike Rogers, who runs the TPSF drumline and TPSF Pep Band, to play with the drumline for various athletic events. She is passionate about music and loves to travel. One of her favorite performances was a memorial service on the USS Missouri in Hawaii on the 75th anniversary of the attacks on Pearl Harbor. Erin resides on the Space Coast with her husband, Matthew, and cat, Georgia.
IRINA ASHCRAFT
has been teaching upper school art at Trinity Prep since 2003. Originally from Latvia, Irina has made her home in Orlando ever since her arrival in the U.S. in 1999. She holds two bachelor’s degrees from Latvia in world literature and fine arts and received her master’s degree in art education at the University of Central Florida. In 2017, Irina was the recipient of the June Hinkley Award of Excellence in Art Education, given by the Florida Art Education Association. In addition to teaching the love and appreciation of art to her students, she also actively pursues a career as an artist. Her works have been exhibited locally and worldwide, and her stellar auction sales record of oil paintings places her among the most successful emerging fine artists on Sotheby’s Online Auctions and the prestigious MAYER 2000/01/03 International Auction Records, a catalog referenced by art agents and connoisseurs. Irina loves to travel, make and savor great food, take nature walks, and paint in her studio, as well as enjoying time with her husband, James, and two daughters, Ally and Lilly.
KATRINA BROMINGUEZ
is Director of Forensics, with nearly 20 years of public-speaking experience, building award-winning speech and debate programs across Florida. She has coached students to success at every level, from local tournaments to national championships at both middle and high school levels; they earned thousands in scholarships and placed in the top 20% nationally for the past two years. She served as a Florida Regional Ambassador for the Florida Civics and Debate Initiative and as Okaloosa County District Head of Speech and Debate, where she helped grow the program to over 60 schools across the Panhandle. She was one of just 10 coaches selected statewide to help design Florida’s debate curriculum for CPalms and contributed to a statewide think tank supporting new and developing coaches. Her passion for language extends beyond speech and debate: She has taught English for over a decade, integrating flexible seating, studentled discussion, and innovative tech to foster critical thinking and civic engagement. She is proud to help young voices grow louder, stronger, and more confident, one argument at a time.
CHARLIE CARROLL
is an award-winning composer, conductor, and music educator whose works have been performed across North America, including by Choral Arts Initiative in Orange County, California, at the East Chamber Music Festival in Toronto, and at the New Music on the Bayou festival in Ruston, Louisiana. He holds degrees in vocal performance (B.M.) and composition (M.M.) from Baylor University, and a D.M. in composition from Florida State University. Originally from Sugar Land, Texas, he previously taught music theory, ear training/aural skills, songwriting, and private composition at Florida State. At Trinity Prep, he directs the choral program, teaches AP Music Theory and Conducting, and mentors students in both classical and contemporary vocal ensembles. He is passionate about the pursuit of excellence and cultivating a vibrant, dynamic music community at TPSF.
MAURICIO CESPEDES
is the orchestra conductor at Trinity Prep. His training includes orchestra conducting at The Juilliard School and choral conducting at the Eastman School of Music. Currently, he is the assistant conductor of the Orlando Philharmonic, music director of the Daytona Civic Orchestra, artistic director of the Orlando Philharmonic Summer Music Camp, and principal violist of the Orlando Philharmonic. He has performed with notable artists Yo Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Gustavo Dudamel, Michael Tilson Thomas, and members of the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. He holds degrees from New World School of the Arts, Michigan State University, and Florida State University. He was named the “Everyday Hero” by Channel 13 for bringing music to children’s hospitals and retirement homes. He also holds a degree in environmental engineering and teaches environmental science at Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan.
ANTONINA CLEMENTI
is in her first year at Trinity Prep, where she teaches World Religions and serves as the Assistant Speech and Debate Coach. Originally from Lafayette, Louisiana, she now resides in Winter Park. Antonina began her speech-and-debate career at the age of 14, later attending Western Kentucky University on a full-ride scholarship for speech and debate. During her time at Western, she competed in a variety of events, earning recognition at the local, state, national, and international levels. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in political science and double minors in history and organizational leadership. Having coached since the age of 18, Antonina specializes in public speaking and debate instruction, working with students across the United States and internationally. She has taught for institutions like the Golden State Academy and Ridge High School in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, and has helped students in China and India use public forum debate to strengthen their English-language skills. Her work has taken her to prestigious campuses such as Yale and Harvard, and abroad to Dublin, Ireland, where she competed at the International Forensics Association Tournament. Outside of the classroom, Antonina enjoys traveling, thrifting, and discovering new music. Some of her favorite travel destinations include London, Cinque Terre, and Croatia. She also enjoys spending time with her senior dog, Katie, a Shih Tzu–pomeranian mix, who has been by her side since childhood.
CABERBE JOSEPH
is the photography teacher in the Fine Arts department. He currently teaches Photography I, Photography II, Honor Photography Portfolio, AP Studio Art 2-D Photography, Film Production, Visual Foundations, and Yearbook. Mr. Joseph holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in animation as well as a Master of Fine Arts in studio art, with a total of 28 years of experience in photography. He is the Youth Arts Initiative Director for the Boys & Girls Club of Central Florida, where he is responsible for all arts programming (fine arts, theater, poetry, comic book writing) agency-wide. Mr. Joseph is the co-founder of Lumiere d’Education Foundation and an executive board member at Pine Hills Community Performing Arts Center.
Kowalewski ’27
Brielle
Wendi Yang ’29
Kinsley Wood ’27
VADIM MALKIN
is a sculptor and ceramic artist with over two decades of experience. Originally from Russia, he began his artistic journey at a young age and continued his training in the U.S. and abroad. His work has been featured in art shows in Florida, England, China, and Korea, and in private and public collections worldwide, and has garnered many awards. For over 17 years, Malkin has taught ceramics at the Crealde School of Art and has also been teaching at the high school level for 15 years, the last nine at Trinity Prep, teaching 8-12th grade Pottery, Sculpture, and AP Art. He lives in Orlando with his wife, Meredith, and their children, Lev and Zoia. When he is not working and teaching, he enjoys traveling, cooking, eating the most unusual foods from around the world, and having a great cup of coffee.
BUCK McCLOUD
has been teaching percussion and performing for over 30 years. Originally from Kansas City, Buck has been in the Orlando area since 1990. He teaches and performs all styles of music from jazz, pop, and rock to musical theater and classical, and has performed with a wide variety of groups, including Orlando Shakes, the Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra, Orlando Brass Quintet, and the Michael Hawley Jazz Trio.
McCloud’s students range in age from 8 years old to adult, beginner to more advanced, at my private teaching studios as well as in local public and private schools.
He earned a Bachelor of Music in Percussion Performance from the University of Central Florida and a Bachelor of Arts in French from Emporia State University. Through the years, he studied with Jeff Moore (UCF), John Cushon, Didier d’Agostino (France), Jack Mouse, and Keith Larson, among others. His students have gone on to study at the University of Central Florida (UCF), Florida State University (FSU), University of South Florida (USF), North Carolina School of the Arts, New York University (NYU), Berklee School of Music, and in other well-known music programs.
KYMBERLY MORELAND-GARNETT
has taught at Trinity Prep since 2000. She teaches 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Art; Middle School Printmaking, Advanced Printmaking, and Visual Foundations. She is a graduate of the Columbus College of Art and Design (CCAD) in Columbus, Ohio, where she studied printmaking and photography. She was also active in the student council and Botticelli, CCAD’s literary magazine. She earned her master’s degree in art education from the University of Central Florida, received the H. Benton Ellis Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2009, was named the Florida Art Education Association’s Middle School Art Educator of the Year in 2010, and received FAEA’s June Hinkley Award of Excellence in Art Education and the Columbus College of Art & Design’s Alumni Arts Educator Award in 2022. When she is not at work or spending time with her family, she’ll be reading, quilting, baking, or planning a trip.
Annie Li ’27
creativeWRITING
Leave me kindly.
By Zoey Osterman ’26
Leavers love and lovers leave, but just for love I stay. Though lovers try to fight it, soon we’ll all just fade away
So leave a mark or leave a bruise, leave an offer I can’t refuse,
You can leave the room or leave living behind, But you’ll never leave my mind.
I’ve left some places I have loved the way you’ve left some, too.
Though I, the apple, tumble far, still know I once was you.
So leave a job or leave a home
Leave a message at the tone
You’ve left your pulse and left life’s grind
But you’ve never left my mind
Like a bruise that I can’t find
I’ll never leave loving the leaving kind
Alejandro Castillo ’26
artsFACULTY
JANINE PAPIN
has a master’s degree in theater/musical theater from the University of Central Florida and has been an active part of central Florida’s theater community since the 1980s as an actor, singer, dancer, choreographer, and director. Janine was one of two teachers from across the nation to be named “2018 Inspiring Teacher” by the Broadway League Foundation Jimmy Awards. She received a fellowship from the Central Florida English-Speaking Union and had the honor of studying at and performing on the stage of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London during the summer of 2015. In 2006 she was awarded the H. Benton Ellis Award for Excellence in Teaching. During the summers of 2008, 2012, 2016, 2022, and 2025, she took Trinity Prep students to London and Edinburgh to perform at the American High School Theatre Festival. Ms. Papin enjoys sharing her passion for the stage with her students. When she is not teaching or directing at Trinity Prep, you can find her performing on the stage of many local regional theaters. She has been listed in Orlando Sentinel’s “Best of Orlando Theater” for the past three years for her acting roles with The Ensemble Company. She is also a founding member of GOPAR, Greater Orlando Performing Arts Relief.
MIKE ROGERS
is the director of the marching drumline and head varsity track coach at Trinity Prep. He helped form the drumline in 2013 and has been a part of the track-and-field program since 2009. He holds a degree in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech, where he was section leader of the marching drumline. During his time at Virginia Tech, he was also a member of the basketball pep band, jazz lab, percussion ensemble, and symphonic band. He was a member of WGI’s Carolina Thunder indoor percussion ensemble, placing fifth at the WGI world championships in 2000. Mike and his wife of 17 years who met while in high school marching band share a love of music and are parents of two boys who are both starting their own musical journey in middle school band.
Gavin O’Brien ’26
Mornings During the Summer
By Helena Moya Tarnawska ’29
Waking up in the morning
To the sound of singing songbirds, Getting up and changing quickly,
Eager to follow the beckoning birdsong calls And the barks of far-off dogs from outside. They promise the peace of nature
And the quiet of the early morning.
Opening the window, climbing out carefully,
Dropping down on the other side
To walk through the narrow paths Between the plants.
Stopping at the blackberry bush
To look for ones that are ripe, Struggling to reach
Between the thorns of the branches. Some are sour, some are sweet, None are exactly the same.
Continuing on to get
The sweet, small blueberries
Whose unique taste
Belongs only to them.
Stopping at the roses on the way there,
Peaking in to see if there’s any water in the flowers.
Water pools in their delicate petals, Little reservoirs for passing animals.
Drinking the sweet-as-sugar rose water, The sun creeps across the sky,
A yellow-white circle against the blue background. It moves up higher
The longer I spend outside, Reminding me the day is going on.
Walking to the blueberry bushes, Quietly approaching When I notice a small, brown bird is trapped Under the nets.
It struggles to get out.
It’s little wings flap so fast they are blurs
And its little chirps sound sweet.
Stepping forward, lifting up the corner of the net, The bird zooms past me, an arrow released. I watch it fly away into the sky, Wondering what it feels like
To fly like that.
Wondering what I would feel like If I could fly.
I decide to head back home for today.
KATHY SLAGE
is the accompanist for the choral programs at Trinity Prep, coordinates the middle and upper school chapel music, and directs music for the theater department. Ms. Slage studied music at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. She enjoys working with students and professionals throughout the Central Florida community as an accompanist, vocal coach, and piano teacher, and is a staff accompanist in the music department at Rollins College and at First Congregational Church of Winter Park, as well as with Central Florida Vocal Arts and other local arts organizations. She has over 30 years of experience as a piano teacher and performs and explores all genres with her students: classical, musical theater, jazz, and pop. In her spare time, she is a vocalist and an occasional flutist. Her current favorite hobbies are gardening and permaculture.
JOLIE SPELMAN
serves as the Fine Arts department chair. She comes to TPSF with over 33 years experience, teaching visual arts to college and high school students in Central Florida while creating and exhibiting as an independent art contractor. She holds three bachelor’s degrees in fine art, art education, and communications from the University of Central Florida. She serves on the board of trustees at the Mennello Museum of Fine Art and Orange County Art Educators Association. Her work is held in private collections locally and throughout the U.S. and can be seen regularly in area galleries, offices, and hotels. She has recently been commissioned to illustrate children’s books, one of which has received national and international recognition. Jolie and her husband of 32 years are proud parents of two adult children and one grandchild. She now enjoys more free time to work in her studio, facilitate art workshops, cook, and volunteer with Alliance of Pet Therapy, where her dogs Rex and Oliver deliver smiles and wags wherever they go.
HEATHER THORN
is an internationally acclaimed xylophonist based in Orlando, where she performs with her band Vivacity and as a freelance percussionist. She holds a degree in music performance with a minor in theatre from Ithaca College. In 2019 and 2022, she was featured with Vivacity as the headline act for the I Love Jazz International Jazz Festival in Brazil. She was also a guest soloist with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra in 2021 for the Holiday Pops concert. She is sought after for university master classes and speaking engagements all over the country. Heather has a private teaching studio of 30 students and is a clinician in several schools as well as co-directing the Trinity Prep School percussion program. She can be heard performing locally at Timucua Arts, Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts, Sea World, and Walt Disney World.
2025-26 PERFORMANCES
Please check our website for times and locations.
October 7
October 15-18
October 28
November 1-30
November 7 & 8
November 7-9
November 10 & 11
November 12-15
November 18
December 4
December 6
December 9
December 12
February 25-28
March 3
March 10
March 20-22
March 24-27
April 1-30
April 14-17
April 21
April 23
April 25
April 28
May 1
Choral Showcase
Upper School Play: “The 39 Steps”
Orchestra & Band Concert
Art Happens | Winter Park Library
District 2 Jr. Thespian Festival
Maitland Art Festival
Upper School Thespian Showcase
Middle School Play: “The Somewhat True Tale of Robin Hood”
Orchestra Concert
Band Concert
Jazz & Percussion Concert
Percussion Concert
Choral Concert
Upper School Theater Showcase: “A Night at the Theatre”
Chamber Concert
Choral Concert
Winter Park Art Festival
All School Musical: “Matilda”
Arts in April
Musical Theatre Production Class: “A Day in Hollywood, A Night in the Ukraine”
Orchestra Concert
Band Concert
Jazz & Percussion Concert
Music Recital
Choral Concerts
Maiori Butz ’26
Alejandra Gomez ’26
HONORS JAZZ BAND
UPPER SCHOOL PIANO LAB
Zoey Wallington ’26
Gracie Asher ’26
HONORS TRINITY CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
INTRO TO CHORUS
NATIONAL ART HONOR SOCIETY
Aylin Garibay ’27
Van Knudsen ’26
Ally Williams ’26
VOCAL SOCIETY
HONORS WIND ENSEMBLE
Emily Zhao ’29
Ashton Paul ’26
Katia Lyakh ’26
Katie Alvarez ’26
The Yard
By Forrest Venable ’28
Walking down the hill from school, I see the old red stump at the corner of our yard. The fire hydrant, Still cold to the touch from last night’s frost, Emanates an unexplained yet undeniable warmth upon seeing it. To its right,
A pile of leaves sit unattended in the fall sun, Waiting for the Saturday morning yardwork to bag and drag them away. There’s light glinting off the ice crystal covered leaves in all directions, Making it look like a weathered flannel disco ball. In the center of the yard, two magnolia trees sit. Their branches diverging at the base of the trees
Giving them the appearance of two hands, grasping for the sky.
Reaching for the sun like Icarus flying away, both doomed to come back to the earth. These trees are adorned with magnolia bulbs Surrounding the base and the branches of them, Like spiky Christmas ornaments or, To the overactive imagination of a child, The perfect thing to throw at your brother.
Propped up against the trees sits Jeff the skeleton, An old halloween decoration we bought from Kroger. Jeff sat six feet tall and was a dirty bone color, evidence of his outdoor lifestyle.
His hand is propped up so he could wave at any kids or cars passing by, Putting a smile on their faces and, when the time comes, Halloween candy in their baskets.
At the far corner, past the front door, sits a long dead cherry tree.
The tree’s corpse stands there, Towering over the rest of the yard, Never bearing any fruit, Never causing any problems, Like a peaceful mummy entombed in dirt and sunlight. And although it was a regular Wednesday, And I still had homework to do, And I still had school tomorrow, When that chilly October wind brushed through the yard, An indescribable sense of happiness and contentment overtook me.
Emma Krueger ’28
