Queen of the Fall – Contest

Today, we’re bringing in another Honorable Mention piece from Sonja Livingston’s Queen of the Fall Essay Contest!

In “Woman, Witch, Warrior”, Jillian Bond proves that the person who inspires you the most doesn’t necessarily have to be real, as she speaks about identifying with, and learning from, Hermoine Granger of the world-famous Harry Potter book series.

Woman, Witch, Warrior

Author: Jillian Bond

I was nine years old when my hazel eyes and soft finger tips brushed the spine of a book that would eventually alter and change my life. The name of that book was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I know what you may be thinking, how could that conventional book series that thousands, if not millions, have already read, mean that much to me? How could a series about a magical world and problematic teenage wizard who always happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, really change my life? How could some lifeless words splattered across a page, actually influence a living, breathing, existence? Here is where I must hold myself back from exploding with Harry Potter knowledge, feelings, and trivia I have gathered for many years, and break it down to the main reason, my scientific hypothesis, behind why this series greatly affected me. It wasn’t until I was re-reading the books for the second or third time through when it hit me with why I was so gravitated to such a long and in-depth fantasy series. Sure there was magic and wizards, owls and a sport on broomsticks, potions class and a whole crew of phenomenal characters; but there was something, someone, that just made that series become more than a name on a list of books I read as kid. There was a spark among the glowing lights of the written collection, an illumination sharply radiating amidst the shining wands of the characters. A light brighter than all the others that just seemed to call out and guide me, and that shining spark was the 15 letter name Hermione Granger.

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Today, we’re introducing one of the Honorable Mention pieces from Sonja Livingston’s Queen of the Fall Essay Contest! The contest focused primarily upon these questions – Who did you look to as your childhood icon and why? What did they represent, and what does that say about the person you’ve became?

In Laura Helker’s “ˈmä-mē”, Helker looks into the similarities between herself and her mother, and how they’ve affected her both then and now.

ˈmä-mē

Author: Laura Helker

Mom. Me. Mommy. The endearing term we use as a child, while dependent on her for our every need. Until we don’t, and she becomes just mom, and I am just me; we are two different people. Or so we think.

In my youth, I didn’t consciously idolize anyone. I went to church three times a week, and I learned bright and early that the Ten Commandments said not to worship idols. To me, that meant each kid who wanted to be Michael Jordan or part of Jem and the Rockers was blatantly breaking the law. I didn’t want to be like anyone. I didn’t even know who Laura was; how did I have the right to break the law and want to be like someone else? Except I did, I just didn’t know it yet.

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