To Our Readers:
We warmly welcome you to the first edition of our re-envisioned literary magazine, Curiosities: In and Of the Honors College. In honor/celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Honors College, we decided to refresh the original Honors College student magazine, then called Newark Days, to better represent our community. Now, through an online format, we hope to showcase the many ways our peers embody the four guiding words of the Rutgers University-Newark Honors College: curiosity, creativity, discovery, and excellence. Inside the classroom, we thrive and rise to any academic challenge, and outside of the classroom, we continue to find ways to expand our intelligence and fuel our curiosity. Through our various unique and multidimensional submissions, we hope to showcase the students who make our Honors College the diverse and outstanding community that we are all proud to be a part of. We show our appreciation to all the hardworking future professionals in our community for sharing their talents with us and with you.
Editors: Salma Abedullah and Angelica Castillo
Insights into what it means to be an Honors student
Essays and poems featuring different themes
Visual artwork including various mediums
How do you define your Honors identity?
My Honors identity is linked to my academic and extracurricular achievements. It symbolizes my commitment to study, progress, and greatness. However, I know that accolades are not the only way to assess success or value, and I work hard to balance my accomplishments with humility and a larger perspective on life.
What is the most surprising thing you discovered in college?
The administration of the values of curiosity, creativity, discovery, and excellence is present in every aspect of the Honors College. What I found surprising was that the values were enhanced within each course taken as an Honors student. With this guidance, I am set for success as these are necessary to extract the richness of our education.
What is the most important part of your experience being an Honors College student at RUN?
The support and counseling available at every moment are tremendous. This comes not only from the administration but from the peers that help provide a sense of direction based on their experiences. My experience at RUN is remarkable through the community within the Honors College.
How do you define your Honors identity?
My Honors identity is defined by my pursuit of learning anything and everything that sparks my interest.
What was your most creative project in Honors?
My most creative project in the Honors College is my Senior Thesis. My thesis has allowed me to create and design a project of my own that culminates my different areas of study. I chose to focus deeply on writing and literature.
When are you the most curious?
I am most curious when I am in an encouraging, stress-free environment. I find that it allows me to look beyond the surface of concepts or ideas because there is no time constraint or external stressor.
What was your most creative project in honors?
My most creative project in the honors college has been my senior thesis which explored womanhood in the last dynasty of ancient China by analyzing the law, prominent political movements, and suicide poetry. I was able to explore a topic outside of my major and develop the skills necessary to conduct historical scholarly research.
We are the Marco Polos of science
The Magellans of the humanities
The Ponce de Leons of the arts
Navigating the vast sea of academia
We climb the highest mountains
In search of the tree of knowledge
A hard journey requiring many sacrifices
Simply to get through college
But besides our discoveries in academia
Spending countless hours exploring the unknown frontier
Experiences that help us find our true selves
Are the most instrumental for our careers
-Angelica Castillo
Our inquisitiveness propels us forward
As we ascend to greater heights
The perseverance to never give up
Even when there is no end in sight
In search of truth, knowledge, and justice
As future professionals, we leave no stone unturned
Making our mark on the world
By applying all of the lessons we learned
As students of the honors college
We always look to explore it all
In a way, we are very similar to cats
But curiosity will not be our downfall
-Angelica Castillo
It is the Honors College 50th Anniversary
Excellence, Creativity, Discovery, and Curiosity are words we embrace
We are a part of a new generation
That will make the world a better place
-Angelica Castillo
And I discover
Not every trip can be squeezed into a square. But why should we try to make them fit?
That wouldn’t be fair.
Every trip has it setbacks, this we hate to admit,
But we are told we should only display our wins.
But wouldn’t it be nice if we could talk about our struggles? So this is where the Honors College comes in.
More important than the courses we juggle,
Is to gather in this space to share
That our trips take us to many unknown, scary places. And here we find a community that cares
And we can find comfort in familiar faces.
And this is the most important lesson I’ve uncovered
When I wrote “The trip”, the world was in lockdown and things were constantly changing, but the one thing that remained the same was that I felt scared and alone in my college journey. Nobody genuinely participated in online classes/ discussions/ activities, so I became engrossed in social media, constantly looking to feel and recreate the happiness and sense of adventure that seemed to fill my Instagram feed. When I finally met my peers in Honors College courses (through colloquiums, seminars, and thesis classes), I realized that everybody came from a different background and had a unique story to share. To be able to hear about people’s experiences and exchange our thoughts is an absolute privilege that I am proud to have as an Honors College student, so I wanted to write poems to reflect this. Through my series of poems, I hope to shed light on the many different stories that people bring to the Honors College and how you would only get to hear these stories if you leave the ever-growing world of social media.
In awe of how advanced she had progressed in her practice, I probed for more details. “Has your practice helped you? What mental health benefits have you noticed?”
“Yes, it’s helped. And I think the best example of it helping me was during these past two years. It was the first time I was in a situation where I experienced anxiety and depression. I started meditating again, even though
it was extremely hard to do. I started with just a few minutes of being mindful each day, and it has really helped me get back to myself again. As for the health benefits I noticed, my mind really did calm down.”
“Ok and what about your physical health? You know, how a healthy mind reduces inflammation. Have you experienced that?”
“Absolutely,” my mom exclaimed. “I noticed I had fewer migraines.” Ever since I was little, my mom always got headaches. And during stressful periods, she experienced migraines more severely. She said that while being mindful didn’t cure her headaches by any means, it did help reduce them. She then added, “Also, the reason why I was able to concentrate on eating better was because I was being mindful.”
After several minutes of discussing my mom’s mindfulness practice, our filling conversation came to a pause. She took a sip of her ginger tea. I looked straight ahead at the gallery wall behind her. My mom and I made it our goal to fill the wall with a mix of different art pieces. Vintage, modern, colorful, neutral. This hobby of ours led me to think of my mom’s hobby, photography. She has always loved taking pictures.
“What about photography? Is that a meditative practice for you?”
“Yes, it definitely is. It’s funny because a lot of people say that with photography, filming, and things like that, you’re not really enjoying, being present, because you’re focused on the camera and the technical part of it. But for me, because I love it so much, I’m actually looking at what I’m taking a picture of. I am present, not only because I want the picture to come out right, but because I really like what I’m seeing. I like to see people just being when I’m taking street photography. I like to see the trees, the sky, and the light coming through the leaves.
It is absolutely a mindfulness practice for me.”
This is just a look at one individual, my mom, Lenny LLuberes. Through her practice, one can see how being mindful isn’t an easy task but offers great value to one’s life when being intentional about it. Next time you’re engaging in your favorite activity, in my mom’s case, photography, or searching for art at the flea market, take a second to observe the shifting clouds, the glistening wet pavement after a rain, and the muted colors within the old, wooden frame.
Sources:
This series of poems encompass the grit and goal-driven mindset that myself and my peers at the Honors College all share. The four years that we are in college are flying by–just like every other milestone in our life. We need to appreciate where we are, how far we have come, and how much further we can go. Mindfulness is so important, and it allows us to indulge in that appreciation and overcome any anxiety we may experience. We are all capable of confounding things and we will achieve anything we set our minds to. Something to keep in mind is that no matter what, the world keeps revolving and rotating and the days keep coming and going— so what better way to live than fuel our curiosity and strive for excellence?
Some ways that I practice mindfulness are through praying, reading the Quran, and painting. I often resort to painting verses of the Quran that push me to keep striving for excellence. One verse, in particular, is “With hardship comes ease” (Quran 94:6). This verse is powerful to me because it tells us that there is always something good that comes with hardship, we just have to be more mindful and appreciative of it. Through every hardship, there is always something to smile about and keep your heart at ease. See the painting below.
There are days that go by,
Where I feel like a robin,
Dark fur and red chested,
Burning sensation throughout my body,
Wondering if I will ever be capable,
Or if my anxiety will forever consume me,
But then I remember,
The vibrant eggs they produce,
—Dark birds but bright eggs,
Proving to the world themselves,
That they are capable,
And will achieve great things.
-Salma Abedullah
Mindfulness
When a moment vanishes,
And becomes merely a memory,
You have to ask yourself,
Did I actually live it through,
Or did I,
Escape the moment at its present,
To live it in my head in the future?
-Salma Abedullah
I wake up in the morning,
Fresh snow on the ground,
Light seeping through the crevices of my shades,
As I take my Chemistry notes on Kinetics,
The single chirp of a bird ignites a soothing memory,
2695 Kennedy Blvd.
I remember the way the warm sun,
Allowed its light to seep through the window,
An AC was installed–yet the sun allowed the birds to warm us with their melodies,
Suddenly I can tell that spring is coming,
Suddenly I am at Liberty State Park and Baba is teaching me how to ride a scooter,
While my sister masters the skip-it.
Suddenly,
All I cared about was keeping my strawberry shortcake balloon safe,
The one that the nice guy at the park let me have,
Afraid that it would pop or deflate…
I brushed the memory off,
Because suddenly,
I’m at my desk,
19, college, premed,
Taking Kinetic notes for my Chemistry lecture.
-Salma Abedullah
For this project, I created a digital artwork that represents the political dichotomy of Leftists and Rightists groups through a recreation of Raphael’s painting “The School of Athens.” As a painting defined by its theme of division through philosophy, “The School of Athens” translates to the present day as a representation of two foundational halves that shape American politics, the Left and the Right.
My artwork reimagines the hierarchical and philosophical aspects of the original painting to illustrate where the media directs its gaze on individuals of both groups. Through the use of linear perspective, I guide my viewers to the center of the piece where one iconic figure of each group stands in confident contrapposto: Barack Obama (Left) and Mitt Romney (Right). They converse on their opposing views of red and blue political philosophy under the roof of the White House at a purple, lofty intersection. This also alludes to the iconic event of the 2012 presidential debate, where Obama and Romney brought a clash with the Left and Right wings that shook the country.
With the event of two powerful figures from both parties meeting at a location where America’s biggest decisions are made, this scene grabs the highest attention of society’s gaze and is overall the most vividly remembered. Once the centerpiece is studied, viewers notice the secondary groups underneath this event that consists of figures dispersed across a staircase. They represent the individuals who are involved in these groups but gain less attention for their efforts from the media than their superior ranks. Throughout this area, there are Rightists on the right half such as late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and conservative author Victor Davis Hanson while the left half contains renowned Leftist figures that are notorious for their hardships such as Muslim and women activist Malala Yousafzai, homosexual figure Alan Turning, and feminist artist Frida Kahlo.
This manner of breaking apart the figures represents Pablo Picasso’s cubist style as it tears these individuals down into pieces of human parts as reminders that they are not as noticed as their superiors. As these figures gain the secondary attention of both parties, the media would put their remaining interest into the barely recognizable group located on the bottom of the staircase: the masses. Cubism, the movement in abstract art that breaks apart defined objects into several components, is more deeply shown here breaking down the masses of their human qualities until they match the media’s viewpoint: a scrapheap. In doing so, these individuals are plainly seen as the herd in the sea of their respective groups. They are a spectrum dispersing the colors that represent their groups. On the left half, the masses give off a rainbow representing individuals of the LGBTQ+ community and blue and orange for feminist groups as portrayed by Mariam Schapiro’s technique, fem mage.