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The Laconic 27
Λακωνικός κηʹ
The Literary & Arts Magazine of Northampton Community College
Fall 2024
Front cover art:
Atlas, by Jacob Talijan
Find The Laconic Online:
[email protected]
Facebook.com/NCCLaconic
@NCCLaconic
https://laconicncc.wixsite.com/ncclaconic
The works contained within The Laconic are the artistic expressions of individual members of the students, faculty, and staff of Northampton Community College. This collection is not intended to be viewed as a statement about the views of NCC as a whole. We apologize for any content which may be viewed as offensive.
Title Page
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Club President / Editor-in-Chief
J.M. FLEETWOOD
Vice President
JACOB A. SHIVELY
Secretary
CAROL RENNA
Treasurer
ALEXANDRA LETT
Advisory Editors
CONNOR EVANS
TRACY SCHWALM
Faculty Advisors
MICHAEL POGACH
ABIGAIL MICHELINI
THE LACONIC STAFF WOULD LIKE TO OFFER A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO THE
CENTRAL DUPLICATING STAFF – WE COULDN’T DO THIS WITHOUT YOUR HARD WORK.
The Laconic Team
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Editor’s Note:
The perfect cup of coffee is at least ten ounces of extra hot, freshly ground Sumatran blend brewed via whatever is the quickest method. Just enough cream should be stirred in slowly to create the perfect medium-brown color. If you want to be exact, and I encourage you to be exact when making your morning brew, it should be somewhere between Gidden PPG1060-5 or Behr N150-4, more commonly referred to as Bedford Brown or Modern Mocha. Serve immediately, drink while hot – until you are distracted and forget about the cup. Then microwave at your own risk or drink at ambient temperature.
Now, about The Laconic.
_As we hurdle past the first frost, we move onward to the end of another semester at NCC and look to our futures with as much hope as we can muster. Some of us prepare to move on to other pursuits, while others are readying for a well-deserved holiday break after their first semester. Before we know it, the ground will have thawed again, and new growth will break through. For n
Editor's Note
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THE LACONIC
FALL 2024 STUDENT “BEST OF” VISUAL ART CONTEST WINNER
Selected by the staff and editors of The Laconic
JACOB TALIJAN
ATLAS
Jacob Talijan
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THE LACONIC
FALL 2024
STUDENT “BEST OF” SHORT STORY CONTEST
WINNER
Selected by the staff and
editors of The Laconic
MICHAEL ALBANESE
The Numbers
People come in with some strange requests now and then but mostly it’s pretty regular. A lot of children’s names with a birthdate. Some matching sweetheart tattoos. A lot of touch-up work.
But the one I’ll never forget was this dude that came in a couple summers ago. This straight-edge type suburban dude. In a suit, like he just came from the office. He looked nervous as hell about something, pacing around and sweating. At first, I thought he was sick or having some kind of freak-out or something.
He hands me this scrap of paper with a bunch of numbers scribbled on it and asks me, can I do this? I say, sure, and ask him what kind of font he wants, but he looks at me like he doesn’t know what the heck I’m talking abou
Michael Albanese
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THE LACONIC
FALL 2024
STUDENT “BEST OF” POETRY CONTEST
WINNER
Selected by the staff and
editors of The Laconic
AMANDA ALFARO
Snakes Skin
Snakes.
Oh, how I envy them.
How I long to remove my skin –
Just for a break, just for a minute.
To be a snake would be, exactly, perfect.
When I feel suffocated,
I’d slither out of the old me. Shed it.
And then, be new. Fresh. Clean.
But no. I’m not a snake.
I cannot separate
from the skin I live in.
This is problematic.
Because the old me,
does not fit, In the new me.
My past life, does not match
my new one. This pure one.
My beautiful husband
should not have to touch the skin
that lived through that.
That lived through defilement.
My sweet, innocent children
should not nestle up, lay their faces
to a body that has been
disregarded and trash
Amanda Alfaro
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HANNAH FONTONES
Snakes Skin
It will pass.
There will come a day
where I don’t look for you.
Until that day comes, I seek you out in every form given.
I have heard your voice in every room, every song, every word.
I could picture the shape of your lips around any syllable. There is something
to be said for the number of times I’ve turned the radio on,
only to end up cutting it completely and basking in silence,
simply because I only listened for you in the music.
I’ve become wholly unaware
of the niceties of socialization,
of the facts that I must listen with my whole heart to others,
that I must nod politely and look my peers in the eyes as they speak,
that I must ask after their families and about the weather,
that I should appear interested in what they’re saying. Instead,
I am only mildly present; laughing along when I realize others are laughing,
reawakening back into my body when I am jostled by an elbow
o
Hannah Fontones
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