Artistic Talent Research Articles

Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts

The article deals with the formation of avant-garde as an alternative to the academic artistic paradigm in the Kharkiv Art School. The contribution of Kharkiv artists to the world culture is determined primarily by the avant-garde art. Its agents, who steadily carried the baton of modernization of artistic culture, were V. Yermilov and B. Kosarev. During 1915–1916 a group of artists, The Union of Seven, was formed at the Art School; their work reflected the diverse palette of changes that accompanied the formation of Cubo-Futurism in Kharkiv. Fundamental changes took place in the artistic culture of Ukraine in the 1920s. The initiative to transform Kharkiv Art School into an Art Technical School with the rights of an institution of higher education in 1921, is attributed to Yermilov (it actually became an institute in 1927). In the 1920s–1930s his teaching team was joined by such artists as Mykola Burachek, Ivan Padalka, Oleksander Khvostenko-Khvostov, Anatol Petrytsky, and Borys Kosarev. Studios were established: easel painting (Mykhailo Sharonov), monumental (Lev Kramarenko), and theatrical (Oleksander Khvostenko-Khvostov). From 1922 to 1934 Yermilov led the graphics studio (together with Padalka starting in 1925). The key figures in the creation process of artistic avant-garde culture in Kharkiv after the 1930s were V. Yermilov and B. Kosarev, who influenced the formation of the next generation of artists. Yermilov’s work in Kharkiv (including teaching at Art Institute) had an impact on the creative features of O. Shcheglov, V. Platonov, V. Savenkov, and defined the horizon of effective development of design in the region. Among those who continued Yermilov’s design traditions are M. Molochynsky, І. Krivoruchko, V. Lesnyak, O. Bojchuk, V. Danilenko, O. Veklenko. Launched by the latter International Environmental Forum of Eco Poster “The 4th Block” has found quite a resonance in the world. “Yermilov’s Mansard” appeared on Kharkiv cultural space as an artistic centre and an original example of artistic design in the spirit of Bauhaus. Due to B. Kosarev a constellation of talented artists appeared in Kharkiv artistic culture and defined its uniqueness. Among his students in the theatre and decorative department there were such people as a teacher Konstantinov; a theater artist, a Doctor of Architecture, corresponding member of the AAU V. Kravetz; the Main artist of Kharkiv State Academic Ukrainian Drama Theater named after T. Shevchenko T. Medvid; theatre artists M. Kuzheliev, G. Nesterovska, P. Osnachuk, L. Pisarenko, N. Rudenko-Krayevska and others. Among the artists, whose creative work shaped under the influence of B. Kosarev, were Honoured Artist of Ukraine, member and Vice President of AAU V. Sidorenko, and Honored Artist of Ukraine, famous graphic N. Myronenko.

Yevhen Pavlovich Yegorov’s Roads of Life

The article contains personal memories of communication and years of study and work with a Professor, an Honored Art Worker of Ukraine Ye. Yegorov (1917–2005). He appears before us as a person, teacher, rector and a founder of a whole dynasty of talented artists. His fate is viewed through the prism of life circumstances: his youth, the war, the development of the country, his attitude to art. The article shows Ye. Yegorov’s role in the development of KSADA, his professional and creative qualities. Everything shows his love for people and high demands on himself, the culture of drawing and painting, the education system. Much attention is paid to the dynastic traditions of the family, creativity and teaching activities of his son Serhiy and his grandson Yevgen Yegorov.

A eulogy for Dr Francisco Miguel Marty Forero

As some of those who were lucky enough to have been mentored by Dr Francisco Marty in transplant infectious diseases, we stand with the larger medical community in mourning his untimely death and in commemorating him as a uniquely exceptional and talented physician, investigator, teacher, mentor, friend, artist, and human being.

Hawthorne’s Miriam – a female enigma: A seductive femme fatale or a victim of abuse?

Abstract In his last published novel, The Marble Faun (Hawthorne, 1974), in spite of his seeming sympathy for Miriam’s plea for friendship, Hawthorne’s narrator relates to Miriam as a “guilty” and “bloodstained” woman, who similarly to the female Jewish models portrayed in her paintings, carries misery, vice and death into the world. The narrator’s ambiguity vis-àvis Miriam’s moral fibre, on the one hand, and his infatuation with the beautiful and talented female artist, on the other, stands at the heart of the novel. The goal of this paper is mainly addressed at examining Miriam’s position in Hawthorne’s fiction, through an analysis of his treatment of his other “dark” and “light” women. Furthermore, I enquire whether Miriam is to be perceived in terms of the popular stereotypical representations of Jewish women (usually, Madonnas or whores), or whether she is granted more original and idiosyncratic characteristics. Next, I discuss Hawthorne’s treatment of Miriam’s artistic vocation, discerning her distinctiveness as a female Jewish 19th-century artist. Finally, Hawthorne’s unconventional choice of Rome as the setting for his novel unquestionably entails reference to the societal, cultural and political forces at play.

Art, Empathy, and Reducing Burnout

In reading the article “Art in Medical Education: A Review” by Dalia and colleagues, we were pleased to see that medical education programs in art have focused not only on improving student and trainee clinical and observational skills but also on reflective skills and empathy.1 While burnout is a prevalent issue both in undergraduate and graduate medical education, higher empathy scores may be protective against burnout.2 We believe that, in addition to the various interventions implemented to decrease trainee burnout, incorporating arts into medical education may be another tool at our disposal to promote empathy and, therefore, reduce burnout.3,4Though not every medical school has established fine arts courses, one method of incorporating art into medical education that is accessible to all students is a student-led art magazine. Last year, we founded a student group designed to curate, showcase, and distribute student-created art and literature in a publication now known as the “Feinberg Art Book.” The intent behind this endeavor was to encourage medical students to pursue artistic talents during rigorous periods of study and to provide a space for recognition and discussion of student work that may not otherwise be appreciated.Whereas solicitation for art and writing to be included in the art magazine took place in fall and winter 2019 when students were surrounded by peers in classrooms, small groups, and on the wards, publication came at a time when medical students of all years were away from the classroom and sheltering in place in the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic. While words and phrases such as “social distancing,” “isolation,” and “quarantine” became the dominant topic of conversation and preoccupation, the online publication of the Feinberg Art Book provided a space for medical students to ponder, reflect, and engage their peers. We found that empathy is not developed exclusively when surrounded by others but can be a solitary journey in which the form and material of art builds connection and promotes shared perspectives.Along with formal fine arts curricula and instruction in medical education, we recommend that medical educators support trainees in informal interaction with the arts. Reflection, empathy, and connection are demonstrated ways to promote resilience and reduce burnout.4,5 Let us then embrace art in all it can provide.

‘The wish to paint’: Bowen and the Visual Arts

Throughout her life, Elizabeth Bowen maintained a rich network of artist friends and acquaintances. She often attended exhibitions and was an astute, sometimes caustic critic in letters as well as reviews. Her short tenure as an art student is an often mentioned but rarely, if ever, explored biographical fact, yet it was a key moment in her creative development. It is perhaps unsurprising then that she began to write while ‘still under the influence of … the wish to paint.’ This essay considers Bowen's significant relationship with the visual arts, from her art training and networks to her critical engagement and deeply visual prose. In childhood, Bowen was taught to paint by Elizabeth Yeats and forged a lasting friendship with Mainie Jellett, one of Ireland's great modernists. In 1918, Bowen enrolled at the LCC Central School of Arts and Crafts but, convinced she lacked the requisite artistic talent, she withdrew from her studies after only two terms. This sense of failure plunged her into an artistic crisis from which writing offered a creative way forward. Tellingly, Bowen later reflected that her earliest stories ‘had the character of a last hope’. In describing the best of her writing as ‘verbal painting’, Bowen offers us a lens through which to conceptualise the dynamic dialogue between her more experimental prose and visual modernism. Drawing together aspects of her artistic formation, milieu, and taste, this essay ultimately seeks to provide a series of layered contexts to enrich our understanding of Bowen's fictions, including The Last September (1929) and To the North (1932).

Practice and Research of Multimedia Teaching Method in Art Design Teaching

As the application technology of multimedia classroom teaching is constantly updated and optimized in practice, many art design teachers gradually understand the modern education mode in the exploration of multimedia reform classroom practice. But for many multimedia’s own function of extending students’ design consciousness talent has not been fully explored and used by teachers. Therefore, teachers need to carefully consider how to give full play to multimedia teaching technology to make up for the lack of students’ artistic design imagination talent.

ACADEMICIAN VOLODYMYR VASYLYOVYCH RIZNYCHENKO — AN OUTSTANDING GEOLOGIST, ARTIST, AND POET (to the 150th Anniversary of his birth)

The article is dedicated to the scientific, scientific-organizational and social-educational activity of the talented Ukrainian geologist, artist and poet, academician of the Academy of Sciences of the UkrSSR, Volodymyr Vasyliovych Riznychenko — the second director of the Institute of Geological Sciences of Ukraine. Together with academicians V.I. Vernadsky, P.A. Tutkovsky, V.I. Luchytsky, the scientist was at the origins of the Geological Committee, the Academyof Sciences and the Institute of Geological Sciences, the oldest scientific center in the field of geology in Ukraine.

Research on the Teaching Reform of "Double Tutor System" in Art Design Major

With the continuous progress and development of modern society, earth shaking changes have taken place in all fields of people’s life, which not only has higher requirements for the quality of higher education, but also has improved the cultural pursuit in the field of art. Therefore, in order to more effectively improve the quality of art talents training in the new era, colleges and universities should combine the development trend of modern society in real time, take employment as the guidance to develop a more perfect curriculum teaching system, and take more scientific technical means, in order to further expand the ways to improve the quality of talent training, constantly strengthen the comprehensive quality of art talents, and enhance the core competitiveness of art design talents in essence.

Literary Afrofuturism in the Twenty-First Century ed. by Isiah Lavender III and Lisa Yaszek (review)

Reviewed by: Literary Afrofuturism in the Twenty-First Century ed. by Isiah Lavender III and Lisa Yaszek Fredrick Douglass Dixon Isiah Lavender III and Lisa Yaszek, eds. Literary Afrofuturism in the Twenty-First Century. Ohio State UP, 2020. 264p. Feminist Stand-Point theory continues to gain acceptance in academic circles amidst a burgeoning scholarly movement dedicated to the demands for inclusivity in higher education. This theory is mainly used to analyze inter-subjective discourse. The overarching premise centers on the thought that knowledge is socially situated, and the most marginalized voices are valuable locales of knowledge production. Literary Afrofuturism in the Twenty-First Century parallels the Stand-Point theory in that it solicits the writings of one the most marginalized populations, black science fiction writers, to define and explain Afrofuturism through a critical black lens. Editors Isiah Lavender III and Lisa Yaszek employ a diverse assemblage of black science fiction writers to provide critical analysis of the systematic layered nuances of racism in the genre of Science Fiction (SF). They contend that: “This anthology is designed to introduce readers to Afrofuturism as an aesthetic practice that enables artists to communicate the experience of science, technology, and race across centuries, continents, and cultures” (1). Literary Afrofuturism offers two fundamental objectives: first, a means to widen the current scope of SF actors, accomplices, and allies; and second, a scathing examination of the historical marginalization of black authors’ ideas and accomplishments in SF. To define one’s identity remains a prerequisite for self-determination. Afrofuturism symbolizes the on-ramp for black authors to “reboot the black identity, challenge white supremacy, and imagine a range of futures in full color” (1). Wrought with an imaginative and exacting posture, Literary Afrofuturism takes on the task of re-defining Afrofuturism that challenges its mainstream definition and origin. Many SF consumers and critiques credit Mark Dey, a white cultural critic, with coining the term Afrofuturism in the early 1990s. According to Dey, “Afrofuturism is a process of signification that appropriates images of technology and the prosthetically-enhanced [End Page 121] future to address the concerns people of color face in contemporary culture” (3). This definition stands as the fundamental pillar of how a significant portion of white artists identify with Afrofuturism. The editors remind readers that a ubiquitous phobia exists within the industry’s central zone of power that believes black writers will ruin SF’s enjoyment by critically examining pressing social justice issues. This anthology underlines how Afrofuturism can become a remedy to disrupt the dominant narrative by embracing a more balanced and inclusive focus on black humanity when defined by progressive black artists. Literary Afrofuturism explores distressing concepts of white privilege in SF by taking readers on a comprehensive excursion by black SF writers who make empirical arguments about the lack of depth and veracity concerning Afrofuturism’s definition. From a medley of skillfully written narratives by prominent SF writers, a core group of notable themes emerges: (1) the current definition marginalizes the diverse paradigms, theories, and talents of black SF artists; (2) it is a filter that systematically excludes individuality; and (3) it does not possess the propensity to liberate the dominant pop-culture consciousness from its racist nature. Minister Faust provides an analysis that uncovers the lack of pragmatic utility of the term Afrofuturism, “much of Africentric fantasy is set in the past or the present, not in the future, which makes the term Afrofuturism a failure from the start” (27). Nisi Shawal finds the term a convenient marketing tool, while Nick Wood deems it a conceptual umbrella that encompasses the “African diaspora in North America” (28). Although Afrofuturism finds considerable public criticism from black SF practitioners, it directly holds value for black authors. It widens the customary roster of contributors by giving palpable agency to women writers. Andrea Hariston and others now wear the title “Dangerous Muses” due to their devotion to adding an all-important aesthetic lens that eradicates the traditional boundaries assigned to women SF authors. “They are dangerous to the status quo, destroying the old temple images of the golden past, and are stealthily building the world anew in their own remarkable image” (36). The thread that links the...

Cpt. Robert Hofmann, Austrian Artillery Officer and Artist with the Ottomans in World War I

This article investigates the life, artwork, and experiences of Cpt. Robert Hofmann, an Austrian artillery officer and artist who fought with the Ottomans in the Levant from 1917 to 1919 during World War I and its immediate aftermath. His experiences and artwork provide powerful and vivid insight into the life, times, and situations of war in the Middle East. Unlike those of most of his European compatriots fighting with the Ottomans, his work and perspectives were from a distinctly non-Orientalist perspective as he sketched the flora and fauna, cityscapes, landscapes, and people he encountered while in the Ottoman Empire, particularly in the Levant. His attention to detail and captivation by the everyday and mundane without an imperialist or Orientalist gaze begs explanation, particularly since he was a classically trained artist from the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. This article asserts that the combination of his own marginalized identity as an assimilated Jewish soldier, his gifted artistic talent, attention to detail, and his direct and sustained experience in the Middle East enabled him to develop a deep sense of empathy and appreciation for the peoples, places, and environments of the Middle East. This enabled him to transcend the bigotry and dehumanizing views of non-Western peoples so prevalent among his compatriots and European powers of the time.

The News at the Ends of the Earth: The Print Culture of Polar Explorations, by Hester Blum

Reviewed by: The News at the Ends of the Earth: The Print Culture of Polar Explorations by Hester Blum Stephanie Barczewski (bio) The News at the Ends of the Earth: The Print Culture of Polar Explorations, by Hester Blum; pp. xxv + 328. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2019, $27.95. There have been innumerable published narrative accounts of expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, in particular of the many that ended in tragedy. The cultural history of those expeditions, however, remains relatively understudied. In The News at the Ends of the Earth: The Print Culture of Polar Explorations, Hester Blum sets out to change that. She focuses on the printed matter produced by the expeditions while they were ongoing, including newspapers, menus, playbills, and the [End Page 130] messages that were left in bottles and cairns for rescuers and those who followed in the explorers' footsteps to find. Why, Blum asks, did men who were often stretched to the limits of their physical endurance expend so much energy on producing printed words? She identifies two main purposes. First, they were creating "formal devices for describing, comprehending and, most ambitiously, surviving climatic extremity." She therefore labels these writings "ecomedia," and argues that they serve as "examples of environmental writing by which … we might imagine—and with hope mediate—climate change and ecological extremity today" (5). Although printed polar ephemera obviously provides clues as to how polar climates have changed over the past two centuries, the argument that they offer useful cultural perspectives on climate change in the present-day sense of the term is not entirely convincing. Polar explorers, after all, wanted temperatures to rise, and often needed them to do so for reasons of survival. They felt themselves utterly at the mercy of nature, with no sense that temperatures were increasing due to human causes; even if they had been aware of these things, they would not have seen them in a negative light. Similarly, the protection of the polar environment in a modern sense was far down on their list of priorities: to Arctic explorers, polar bears were dangerous predators and sources of desperately needed food, not worthy foci of conservation campaigns. If anything, the polar ecomedia of an earlier age gives us a sense of how much attitudes have changed. Blum is on stronger ground with her contention that the production of printed matter served a more immediate purpose: to alleviate the psychological stress and mental tedium of polar exploration. She quotes the great Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen during the Fram expedition of 1893 to 1896, which established a new Farthest North but failed to reach the North Pole; Nansen pined for something new to read during the long, dark winter: "How we longed for a book! … The little readable material which was to be found in our navigation-table and almanack I had read so many times already that I knew it almost by heart" (qtd. in Blum 82). This is the most important contribution of Blum's work: to remind us of the power of the printed word. John Franklin's doomed expedition to complete the Northwest Passage from 1845 to 1848 carried more than a thousand books from England, and when the encampment of the last survivors was found in 1859, the boats in which they had been dragging their supplies contained—alongside the mutilated corpses of men who had died and been butchered and eaten by their companions—numerous books, including a copy of Oliver Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield (1766). Apparently even men reduced to the most desperate extremities could not bear to part with their reading material. It is thus not surprising that polar expeditions produced their own newspapers; William Edward Parry's North Georgia Gazette and Winter Chronicle, produced on board HMS Hecla during a search for the Northwest Passage in 1819 through 1820, was the first of many. Their contents—doggerel poetry, short stories of limited quality, and shorter bits—were mostly banal, although there were occasional flashes of real literary and artistic talent. But quality and talent were beside the point: both the writing and the reading were done to entertain...

Research on Innovation of Art Design Education Mode in Colleges and Universities Based on Computer Aided Technology

With the rapid development of economy in our country, computer technology, art design and related industries have also flourished. Social development needs art design talents. Therefore, domestic colleges and universities have gradually established relevant art design majors to cultivate artistic talent with high-quality and high-level. This article analyzes the necessity and shortcomings of art design education in Chinese colleges and universities, and studies the new mode of art design education in Chinese colleges and universities assisted by computer technology. With the development of my country’s reform and opening up, the planned economy has become a market economy, and my country’s social economy has also achieved significant results. On the premise of guaranteeing people’s material life, we are faced with the problem of strengthening the spiritual construction of our people, that is, the demand for design and aesthetics. The rapid development of the market economy has rapidly promoted society’s demand for all kinds of talents, and the construction of people’s spiritual civilization is the demand for talents. At present, many colleges and universities in our country have launched art design majors, but there are still many shortcomings and deficiencies in the education of this major. Therefore, strengthening the exploration of new models of art design education in colleges and universities assisted by computer technology is a topic that we should always carry out[1-3].

KHÔNG GIAN TIỂU THUYẾT CỦA V.S. NAIPAUL NHÌN TỪ LÍ THUYẾT ĐA VĂN HOÁ

It is a self-evident truth that V.S. Naipaul 's novels hold powerful appeal to readers worldwide thanks to his real-life experience of migration and changes in psychology and lifestyles between multicultural spaces. The writer has successfully created a diversified, rich, traditional hybrid space of the Trinidad and Tobago, an African cultural space before the historical upheavals, and English villages and towns after the the golden age of wealthy nobles and landowners. Studying these spatial dimensions through the prisms of Doreen Massey's multicultural theory will offer an insight into the relationship between place and identity, as well as the artistic talent of V.S. Naipaul, a passionate and gifted writer, who devoted his life to “the history of oppressed peoples”, contributing a great voice to “marginal” cultures.

Două tehnici, un singur iconar: Savu Moga

This article brings to attention the work of Savu Moga, a famous icon painter who lived and worked in the 19th century in Transylvania. His artistic talent was native and his greatest skills were revealed by his icons painted on glass, but he also painted icons on wood, a less known fact. Brâncoveanu Monastery from Sâmbăta de Sus, Brașov county, owns 10 icons painted on wood, which are in the process of restoration and research. The technique of painting on wood brings to Moga certain difficulties, which he tried to solve. Although the supports and techniques are different and the order of the stages is reversed, the style of work is very much alike. The colours, the way he writes, the vegetal and architectural elements and the faces of the characters are the same. Also the pigments and the binder used are the same for both types of painting. Regarding the conservation and restoration aspects, the icons that have been properly preserved are generally in good condition, which means he achieved his purpose. Those icons that were used in the church for a long period of time are much more degraded. Every single piece is carefully investigated and treated as a patient. After completing the restoration process of these icons we will have an overview on Savu Moga’s work on wood, compared to his work on glass. Untill then, we are sure of the value of his entire artwork.

In Memoriam Francisco Munguía Villalta (1976- 2020) The art of being with people

Francisco Munguía Villalta (1976-2020) was a talented, highly productive and multifaceted Costa Rican artist. He produced a vast work, in different formats and techniques. He believed in the transforming power of art and consequently produced a socially committed work guided by the conviction that art should be accessible, inclusive, participatory and educational. He developed a plastic language anchored in his vocation of graphic humor. This, together with his fondness for social volunteering and community work, allowed him to establish easy links of communication and an extraordinary familiarity with people. Its iconographic universe of comic strip and its narrative full of parody and satire lives in his stickers, ceramics and paintings. His mural works managed not only to change the urban landscape, but also to reaffirm a sense of community, since his participatory methodology aspired to restore the power of people and to enable them to take over their own public spaces. Without delving into a chronological review of the artist’s journey, nor a logical analysis of his extensive production, this document shares an overview of aspects that are considered emblematic in the work of Munguía Villalta. This is a tribute to his memory and a celebration of the vitality of his extraordinary plastic legacy.

Language Learning Strategies Used by Art School ESL Learners

Language Learning Strategies (LLSs) are important in learning a language especially in learning second and foreign language. Many studies on LLSs have been conducted by scholars around the world that prove the significant impact of employing LLSs in acquiring a second language. In Malaysia, English is regarded as a second language and learnt formally in school as an academic subject from 7 to 17 years old. This paper aims to investigate LLSs used by ESL learners who are artistically talented in an art school. This study is a survey and the data were gathered by administering the Strategy Inventory Language Learning (SILL) questionnaire by Oxford (1990). The questionnaire was given to 77 pupils who are 16 and 17 years old. They study in an art school in Malaysia and they have different talents in arts. They are considered as artistically talented to be enrolled in art school. The data were analysed descriptively. The finding shows that the most employed LLSs by art school ESL learners areMetacognitive Strategy and the least employed LLSs are Compensation Strategy. Most ESL learners in Malaysia are very dependent on teachers and have difficulty in achieving a certain level of fluency. They are not aware of their self-ability to govern self-learning. That is why LLS is very important as it effectively improves learners’ proficiency in acquiring the second language. Both teachers and pupils need to be aware of the learners’ ability and preference in choosing suitable LLSs. Since most of the previous researches focus on successful and good language learner, more studies need to be carried out to help and guide less successful learners to be at the same par as a good language learner.

The Genius under the Table: Growing Up behind the Iron Curtain by Eugene Yelchin

Reviewed by: The Genius under the Table: Growing Up behind the Iron Curtain by Eugene Yelchin Deborah Stevenson Yelchin, Eugene The Genius under the Table: Growing Up behind the Iron Curtain; written and illus. by Eugene Yelchin. Candlewick, 2021 [208p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781536215526 $16.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781536222340 $16.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R* Gr. 4-7 The multitalented author/illustrator here turns his lens on his own life as a child in Soviet Russia during the 1960s and ’70s, living in a one-room Leningrad apartment with his older brother, parents, and grandmother. His brother was a gifted figure skater, and his mother, who worked for the ballet academy connected with the Kirov Ballet and was a devotee of its star Mikhail Baryshnikov, was determined that her younger son too would have an important talent, since that was the route to a better life under the Soviet regime. Young Yevgeny (Russian for Eugene) was sadly lacking in any of the talents they prized, however, preferring to secretly draw on the underside of the table under which he slept, pilfering his father’s pencil to sketch quietly late at night. This spirited memoir, generously interspersed with lively black and white drawings, paints a vivid picture of life under the Soviet regime, as Yevgeny questions strange gaps in family history and the Yelchins loudly praise the Soviet government to placate the KGB spy in their building, even as antisemitism limits their possibilities and means constant harassment. The tone, however, is energetic and often humorous amid the danger and tragedy as Yelchin describes his tart-tongued grandmother, his poetry-loving father, his Misha-loving mother (who is grief-stricken at the dancer’s defection), and his fascination with illicit Americana. Ultimately the memoir ends on a hopeful note, but as young Yevgeny is just beginning to explore his artistic talent there are likely more stories to tell, so with any luck Yelchin will follow this with a second autobiographical volume. [End Page 76] Copyright © 2021 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Shortstop

Shortstop Kat Williams (bio) No borders, just horizons—only freedom. —Amelia Earhart At the end of the school day, the ring of the two o'clock bell was beautiful music. That meant the real day was about to begin, at least in my young mind. I raced to the bus as if getting there first would make it leave faster. At home, I ran straight to my room to change out of the dress my mother forced me into that morning and into my pants, T-shirt, and tennis shoes. Dressed as close to a ballplayer as I could get, I set off to find my neighborhood team. All boys. In addition to being friends, most were also classmates. They had just spent hours at school ignoring a shy, unconfident girl. Now they stood around me asking, "Can I be on your team?" "Who is going to pitch today?" "Can I play first?" Ah, finally. I'm where I belong, where I am good, confident, in charge. Where I can be me. On a baseball diamond. When I was a kid, sports, specifically baseball, gave me a place to be. There are people for whom solitude and walking through life on a separate path is preferred, but at one time or another, most of us want to fit in. Acceptance is the special mirror that reflects back to us a reassuring nod or smile, letting us know we are on the right track. Without that, only disapproval and distress come our way. We will often change our looks, our humor, and even our personalities to be part of a group we admire or envy. For those of us who are not blessed with wealth, good looks, superb intelligence, musical or artistic talent, or a brilliant sense of humor, fitting in is hard. And until we find even one place where we fit, feel safe, and even excel, life is almost unbearable. I grew up poor. I was a tomboy with a learning disability. I was an easy target for bullying. Since school and my appearance were unimportant to me, I did little to comply with societal expectations. As children, most of us are unable to understand complicated feelings, but I was aware of an obnoxious record playing on a loop inside my head: "there will always be something [End Page 97] wrong with you." I had an inner sense that no matter what I did on the outside, the inside would never change. On the surface, some of my childhood friends seemed to have everything going for them. Later it was clear that that was only a gilded façade. But at the time, given my muddy-faced, scraggly-haired, tornclothed, wild-eyed appearance, I believed I had nothing going for me. If you don't count luck, stubbornness, and baseball. Long before September 11 came to evoke a sigh and a shake of the head, the day was just my birthday. I was born in Valley Station, a working-class suburb of Louisville, Kentucky. My parents, TJ and Sara, were also born there, as were both my sisters. By the time he was sixteen my dad was working as an auto mechanic, and I don't think he missed too many days of work between then and the day he retired. When Mom was eight and my aunt was nine, they were orphaned. Because my mother was so keenly aware of how quickly people could disappear, family connections were always important to her. When my Uncle Hudnal was left alone with his five children, Mom, Dad, and I moved in so that Mom could take care of all eight of us, which she did in a house without an indoor bathroom. For me, a little kid surrounded by five older kids, life was great. My favorite memories of living there involve playing in the vast yard. Some of the games we played were real ones, and some I'm pretty sure my cousins made up as we went along. The boys played football a lot and as a child I did not understand why I wasn't allowed to play too. The girls only watched as they threw the...

Fierce as the Wind by Tara Wilson Redd

Reviewed by: Fierce as the Wind by Tara Wilson Redd Elizabeth Bush Redd, Tara Wilson Fierce as the Wind. Lamb, 2021 [304 p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781524766917 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781524766931 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 8-10 As breakups go, Miho's is a rotten one: the boy, who would henceforth be referred to only as Scumbucket, did not just cheat on her but regarded her all along as side chick to his real beloved, who is now pregnant. This is a huge blow to Miho's already shaky self-esteem, especially as her crew of friends will head off to mainland colleges after the summer, leaving her on Oahu with a pizza delivery job and a disabled father who keeps pushing her to apply to college and prepare for a future worthy of her artistic talent. Best friend X knows she needs distraction and purpose, and he piques her interest in an Ironman triathlon; with her awesome cycling skills from the pizza gig, she's a third of the way there, and X and the crew take on roles in her training. Bad breakup, true-blue friends, and a girl saved by sports sounds like a pretty trite plot combo, but Redd hones each facet to near perfection. The cast of secondary players is affectionately developed (even X demolishes the gay guy sidekick trope with his mastery of genuine friendship); Miho leaps realistic hurdles apart from heartbreak and training (she's priced out of Ironman and holds her own solo "Miho-man" race); the crew devises clever workarounds to accomplish a lot on the cheap; and Redd provocatively explores what charity looks like from the perspective of a multiracial, financially challenged teen. Copyright © 2021 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois