2022 (2022)

The Criterion is a small journal, open to all English majors and published following the spring semester of the Academic year. This year, we are excited to feature a much wider range of essays. Because of the extenuating circumstances of the pandemic, we are to feature unpublished essays from the 2020-2021 academic year in addition to new essays accepted in this year’s submission period. Therefore, this edition of The Criterion represents papers from as early as Spring 2020 to as recent as Fall 2021. This year, we also opened submissions up to any student in any literature course, including English and Studies in World Literatures. Further, for this edition’s cover, we wanted to create something collaborative that was representative of the English department, the role of community, and the impact that literature has had on all of us. We solicited words and phrases from English professors and students that represented what studying literature meant to them and arranged them into a word cloud in the shape of a book. The editorial board is staffed by English students who are members of the Nu Chi chapter of the Sigma Tau Delta honor society. We extend our thanks not only to this year’s editorial board but to those who staffed the journal last year. But, as with most endeavors, publishing this journal would have been impossible without the help of many people. In particular, we extend our thanks to Professor Frisina and Professor Reed for ensuring that the journal continued for another year. We also thank all the professors of the English Department, who not only continually foster an environment of excellence and academic inquiry, but who encouraged students to submit their essays to The Criterion as well. Even in such unprecedented years, their tireless guidance and support ensured that English students could produce works of quality, which consequently made the process of selecting entries such a hard task. We are grateful for Elise Saad, who advertised the publication within the department. We also extend our thanks to all the students who submitted work this year, without whom, this journal would not exist. Additionally, we thank Lisa Villa of Dinand Library for all her help in uploading the journal onto CrossWorks, allowing the journal to be published online.