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Kelley, Jennifer

Welcome and Opening Remarks - Jennifer Kelley

Crawford, Ronda

The Prairie Light Review
Volume 41 | Number 1 Article 36
Fall 12-1-2019
Smart
Ronda Crawford
College of DuPage
Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr
This Selection is brought to you for free and open access by the College Publications at DigitalCommons@COD. It has been accepted for inclusion in
The Prairie Light Review by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@COD. For more information, please contact orenick@cod.edu.
Recommended Citation
Crawford, Ronda (2019) "Smart," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 41 : No. 1 , Article 36.
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol41/iss1/36
Smart 
 I learned all my adjectives by the time I was 6. All the words that 
described me, and told me who I was: smart, funny, clever, cute, and chubby… 
but I was wasn’t pretty. I looked like my daddy, but not in a good way. Something 
was missing, that left adults searching for words, something nice to say. My cous-
ins Chloe and Joy, we were all close in age, so I knew I walked and talked first, 
read first, and adults loved pinching my chubby cheeks no matter how much I
winced. They told me I was going to be tall like my daddy, smart like my mom-
ma, and strong because of the people I came from, but Chloe and Joy would be 
beautiful. I learned the value of that at 6.
 Chloe and Joy lit up adults who had easy words for them and soft hands 
with gentle touches. It wasn’t their fault that they had good hair, that laid down 
with a wet brush and waved with a little oil, staying in place with the pretty 
slippery ribbons my hair couldn’t hold even with bobby pins. I had hair that 
misbehaved and rebelled, tamed with only the hottest pressingcombs, but would 
revert to kinks and naps when I ran around, sweating out hours of painstaking
work, because mine was as tender as it was hard. Well, really I just hated sitting 
still that long.
 Which is why I was always looking wild about the head, as someone, 
an aunt or a lady I had to call Ms. before I could say her name, would always 
tell me. They would be smiling a little when they said it and offer me a sweet 
(but not too many), but there was never anything warm in their eyes, just thinly 
veiled disappointment. But I knew what it meant, those eyes, I am smart.
 At 6 I knew math and could read at a 3rd grade level, but Chloe and Joy 
knew how to garner favor without a please or thank you ma’am, and never got 
scolded for frowning or having a fresh mouth. And they stayed clean, in dresses 
that already didn’t come in my size or were for a smaller framed girls whose 
shoes were always shiny, and their socks never needed to be pulled up because 
their calfs weren’t too big. I tore tights, I had scabbed my knees so often they 
never healed and left scars that made bare legs impossible. 
Fall 2018 Journal .indd   1 1/3/19   4:35 PM
1
Crawford: Smart
Published by DigitalCommons@COD, 2018
 I couldn’t be delicate or demur, just too loud, drawing attention to 
myself that only embarrassed adult friends and family at gatherings, who would 
roll their eyes, whispering that I must get it from my mother’s people.
 And I did try to do better. I tried to stretch my hair at night so that 
it would grow and hang down my back. I tried not to eat so many sweets, so I 
could lose the weight now because it would only get harder as I got older, or so 
cousin Lilly would say, every, single, time, she saw me. I wish I had known the 
word “bitch,” not that I would ever use it, but so I could think it. I tried
to at least be quiet and sit still, so I could be seen and not heard, and stay out of 
grown folks conversations. I failed of course, miserably, and I was smart enough 
to know it.
Ronda Crawford
Utopia Mary Sikorski
Fall 2018 Journal .indd   2 1/3/19   4:35 PM
2
The Prairie Light Review, Vol. 41, No. 1 [2018], Art. 36
https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol41/iss1/36


English

Smart

This ballad was written in 1865 by Walt Whitman after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and became Whitman’s most popular poem during his lifetime. “O Captain! My Captain!” consists of three stanzas. It is a symbolic poem in which the “Captain” refers to Abraham Lincoln and the “Ship” refers to the Union. In the first stanza, Whitman tells us that “the fearful trip (the Civil War) is done. The prize we sought (victory and an end to slavery) is won.”  The people are rejoicing but the “Captain” (Abraham Lincoln) lies, “Fallen cold and dead.” In the second stanza, Whitman calls to the Captain to rise up because the people are anxious to see him. However, “the Captain, dear father is dead.” Whitman refers to Lincoln as both Captain and father because Lincoln is not only the military leader, but also the father of the nation. In the third stanza, Whitman reinforces that the war is over, the nation is safe, and the objectives have been achieved. However, the “Captain” has paid the ultimate price for these successes. He lies, “Fallen cold and dead.”
Faculty Supervisor:  Dr. Lisa Higgin

Iacopelli, Frank

Henes, Chuck

Becker, Clarisse

Poster:  Captain Abraham: America\u27s First Martyr

The Prairie Light Review 
Volume 42 Number 1 Article 3 
Fall 12-1-2019 
About 
Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr 
Recommended Citation 
(2019) "About," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 42 : No. 1 , Article 3. 
Available at: https://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol42/iss1/3 
This Prefatory Note is brought to you for free and open access by the College Publications at 
DigitalCommons@COD. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Prairie Light Review by an authorized editor of 
DigitalCommons@COD. For more information, please contact orenick@cod.edu. 
About
Prairie Light Review is the liberal arts journal of  College of  DuPage. 
This biannual journal seeks to showcase the diverse work produced by 
the creative individuals surrounding us. Our publication exists entirely 
because of  our loyal community, as we only accept submissions from 
District 502 and rely on our team of  student editors to edit, format, 
and produce the literary journal. Each piece submitted is evaluated 
anonymously in order to ensure objectivity. 
Join
To join our Editorial team, enroll in English 2210 for the upcoming 
semester! 
Direct additional inquiries to: 
Adam Fotos, Faculty Advisor 
fotosa@cod.edu
630-942-3167
Rolling Submissions
The Prairie Light Review accepts submissions the entire academic 
year. We accept submissions of  any of  the following categories:
original fiction, nonfiction, essays, drama, poetry, graphic essays, black 
and white and color photography, and 2D and 3D artwork of  any 
medium. If  you are interested, please submit all work to:
 prairielightreviewsubmissions@gmail.com
Scholarship Info
The Budilovsky Literary Scholarship is pleased to offer one $500 
award per semester in conjunction with being published in the College 
of  DuPage’s Prairie Light Review. To be considered for this award the 
entrant must remain a student at COD the following      semester and 
have written a quality piece of  any type (i.e. essay, poem, short story, 
etc). Preference will be made to pieces that are autobiographical in 
nature.
Cover art
Red Riding Hood
Rae Crawford
Digital Art
1
et al.: About
Published by DigitalCommons@COD, 2019


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Welcome and Opening Remarks - Jennifer Kelley

Smart

Poster: Captain Abraham: America\u27s First Martyr

About

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