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The Daily Eastern News

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The student news site of Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois.

The Daily Eastern News

The student news site of Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois.

The Daily Eastern News

    It’s never too late to be great

    It's never too late to be great

    I see creativity everywhere I go on campus.

    Whether it be a lone guitar strummer on the steps of Doudna, a piece of artwork from the Tarble Arts Center or on the bulletin boards in Coleman Hall.

    There’s even creativity in the classrooms of Old Main or the Physical Science building-just look at the students who occupy the seats.

    But what do we do with this creativity?

    Most of us let it sit in our heads. I’ll even admit that I’m guilty of that sometimes. But, seriously, why do we do this?

    Keeping your creative ideas in your head is like keeping a prisoner hostage. ?

    Let your ideas run free! All you need is a piece of paper and pen; let your ideas flow either by drawing, writing, composing music or anything else you can think of.

    And what ever happened to that old poetry you used to write?

    I’ll bet it’s dying to come out, to be rediscovered.

    Even better, give your ideas some justice by sharing them with Eastern’s campus-submit your poems, short stories, or artwork to The Vehicle, Eastern’s literary magazine.

    But you’d better hurry, the deadline is today at 4 p.m. ?You can submit your creative works by dropping it into The Vehicle box in the English office, which is on the third floor of Coleman hall.

    Make sure your name is not on your work. Instead include a note card attached to your work with your name, title of your work, your e-mail address and a short biography about yourself.

    The only disadvantage about submitting to The Vehicle is that you’re not guaranteed your work will be put in the magazine.

    But it’s not like Sigma Tau Delta (the people who are behind the publication and distribution for The Vehicle) is biased-that’s why they have you write your name down on the note card so, they don’t know who wrote what.

    I have been submitting to The Vehicle for the past three semesters. I didn’t get in the first two but last semester I did.

    And let me tell you, it’s a great feeling knowing your short story is in a literary magazine. It was especially so for me, because I want to be an author someday.

    But even if you don’t want to be an author, poet or artist, if you get your stuff in The Vehicle, it’s still something you can put on your resume (not to mention something you can brag about to your friends).

    If you’re a songwriter, why not submit your song in a poem form?

    And if you’re a photographer, along with drawings, The Vehicle accepts photos, too. After all, photography is just as much of a creative art as drawing and writing.

    And if you think your work sucks and isn’t good enough for The Vehicle, think again.

    We tend to be our own worst critics.

    For more information, you can go to www.eiu.edu/~vehicle, or you can join the Facebook group, “THE VEHICLE – Sigma Tau Delta.”

    So you’ve got until 4 p.m. today and you can submit up to 10 things.

    I say go for it.

    Sam Sottosanto is a junior journalism

    major and can be reached at

    DENopinions@gmail.com or 581-7942.

      It’s never too late to be great

      I’m the never-say-die kind of person. Some may call it a shortcoming; others may call it a shining example of my genetic hard-headedness. One look at my long-standing inability to quit smoking cigarettes and can see how I simply don’t know when to say enough is enough and call it quits.

      (more…)

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