Tikkun Magazine, September/October 2009
We advertised an Under 25 youth writing contest on the back cover of our May/June 2009 issue and had no idea what quality of writing we would receive. We were blown away by quality of the essays. It was pretty much impossible to select the five we promised to put in the print edition, since there was little to choose between the top entries. We had over 40 entries altogether. We promised free subscriptions to the top twenty.
The ones in print are linked to below, plus the rest of our top picks. It was striking to us how well the writers wove their personal experiences into their understanding of a social, political, or theological issue.
Our Top Twelve
Social, Political Topics
The most popular theme was Israel/Palestine, and liberal American Jews discovering or learning to work with the Other (and not only with Palestinians or other Arabs, since the Other in one case was a conservative Israeli settler). See the essays by Rachel Berkowitz, Samantha Kirby, Noah Hertz-Bunzl, Shira Rachel Danan, and Laura Duane.
Josh Kaminski wrote about being jobless in a small Michigan town, and promoting the local as opposed to the mega-corporate economy.
Armen Kassabian’s experience of using mindfulness meditation as an alternative to Ritalin shows that we could radically change the way we approach ADHD in ourselves and our children.
Applying Our Knowledge: Inter-Religious Study for Purposeful Action by Joshua M. Z. Stanton.
Hope From The Ashes by Maia Smith tells of the efforts she has participated in to bring a ruined Hawaian island back.
Theological Insights
Corinne Knight's childhood cancer made her question why God would do this to her. At college, she found out how the experience enabled her to listen to and support other people with cancer and thence to a wider appreciation of how the healing of the world proceeds.
Joy Brenner-Letich expresses a very direct and beautiful approach to life and God. “God is the warmth in the hands I hold,” she writes.
And Natalie Smolenski takes issue with those on the Left who are so taken up with the political that they have lost track of personal repentance and spiritual repair, which need to be at the heart of radical politics.
Our Next Eleven
Teaching in Prison, by Lauren Kinney
War and The Boy Next Door by Ellen LaVigne
A Share of Strengths by Talia Esther Sukol, on interconnectedness with each other online and with the earth through growing food.
Paul Against Paul: A New Reading of Proposition 8 by Ross Steinborn. An evangelical Christian awakens to radical inclusiveness in community.
Perspective of the Invisible One, by Grace Segers, on being a middle school outsider whose "religion teaches to look for God in the outcasts."
A Chocolate Challenge by Tara Jo Quinn, on how to combat child slavery when munching on your chocolate bar.
Student Repression in Zimbabwe by Paul Sixpence, on conditions that are unimaginable to most American students.
Speak to Their Listening by Elisabeth MacAulay Given. Even on the things we are most enthusiastic about, such as food that sustains us and the environment, we must learn how not to preach only to the choir.
The Economic Crisis a Few Years Early by Katharine Sontag: how a middle class kid survived her father's unemployment.
Once Upon a Palestine by Aimee Rubensteen. A Jewish student meets an Arab mother and works on her own prejudices.
When Separation is Best by Sarah Paulsen, on when her father left home.
