There is silence as I stand amid a thousand tombstones, there is silence as time sweeps concentric circles around me. Long tendrils of human emotion grope my flesh and bring my bones closer to harmony. The emerald locusts that know me as their empress shudder nervously in adiabatic contentment. My words become the white hot copper filaments in lonesome street lamps. The soft moths who beat their bodies in towards the ambient beauty, so terrified of darkness they chose to kill themselves with light.

Carmelita Jaramillo carries a notebook on her like a survivalist carries a water canteen. Wherever she can find room for it, in a backpack or back pocket, she opens its pages whenever the creative mood strikes and sometimes when it doesn’t. Her journal is almost as necessary and common to her as a heartbeat. One doesn’t exist without the other.

For an 18-year-old poet like Jaramillo, there is much to write about in the New Mexican landscape, and many other brilliant poets to share ideas with. The state has earned a familiarity in many lay persons’ minds for its dry desert lands, high-reaching cacti that blot out the sun, a mountain range and some roadside adobe dwellings, and its tombstone cemeteries.

True artists and art collectors, both nationally and around the globe, know there is much more to New Mexico than turquoise costume jewelry and paintings of windblown landscapes with wagon wheels and tumbleweeds. The state is actually home to dozens of art galleries, artist colonies, performance venues, and bestselling authors like David Morrell and Natalie Goldberg.

Jaramillo, a senior at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, New Mexico, hopes to join the ranks of the state’s most notable writers and performers through poetry slam performances. Like many artists, Jaramillo works to realize creative inspirations inside of her, yet she also feels her writing fulfills a personal sense of duty. The words that she puts to paper are from her soul, and she brings them out to brighten people’s eyes to the beauty and emotion of the world they walk through.

“Poetry is a very cathartic exercise,” Jaramillo said. “I really feel like it is my personal responsibility as a human being to try to do something to inspire other people and inspire change.”

Last fall, Jaramillo came in second in a statewide online Webslam sponsored by New Mexico CultureNet (NMCN), a state-funded organization that supports and promotes the work of local artists. Since 1998, NMCN has conducted an online poetry contest for New Mexican teens that lasts three weeks and challenges writers to contribute poems on a given mood or subject each week. Juniors and seniors from a dozen high schools throughout the state submit entries in hopes of placing with the state’s most prolific young writers.

Falling headfirst
From the age of 10, Jaramillo has been writing. She ventured into poetry at 14. Her enjoyment of the writing craft led to her involvement as the president of Santa Fe High School’s Poetry Club and in numerous other activities, including drama. Those who work closely with Jaramillo tout her as one of many upand-coming poets on the New Mexican spoken word scene.

“I have never seen someone so dedicated to creative expression as a necessary part of life - not just a hobby or a distraction or entertainment, like song lyrics,” said Michelle Holland, coordinator of NMCN’s Poets-in-the-Schools program. “She has fallen headfirst into the world of poetry and spoken word.”

NMCN has partnered with Santa Fe Public Schools since 2004 to produce the Poets-in-the-Schools program at high schools, academies and middle schools in the Santa Fe metropolitan area. The organization screens, hires and evaluates poets who work directly with students and teachers.

Julie Hasted, an English instructor and the sponsor of Santa Fe High’s Poetry Club, works weekly with Jaramillo and her teammates on written pieces and presentation. While Jaramillo has displayed the focus and organizational skills to pull together a band of poets - a talent many artistically inclined individuals do not share - Hasted said her poetry shows an opposite side.

“Her poetry is deeply emotional, incredibly symbolic, and ranges in subject matter from basic everyday tedium to the more fantastic in their initial sense,” Hasted said. “From facial anomalies to cell phones, she can draw connections to things way above the level of most high school students.”

Throwing down
There’s much more to poetry slam competitions that simply writing and reading impressive poems. Performers attempt to convey the meaning behind their works through body language, movement and voice inflection. On stage at small cafés and at numerous poetry club events, Jaramillo has worked to refine the delivery of her own poems.

“I always try to have a natural rhythm that the audience can relate to and think, ‘Yeah, that feels right,’”Jaramillo said.” I don’t want anything that sounds contrived or false. I try to relate as much as possible to the words I am saying. Every move you make, every inflection has to go along with your poem.”

A goal of Santa Fe High’s Poetry Club for 2007 is to compete in poetry slams in Albuquerque and sponsor a competition at a Santa Fe venue. Later this month, Jaramillo will face a steep challenge when she participates in NMCN’s Poetry Jam ‘07. Begun in 2002, Poetry Jam is a two-day festival of poetry workshops, readings, panels and public performances.

Jaramillo has already begun preparing her work for the event by further developing the writing approach she used in previous contests.

“I try to talk about things no one else talks about,” Jaramillo said. “Not necessarily the subjects, but how I portray the subjects. I like to use a lot of metaphors. They might even seem like ridiculous symbols, but I try to make my writing as unique as possible.”

Out among the tombstones and the snowcapped mountains, Jaramillo has found a peaceful soul in poetry. In her words, she hopes others will find similar consolation, taking her path to personal enlightenment before the moths find a bright finale and everything else comes down to bone.

For more information on New Mexico CultureNet, visit http://www.nmcn.org/.

Freshmen come and fresh-men go every year at all universities, from the major public institutions to the small private ones. Some manage to make a connection with their professors - maybe not necessarily becoming the best of friends but establishing an in-the-classroom relationship that ultimately benefits their grade. The overwhelming majority of students, though, sit at the back of the lecture hall and disappear before the instructor has a chance to learn their names.

Since this issue of KEY Magazine is devoted to helping you survive your first year of college, our editorial staff decided to get some insights into what a college professor expects from you. We decided to go straight to the source. As a professor of journalism at a major Big 12 division school, Gerry Cain squared off with hundreds of timid college freshmen. Here are his responses to some common questions on the minds of most new college students.

Q. What are some guidelines for writing an e-mail to a professor?
A. Specific and to the point. Profs have little time and a lot of committee meetings to at-tend. However, don’t mistake brevity for informality, which should be kept to a minimum - it is a professional relationship you’re building, after all, not a friend you’re inviting over for pizza and beer!

Q. How do you get to know a professor in a large lecture class?
A. Introduce yourself … often! Stop and talk briefly after class (again, we’re probably on our way to a committee meeting). And re-introduce yourself - first name, at least - with each encounter. We’re bad with names. Repetition helps.

Q. What is the best way to get on a professor’s good side?
A. Come to class prepared to discuss the subject du jour … and engage in discussions. So few do it that we seek out those to converse with just to make class more interesting … if only to our-selves.

Q. How much do I need to interact with a teacher outside of class?
A. Again, lots. If you haven’t had at least three brief encounters and one sit-down in his/her office with each of your profs, there’s little chance we’ll remember you come time for letters of recommendation. And you will want LORs.

Q. How important is class participation?
A. Very, very important. Speak up. Be heard. Often.

Q. How much interaction do you expect from a student in class?
A. Lots. Whether you agree with us or not, we at least would like the chance to have some interaction with you in class. It’s just more fun that way.

Q. What are some ways I could stay involved in a big classroom?
A. Participate in the discussion. If you’re not prepared to talk about the subject, at least come prepared knowing what the subject of discussion will be. Then toss a re-lated question or comment out in class just to let us know you appreciate our time and efforts to educate you.

Q. What is the best piece of advice you could give to a student?
A. Find something in every class and every assignment that broadens, enlightens or excites you. That is what the college experience is (supposed to be) all about.

Beyond entrance exams and admissions essays, every college student is expected
to occasionally wield the mighty pen for a paper of some fashion. No matter
what your major is, dreaded term papers and e-mails to professors and classmates
loom ahead. Writing skills can be the gateway to better grades and greater
academic achievement. Any author, from Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. to Diane McKinney-Whetstone,
can polish his or her writing by practicing these seven easy tips:

1. Read, and read a lot. The more you read, the more
your parameters will expand. No matter what interests you - whether
it’s history, sci-fi or adventure - reading will subject
you to different writing styles, expanding your vocabulary and your familiarity
with grammar and punctuation. Don’t limit yourself to books -
magazines also are quick and informative reads.

2. Be yourself. Write what you know. You can write
more intelligently on familiar subjects. Sure, more research can be done,
but don’t start with a foreign topic. On a similar note: avoid
unfamiliar words. If you use fancy language that’s not “you,” it
shows. Big words do not equal intelligence. Be cautious when using your
thesaurus!

3. Practice, practice, practice! Go beyond writing
for school assignments. Write in a journal daily. Write short stories
or poetry. No matter what you write, as long as you are putting pen to
paper (or fingers to keys), it will only help you grow.

4. Create an outline. Outlines are extremely helpful
when writing because they will help you stay on topic. It’s
tempting to branch off into new information as you write, but you should
keep your reader in mind at all times -
you don’t want to
confuse them. Creating an outline will facilitate organization and cut
your writing time down dramatically.

5. Learn proper grammar. Grammar is often overlooked
these days. As you read more, you will become more familiar with grammatical
principles. Learn how to diagram a sentence. This will make you very
conscious of the different parts of speech and how they relate to each
other.

6. Revise your own work. You are your own worst critic,
which will show as you edit your work. Many students write without editing
or even rereading their papers. This can be a fatal error – spell/grammar
check WILL NOT catch everything. Guaranteed. Ask friends to read over
your work, too. Someone else’s revisions can help just as much,
if not more, than your own.

7. Review your past work. Take an hour every month
to go back through what you’ve done in the past. See what you did
and analyze how you might write it differently now. You’ll be able
to see your growth, and you can give yourself a pat on the back for a
job well done.