1st Place: Mike Perry
2nd Place: Ken Szymanski
3rd Place: Andy Patrie

Mike Perry is what every young English major hopes to grow up to be: rugged, well spoken, and, let’s face it, cool as hell. When Perry writes about a tractor, it makes me want to ride a damn tractor. When Perry says he knows CPR, I want to go down to the YMCA and take a class again. When Perry writes about people throwing up all over the place – well, maybe there is an end to it. Let’s just say this, Perry is a master of small town life, but that might be skewing a little small. Sure, small town life is different than living in Manhattan, but the things that make Perry’s writing great are universal. Life, love, and death are all things that are touched on with subtle nuance. We should be happy to have him. Props also to Volume One contributor Ken Szymanski for coming in second again, as well as local writing guru and English teacher, Andy Patrie for making it in to the top three. – Ian Jacoby