AN ELABORATE ESCAPE

MARY MAGDALENE

Mary Magdalene. 

Cast out by a city that didn’t want me just because I did what I could to survive.

I looked for help.

Crowds of anger spat at me, called me words I’d never repeat without reason, and I pleaded.

I grabbed the arm of a mother who held her small son’s hand. She shook my grasp like I was water and she wanted her hands dry. 

Eventually, I found someone who’d love everyone. He spoke of goodness and purity, said he saw it in me. He was just beginning to preach and the people had just started to listen. I followed him one day after a sermon in Tekoa and never stopped. 

I didn’t want to live my life for him, but he was the only one who’d talk to me – before him, I was talking to walls. 

The scriptures call me devout, say I wiped his face with cloth as he was bleeding, but all I did was show the sliver of empathy that others couldn’t. 

His mother was crying, sobbing; her face was pink. 

They had whipped her son in front of hundreds, he was malnourished and taunted while crowds cheered. 

She tried to reach him as he walked to death, gaunt, wood heavy in his hands, and guards shoved her away. 

I witnessed her try and try again until there was no force left in her body – no hope left in her. 

So I ducked between the guards and placed my towel on his face. Dark blood pooled around his hairline. His eyes sunk into his skull like he was made of clay. He looked at me with a vacant stare and thanked me. 

I felt a hand clutch the skin around my hip. Nails dug in. 

Guards yanked me back into the people, and as I walked to the top of the mountain, Jesus’ mother grabbed my hand, thanking me profusely between tears. 

— Anna Miller

ANNA MILLER ‘24 (AN ELABORATE ESCAPE)

Drypoint printmaking

“This piece is centered around my personal definition of escapism. Throughout my portfolio this year, I've been exploring my current life through a prediction of what I will find nostalgic about now in the future. I've noticed a big part of my current life involves trying to balance school work, social life, extracurriculars and my mental health. More specifically, learning about what I can do for myself to make that balance healthier. This piece is emphasizing escapism as a tool for staying afloat through stressful times of my life.”

Prose

“A prompt in my creative writing class was to write a piece from the eyes of a person in history. Having gone to catholic school for elementary and middle school, I gravitated towards religious figures. Mary Magdalene has always been an interesting figure and her stories are some of my favorite from the bible. I wrote 'Mary Magdalene' from her perspective.”