The first of three senior readings has set the bar on quality.  Melissa Peterson and Danielle Grunewald have been friends since they joined SMSU, so it only made sense that they would have their senior reading together.

Danielle went first, with Melissa introducing.  She started off the reading with a rather emotional non-fiction piece about her deceased grandfather.  You could really tell that the connection between Danielle and her grandfather was genuine through her words, “My grandpa always said I was a mini adult.”

The next story that Danielle read was a fiction story titled Snake’s Den.  It seems like an innocent beginning to a love story, but near the end quickly shifts into a thriller.  Having read this before in classes and workshops, it really has gotten better and better. Accompanied with Danielle’s chilling delivery, it really was a wonderfully haunting experience.

Next up was Melissa, who was introduced by Danielle.  She began her reading with several poems.  Each poem had its own specialty about them, with one about the myth of changelings and another about her grandmother and her earrings, which Melissa wore to the reading.

The last thing that Melissa read was also a rather haunting fiction story about a woman who finds a half-dead chicken on the side of a road after it falls out of a truck.  It starts out innocent enough, with the main character driving down a road, singing P!nk songs into a fried chicken leg.  Once the half-dead chicken comes into play, the story becomes dark, depressing, but endearing.  The story itself was stemmed from Melissa’s change to Veganism.

At the end of the reading, you could really feel a sense of accomplishment from both readers.  The reading was definitely a thing that I will not be forgetting about anytime soon.