Click on the image above to download a pdf of the 2022 edition of Wild Onions. Cover photograph by Marcia Riegle, patient.
The Penn State College of Medicine Department of Humanities welcome you to the 2022 Wild Onions art and literary journal. This edition features creative writing, art and photography with theme of “Touch.”
“Touch has always been a place of connection. The laying of hands has been an expression of care from the earliest of times of our individual lives and from our time as a species. In this time of the COVID pandemic, we have seen how the absence of touch has created great suffering for so many. However, touch extends beyond the physical to the emotional and the spiritual,” says 2022 Guest Editor J. Andrew Probolus, MD.
Wild Onions encourages submissions that seek to describe and understand the experiences of health, illness, and treatment, especially caregiving and the receipt of care. “Each individual piece allowed us to consider a different meaning of ‘Touch,’ and for that we are forever grateful,” says Elias Harkins and Haley Hartman, student co-editors. The beauty of Wild Onions is its capacity to create a vibrant, creative, and expressive community of artists year after year. The journal features work by individuals affiliated with Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, including patients, students, faculty, physicians, residents, nurses, staff, volunteers, and family and community members.
Wild Onions Online seeks to make our journal accessible to all.
The 2023 theme was announced at the April Premiere Event launching the journal. The 2023 student editors Benjamin Watt and Lindsey Peck shared the theme “Growth and Regeneration:”
“What do growth and regeneration illuminate?
Growth can mean evolving in some way, stirring pleasure or pain, whether visible or hidden. After enduring a season of adversity and loss, we may discover new resilience – ready for regeneration – like perennials in spring.”
Submissions are accepted through January 15, 2023. To find out more or request a copy, visit sites.psu.edu/wildonions.
Interested in submitting your creative writing, photography and artwork? Email us at wildonions@pennstatehealth.psu.edu! Submissions are due January 15, 2023.