| Writing | |
| June 6, 2025 |
Won 5th place (1,250 writers in 42 groups)
Story “The Accidental Score”
Judge: 2530 This piece is written with ample verve. Every paragraph contains a reversal of expectations, a twist on a familiar phrase “crushing Candy Crush…” There’s subtle observations like “phone cameras pretending to have shutters” and big ones like “I used to think music changed people…” It ends in a surprising way that questions the material impact of our urge to mock those in power, asking us whether or not those urges actually help or hurt.
Judge: 2320 “Alternative fax.” Hilarious. You have some great jokes in here. Other standouts are “One man sighs and moves his piece down a chute. ‘Back to Yemen’” and the repeated McDonalds stealing. You do a nice job of sprinkling in modern political jabs (the JD Vance ones were subtle yet biting) while still crafting your own unique world. “Steam. Garlic. Cursing.” This was a really nice introduction to the kitchen setting. Within three words, you hit three different senses (touch, smell, sound) that really root the reader physically in the scene, and the comradery between the characters (the joking) convinces us that these men have a history. We believe that Kenneth has been in the kitchen joking around before, and that makes everything about the story feel more real to us (there’s a life beyond the literal text). The jacket scene was funny and perfectly set up the ending – if the live mic on the jacket had only been introduced in the buffet scene, the ending wouldn’t have felt so organic.
Judge: 2117 Kenneth is a great character, and were shown who he is largely by just watching him be himself. The story is almost entirely just watching him go through his days in this odd situation, and he’s enough, because he’s clever and funny, and he chooses to do something other than what he’s there to do. The whole theme of the McDonald’s in the basement is hilarious. The fact that everyone keeps stealing his McDonald’s bag is hilarious and completely believable. The idea that the White House would hire a viola player to play bully himself every day, with no other directions, and no one ever seeming to pause to listen (or know it’s not a violin) is a serious commentary on the administration, and about modern Americans in general. And it leaves the reader contemplating it, as good political satire should do.
