Dear Reader, Happy holidays and welcome to our final issue of the fall 2023 semester! I can speak for all of the editorial board when I say that we are so incredibly proud of what we have accomplished this semester . . .

Dear Reader,

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to our poetry issue! As an English major, I adore both reading and writing poetry, but I’m not going to lie, I still have a hard time defining what exactly poetry is. I’ve heard people say that poetry is how people think, and this is true to a certain extent. Some people might think in poems, but other people might think in prose. Additionally, poetry goes beyond just being a reflective piece of writing. It is a vast genre of literature that has many different forms, and I like the fact that a sonnet, a blackout poem, and a haiku all look very different from one another . . .

As we all know, the talented Aimee Nezhukumatathil visited our campus this semester on Monday, October 23, 2023. While she was on campus, she gave a guided tour of Centenary’s Arboretum, visited a poetry class, and, of course, spoke at the official Corrington Award Ceremony. If you were not able to attend the ceremony, there is, fortunately, a recording on Centenary’s Facebook page!

Dr. Matthew Blasi, one of Centenary’s English professors, recently gave a reading from his debut novel, Sweet Muffin Ranch. The novel follows Gene, his family, and their rescue and rehabilitation center for dogs. Before Dr. Blasi read an excerpt from his book, Sam Brown, Dr. Jones-Pierce, and Dr. Martin all read brief pieces. Sam Brown read a couple of flash fiction pieces, and Dr. Jones-Pierce read a creative nonfiction excerpt about a childhood friend

Dear Reader,

It is my absolute honor to welcome you to the Fall 2023 volume of The Conglomerate! With the start of a new volume and a new semester, I have been thinking a lot about beginnings. As a society, one of the beginnings that we talk a lot about is the beginning of a new year. Many people have lots of New Year’s traditions, ranging from starting a new planner to making a meticulous list of goals for the year, and, of course, it would be hard to forget about New Year’s resolutions . . .

There are so many words that I could use to describe Remi Miller, our head of the News and Worldview section. She is assertive, creative, determined, fashionable, driven, passionate, and so much more. She has done a fabulous job guiding the News and Worldview section this year

On March 6, 2023, Louisiana’s Secretary of State, Kyle Ardoin, made an official statement about three other states withdrawing from the Electronic Registration Information Center, also known as the ERIC; Louisiana had previously started withdrawing from the ERIC back in January 2022 . . .

Midterm elections are happening this year in November, which means that it is time to start making your voting plan for the midterm elections and any elections before them. If you’ve never registered to vote, then let this article be your starting point!

It was almost impossible to not hear about Russia invading Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Many of us have seen updates about Russia and Ukraine, and we may have even done some basic research on the history between these two countries, but in order to gain more clarity on why Russia invaded Ukraine and what the possible future could be as a result of this conflict, I conducted an interview with Dr. Donahoe and Dr. Fulwider, two professors here at Centenary.

According to the Shreveport Journal, a group of about thirty Centenary College students streaked across campus at 11:30 p.m. one night in the spring semester of 1974.

Ever since Facebook became Meta, I have been hearing a lot about the metaverse.