As a Cristo Rey St. Martin College Prep student more than 15 years ago, Rachel Rodriguez Yancy wrote poetry and entered contests. She won one sponsored by the Illinois Tenth Congressional District Democrats.
When she read about the Waukegan Public Library’s annual Ray Bradbury Summer Writing Contest, Yancy learned she could submit either a poem or a short story about something that took place in the past.
“I had some ideas rolling around in my head,” she said. “I had a few lines in my head. I decided to sit down and write something.”
Yancy’s poem, “12311999 | 2359,” about people’s feelings on Dec. 31, 1999, as the world was about to move into a new millennium, won top prize in the library’s Ray Bradbury Summer Writing Contest on the author’s birthday, Aug. 22, in Waukegan.
Vanessa Burns, the library’s adult services manager, said Yancy earned a $125 gift card for her effort. The second- and third-place finishers each received a $50 gift card. The entries showed inspiration from Bradbury’s writing.
“We want to inspire writers at our library, which was once Ray Bradbury’s library,” Burns said, referring to how the Waukegan native and author developed his joy of reading in the children’s reading room as a young boy. “We encourage the writers with a different prompt every year.”
Each writer picked a subject, writing either a short story or poem about something in the past. Burns said a panel of judges selected by the library reads each entry and then comes to a consensus on which piece tops the list, as well as what finished second and third.
“It’s an opportunity to celebrate writing and writers,” Burns said.
Though Yancy said she does not have her own memories of New Year’s Eve in 1999 and what happened at the opening moments of 2000 in Waukegan, she remembers people talking about it then and long afterward.
“We were going into a new millennium, and nobody knew what was going to happen,” she said. “People were worried their computers would stop working. None of that happened.”
In her poem, Yancy wrote of the clock striking midnight on that New Year’s Eve and the impact it had.
“Clock strikes midnight / world ain’t end / just shifted / grew teeth / new scripture shaped from survival / we stand as avatars of the aftermath.”
Hesitant at first, Yancy said she received encouragement from her teachers about the poetry she wrote. Thinking about the contest, past success, and the verses which kept crossing her mind, she decided it was time to write a poem.
“I looked at my old poems and said I can do this again,” she said.
One person not surprised by Yancy’s win was Lauren Beth Gash, the founding chair of the Tenth Congressional District Democrats. Gash said in a text that the organization held writing contests for high school students.
“We’re so proud of Rachel, but not at all surprised to hear about her passion for literature, because over a decade ago she showcased that same interest — and immense talent — as the winner of our Tenth Dems Poetry & Prose contest for high school students,” Gash said.
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Amy Grossman, the library’s assistant director, said the contest is funded by money donated by the Ray Bradbury Experience Museum when it closed and ceased operations just over three years ago.