A project created by Ryan Hopkins
IMPACT is a Hayden’s Ferry Review student internship project created by Ryan Hopkins, a Navy Veteran, and one of our editorial assistants from the fall ‘22 semester. Ryan searched through the HFR back catalog to answer a question: “How has modern, unconventional warfare impacted 21st Century American culture, specifically in the field of literary arts, and how does Hayden’s Ferry Review reflect that?”
From Editorial Assistant Ryan Hopkins: Using the terrorist attacks of September 11th as the threshold moment for the war on terrorism, I found two stories from the HFR catalog that show how a generation reacted to the events of that day and its following impact. They are stories of a questioning youth, trying to make sense in an uncertain world. In the process they tackle not only the cultural products of the War on Terrorism, but also show the perspective of a generation that came of age in a nation at war against an idea.
“Stand Your Ground” by Raul Palma (issue 69, spring 2022)
Ryan Hopkins interviews Raul Palma
“Stand Your Ground” by Raul Palma captures some of those reactions. Set in Miami shortly after the terrorist attacks, the narrator and his friend Rafa not only try to navigate their own lives, from balancing work and school to finding purpose in activism, but they take a stand against the rushing tidal wave of two dollar patriotism. While heartbreakingly timeless, we can all benefit from the story of two disgruntled youths pitting themselves against The Man.
When interviewing Raul Palma the questions kept coming back to culture. What it means to be American, Latinx, Floridian, a Student and how all of the above have all shifted and changed in the years after September 11th.
“Reflections in Brass” by Ashton Lynn Marie Goodman
(issue 50, spring/summer 2012)
Ryan Hopkins interviews Melissa Pritchard
Ryan Hopkins interviews Mark Goodman
“Reflections In Brass'' is a short story written by Ashton Lynn Marie Goodman, a female soldier who deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan with the United States Air Force. Her story takes us inside of a Humvee during a live fire exercise where a female soldier takes her turn firing a machine gun at the remains of a burned out truck. As she fires we also see thoughts pass through her head like the red streaks of tracer rounds, target bound downrange. It is a musing on what it means to be a soldier, and the moral weight of duty, and what she may need to do to protect herself, her comrades, and her country.
On May 26th 2009, Senior Airman Goodman was killed by a roadside bomb while on deployment to the Panjshir province of Afghanistan. However, before this tragic day she had met Melissa Pritchard, author, journalist, and former ASU faculty, while Pritchard was an embedded journalist, interviewing female service members in Afghanistan. As Melissa Pritchard’s driver, she and Ashton became close friends in only a short amount of time. Because of this friendship we now have Ashton’s work published and her legacy lives on in the hearts and minds of her loved ones, and in Hayden’s Ferry Review.
Due to the works being published posthumously, the interviews were conducted with Melissa Pritchard and Mark Goodman, Ashton’s father. Like Ashton’s “Reflections in Brass” they focus on what it means to be a service member, and how they cope with their new lives. Above all, we see hope, remembrance, and a willingness to help others.
Ryan Hopkins is a fiction writer from Red Lion, PA. He is a senior in the BA in English Literature program at ASU, and interned as an Editorial Assistant at Hayden’s Ferry Review.