{"id":3788,"date":"2026-10-05T09:00:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T14:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/?p=3788"},"modified":"2026-10-04T21:55:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T02:55:15","slug":"meet-a-cavalier-monday-ekene-anyanike-has-a-mind-full-of-story-worlds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/2026\/10\/05\/meet-a-cavalier-monday-ekene-anyanike-has-a-mind-full-of-story-worlds\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet A Cavalier Monday: Ekene Anyanike has a mind full of “Story Worlds”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ekene begins his involvement in the JCCC Creative Writing Club for the day by creating short stories <\/span>based on a list of prompts <\/span>\u2013 one <\/span>such <\/span>example being<\/span> \u201cWolf in sheep’s clothing.\u201d<\/span><\/span> Photo By: Nathan Schweiger\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

During a recent Creative Writing Club meeting, students split into small groups for a game of \u201cwriter\u2019s telephone.\u201d One person writes the first sentence of a story and passes the paper to the next person, who adds a line of their own. By the time the page makes it around the table, the group has a collaborative and usually wacky story.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ekene Anyanike sat in one of those groups, and when the table decided to pass two stories around at once, he started both without missing a beat.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Marianne Kunkel, the club\u2019s adviser, was sitting at the same table and wrote in an email that she was impressed by how easily Anyanike could churn out stories. He didn\u2019t stop to think about either opening line, and to Kunkel, that showed Anyanike was \u201csomeone with a ton of story worlds\u201d in his head.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For Anyanike, stories have never been hard to find. He calls himself \u201ca bit of a creative person,\u201d and long before he started writing seriously, he was already inventing characters and building whole worlds just to pass the time.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI always found myself interested in creating little stories in my head,\u201d Anyanike wrote in an email, \u201cor just worldbuilding as a sort of pastime when I was really bored.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What changed was realizing those stories might mean something to someone else. The idea that people other than himself could enjoy what he wrote pushed Anyanike to start putting the ideas floating around in his head onto paper. Since then, he hasn\u2019t run short on them.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always something new to be explored, always some new inspiration, always an idea that can be developed into something truly fantastic,\u201d Anyanike wrote.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kunkel noticed that drive the first time Anyanike walked into a club meeting. He jumped straight into a writing prompt and stayed focused on it for 20 minutes. When it came time to share, Anyanike shot a hand up and read what Kunkel described as a \u201crollicking, scary-yet-funny\u201d piece of prose.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEkene is a serious writer,\u201d Kunkel wrote.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kunkel has also seen that seriousness from the other side of the page. Anyanike is a student in her ENGL 232 Introduction to Children\u2019s Literature course, where he digs deep into a text\u2019s themes and then zooms out to talk about how it plays out in media and culture.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At another club meeting, members held an original character show-and-tell, sharing slides about characters they were developing for their own projects. Anyanike presented a fantasy world so complex and well thought out that he ran out of time before he could explain all of it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEkene is an enthusiastic public speaker,\u201d Kunkel wrote, \u201cwith a rich and almost reverent appreciation of creative writing.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyanike found the club almost by accident.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI actually first got involved through the Writing Center, shoutout to them,\u201d Anyanike wrote.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He knew a club had existed at some point but had no idea it was something he could join until staff at the Writing Center mentioned it. That first meeting was welcoming enough that Anyanike began attending every one he could and started spreading the word to other students.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What keeps him coming back is the range of people in the room.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important to me that there’s such a wide variety of people in there all willing to share their stories and writings,\u201d Anyanike wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s honestly amazing.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The club has also taught Anyanike how much he enjoys reading other people\u2019s work. For him, it isn\u2019t about critique so much as seeing how each writer interprets an idea and draws on their own experiences to shape it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime someone shares a piece with you,\u201d Anyanike wrote, \u201cthey\u2019re giving you a window into their inner world.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ekene gives positive feedback on a peer’s short story that was shared with the JCCC Creative Writing Club<\/span>. Photo By: Nathan Schweiger\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

That enthusiasm for other writers has made Anyanike a memorable presence in the club. As an officer this semester, he offers input on club events and writing activities and has even helped with poster design. According to Kunkel, he always smiles when a student walks into a meeting and makes sure others get a chance to read their writing aloud before he raises his own hand.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Club member Shane Wilson described Anyanike in an email as \u201cextremely welcoming and seemingly ready to chat about anything.\u201d Anyanike\u2019s humor leans into absurdity, especially in his comedic writing, and he also has a particular flair for horror.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHis humor has rubbed off on me and others,\u201d Wilson wrote. \u201cThe variety of prompts he brings to the club is awesome, and he has encouraged others to write more absurd.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Asked to name a favorite piece of his own, Anyanike admitted it was a hard question.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m being honest, nothing quite yet, but also everything,\u201d he wrote.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many of the pieces he is most excited about are still in progress, and the finished ones all hold a similar value that makes them hard to rank. Eventually, though, Anyanike made a call.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJust this once, though, I\u2019ll be decisive,\u201d Anyanike wrote.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

His pick is \u201ctables,\u201d the first piece where he tried some of the stranger ideas he had been wanting to experiment with for a while. Seeing those ideas come together into something cohesive made Anyanike \u201csuper happy,\u201d and while he believes he can do better, he considers the piece an integral step toward becoming the writer he wants to be.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That goal is simple. Anyanike wants to finish a complete story he is proud of.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone writes for their own reason,\u201d Anyanike wrote. \u201cFor me it\u2019s really for my own enjoyment.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Writing gives him a place to explore the thoughts that keep occurring to him, many of which aren’t even story ideas at first. And like a lot of writers, Anyanike has a \u201cwhite whale,\u201d a project he has been feeding and building up in his head for some time.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Part of the reason he has been writing so much lately is to make sure that when he finally starts that project, he has the skill to carry it past his own standards for what it should be.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He hopes that day comes soon.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUntil then, I\u2019ll just keep writing,\u201d Anyanike wrote.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ekene begins his involvement in the JCCC Creative Writing Club for the day by creating short stories based on a list of prompts \u2013 one such example being \u201cWolf in sheep’s clothing.\u201d Photo By: Nathan Schweiger\u00a0 During a recent Creative Writing Club meeting, students split into small groups for a game of \u201cwriter\u2019s telephone.\u201d One […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":3789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_ppma_block_editor_authors":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[365],"class_list":["post-3788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life"],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Saul Epstein","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/sepstein\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2026\/10\/1-Eken-Highlight-9433-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[{"link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/gabrielle-thompson\/","display_name":"Gabrielle Thompson"}],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Life<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Life<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 3 days ago","modified":"Updated 3 days ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on October 5, 2026","modified":"Updated on October 4, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on October 5, 2026 9:00 am","modified":"Updated on October 4, 2026 9:55 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":365,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"gabrielle-thompson","display_name":"Gabrielle Thompson","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"","last_name":"","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2026\/10\/1-Eken-Highlight-9433.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3788"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3791,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3788\/revisions\/3791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3788"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=3788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}