Welcome to "The Cores"
A Writing Program for High School Students

Other Works by Vincent Vanston...

Jeremiah, My Servant

Jeremiah, who works as a handyman in a rural area, wants the township supervisors to erect an alabaster statue, a fair likeness of him, in the town square, and to declare him a saint by the grace of God, in recognition of the miracles he has performed, and the acts of love he has done for those in need. As he sets out on his Quixotic mission, he is accompanied by his grand-daughter, Naomi, who is not only his disciple, but also his evangelist who records his sayings and good deeds for posterity.


Somewhere in Silence

Rafael Guanavici is an artist who has been struggling in vain for years to finish his painting of the Crucifixion. Despite the hundreds of times he has painted the eyes of Jesus, he is not satisfied they reveal the truth of what Jesus saw in his final hours on the cross. Rafael's obsession has plunged his wife, Louisa; his son, Antonio; and his daughter, Maria, into dire poverty. Rafael, however, believes that one day his painting will be a masterpiece which will make him famous and his family wealthy. Then all of them will look back upon their sacrifices as a small price to have paid for what he has accomplished.


Our Father

Michael Bannon, now forty-one years old, is a priest in the society of the Fathers of the Holy Spirit, a missionary order which has sent him to Chile. His mother, Elizabeth, and his sister, Sarah, are devoted to Michael. He and his father, Stephen, however, see the world in a different light; Stephen, a realist; Michael, a romantic; and it has caused them to clash. After twelve years in Chile, Michael finds himself living under a dictatorship, and he runs afoul of the government in serving the poor of his parish. The effect his family has had on his life shapes the way he confronts the terror that surrounds him as well as his commitment to his vocation as a priest.


How I Feel the World

How I Feel the World is a series of essays I began writing many years ago and continued until the present publishing. The essays are of an eclectic nature, ranging from eulogies, to philosophy, to scripture and theology, to speeches, to some of the insights into the human condition which I have observed over my years as a student, a teacher, a writer, a funeral director, a son, a brother, a husband, a father a grandfather, an uncle, a cousin, and a friend.


The World and the Play

The World and the Play continues the work of "How I Feel the World" with an additional series of essays. In addition, it contains the play on the Irish hunger strikers, "And Still the Sea is Salt".




High School Creative Writing Course: The Short Story



High School Creative Writing Course: The Essay



High School Creative Writing Course: Poetry