Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

PCC student uses Bosnian experience and wins Marylhurst writing competition

Photos and story by James Hill

PORTLAND, Ore. – As the adage goes, "write what you know." And Kara Blandi knows Bosnia. So much so, that the Portland Community College student’s nonfiction short story about her experiences in the war-torn country won the Marylhurst University short story writing competition. Blandi beat out students from area community colleges to win the top prize, which includes $100 and a free writing class at Marylhurst."I was stunned," said Blandi, a resident of southeast Portland and a student at the Sylvania Campus. "One of my instructors called me and had left a message stating I had won the competition. I couldn’t quite believe him so I had to call the university and verify it. It’s the first time I’ve ever won an award."In the story, she explored the effects of war and the peaceful alternatives that could have been taken in Bosnia in the 1990s. Her story was inspired by two Bosnian friends, Mitke and Sabina, who live in Portland. Blandi also traveled twice to Bosnia in 2003 to live a few months and talk to people who were caught in the war."I looked at the theme from six different angles," said Blandi. "I looked at my Bosnia experiences, why war happens and how it is allowed to happen. Bosnia is my pure passion. I got to know the people’s stories and did plenty of research about the subject in order to write a book. It has been hard because there are so many stories to tell."Blandi is no stranger to writing. In her first year at PCC, she has worked as a student editor for the Mercury (a creative writing broadsheet published in The Bridge newspaper each term) and on the editorial team of Alchemy, the student literary magazine.She said she learned a lot from her English instructors, too. Blandi got a solid foundation from Michael McDowell on how to use concrete ideas to tell a story. She also credits Bryan Hull, who showed her how to use write in her own voice and to look at her work with a critical eye.When the Spokane, Wash., native completes her Oregon Transfer degree next year, she says she’ll move on to a university like Marylhurst or Lewis and Clark College to get a teaching degree. Blandi even envisions establishing a cultural exchange with the University of Sarajevo to bring the stories of the war-torn country to American students."The students would get experience on the peaceful ways to resolve things," she said. "I also hope my writing inspires someone in their life to be a better person. That’s all I want it to do is to give power to somebody else."