mong the Litrus staff are several outstanding talents, one of which is double-threat Aaron Castrejon. Castrejon, art editor for the campus literary magazine, first became part of the student publication program when he joined the Clarion staff as an artist and graphic designer. Though writing was “the farthest thing from my mind,” he recalls, soon he was contributing stories ranging from sports features to opinions. The emerging writer—who in 2002 had a 7-panel comic strip published in “The Simpsons” comic book in a section devoted to fan art—also began to hone his illustrative skills with a comic strip in the Clarion titled “Daily Life.” In fall of 2006, Castrejon joined the newly revived Litrus and surprised fellow staffers by turning out though-provoking and often dark short stories that stood out among submissions. Stories like “The P.O.W.” (link here) and “Sister Omega” (link here) are accompanied by numerous evocative illustrations. Castrejon has showed wit as well as skill, creating images of a disastrously unfunny jester for the flash fiction piece “Radicchio” (link here) as well as eccentric couple “The Sweets,” (link here) who share a harmonious marriage as well as an epic sweet tooth. We sat down with Castrejon, who is in the process of duplicating a self-published comic book, “Cinna-Man,” to discuss his vision of how art and words go hand-in-hand. We Sat down with Aaron Castrejon for a brief interview on the inner workings of his illustrations and his up coming comic book Cinna-Man. Q: You have contributed to Litrus for two semesters. Talk about the work you are proudest of.

A: I would say above all, “Sister Omega” is something I’m really proud of, not only because it was one of the most epic stories I’ve written (it was like 10,000 words), but also because of its content. I wanted to give a window into the mind of someone who might be expected to present herself in a leadership role—she’s a woman of the church. But on the inside, she has worries and desires and dreams like anyone would have.