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About Wild Onions

Wild Onions is an annual publication funded by the Department of Humanities at Penn State College of Medicine. It is a journal of poetry, prose and visual art, created by members of the Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center community.

Most entries pertain to some dimension of medicine (for example, the experiences, observations and reflections of patients, nurses, physicians, medical students, family members, hospital staff, volunteers, visitors, etc.), but the journal invites submissions on all topics.

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Why Wild Onions?

The wild onion is a common garden-variety weed, a hardy plant that grows almost anywhere and tends to spring up in unexpected places throughout the woods, fields and roadsides. It blossoms into an unusual purple flower. The underground bulb, if tasted, yields a pungent, spicy flavor. The wild onion symbolizes the commonplace, yet surprising, beauty living and growing around us all the time. An uncultivated spice, it unexpectedly thrives and - if we take time to notice - enhances life.