Mac Whaley, Cotter sophomore, earned a first place finish in the international level of the written poetry category of the What About Peace contest.

Whaley, know around Winona both as the Sunday night disc jockey for KG-95.3, as well as being an aspiring rapper, is proving he has a way with the spoken word.

Whaley  stated  he  entered the What About Peace contest initially as an assignment for religion class.

“It was during a study hall, and I wanted to get ahead in some classes. I originally meant for it to be a song. So I just wrote it. I had a beat already playing in my mind that I came across on YouTube. Whenever I have to write about a specific subject, and stay on that subject, it just flows out. It almost wrote itself I guess.”

This is not the first time Whaley has written his own pieces.

“I write/record all of my own music, so I just treated it like how I would write songs. I don’t think I’ll record it, but there’s a possibility that it’ll come up. I have two records coming out (A Record of Therapy in summer,  and MWLP  (Mac: Winona’s Last Prodigy) in the fall), but I don’t think, based off of the concepts that those records will have, this specific poem will appear on either of them. If it does, it would fit more with the Therapy concept than MWLP.”

After placing first at the international level of the written poetry category, and receiving a $300 prize, it is fair to guess we will be hearing more of Mac Whaley.

“I didn’t even think I would make it past the first round of selections. I figured the judges were a bunch of old white people who don’t consider rap ‘real music yet.’”