Writing is an act of resistance
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Sleeping With the Enemy
By Marcia Meier I have been sleeping with the enemy for more than two years. Rob is a Republican. But on the morning after the election, he held me close as I sobbed and promised, “It will be okay.” He promised. But he doesn’t know. And nothing that has happened since that morning has made…
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To Gerry Mckinley
By Mark A. Murphy If poetry is not social then it ceases to have a function beyond perfume. –André Gide A life time ago in a rage of mourning, my mind bent on self-doubt and self-loathing, drudging up the many injustices of a social system hell bent on the destruction of life, I read a…
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Breakfast
By Amanda Gomez The couple next to me is finishing their breakfast. Between a bite of grits and eggs, the woman asks: how do they let in trash like that these days? staring at the television screen, where clips of protestors gathered at the Trump Tower flash across. The news anchor covering the story chuckles…
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Wise Counsel From a Lecture Course Grader
Dear Undergrads, As the poor soul who has been grading for this class for two semesters, suffering through countless horrifying exam answers and weak-ass essays, I have decided to share some useful exam tips with you all. WRITE LEGIBLY. If I cannot read your writing I obviously cannot understand your answer, which means I cannot…
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California Least Tern Eggs
By Anna Stump Artist’s statement: I have painted birds periodically throughout my life, mainly as a symbol for fragility, both personal and political. “California Least Tern Eggs,” from my Terrariums series, is mixed media on paper. Terrariums began as a series depicting Passenger Pigeons, which are extinct. I’ve expanded the subject to include endangered…
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Citizen
Joan Didion, Essay, Susan Arthur, Lost Canadian law, Immigrate to Canada, The Year of Magical ThinkingBy Susan Arthur The day, as I write this, is November 9, 2016. Yep, the day half of us in America wander about in nearly lobotomized shock at Trump’s win. We look for solace from each other, wonder what to do. There have been whispers for some time about moving to Canada. I hear the…
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To do list
By Daniell Cohen Get out of bed Brush teeth Get dressed Breathe Apply for citizenship Confront your male friend for claiming your sexuality is “a waste” because you fit his “ideal partner criteria” Confront a cisgender white woman in class about why “we can’t just accept that we have different opinions,” Reply with “what do…
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Turns Out
By Sam Sax all the holocaust books we read in grade school weren’t enough. the class outraged, youth shouting never again. in the texts i became brave, resistance child, stalking the night’s antique shadows, disproving a devil’s arithmetic, lettering every star. easy to be righteous in the face of tyranny so dead, the terror’s just…
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Nightmare on Elm Street
Cassandra Lane, Nightmare on Elm Street, Dylann Storm Roof, Emanuel AME Church Charleston, Narrative nonfictionBy Cassandra Lane Dylann Storm Roof invades my dream space in the days after he murders nine African Americans at a Bible study in Charleston, South Carolina. His spirit travels 2,480 miles to reach the interior of my imagination in Los Angeles. Like a bloodhound, he finds my Southern black body hiding out in the desert.…