CAGED CITY by Kristal Peace
a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
Several years ago, I visited Detroit, Michigan. I have no plan to do that again. Ever. Driving into Detroit from a surrounding...
SACRIFICE: A DOCTOR’S STORY by Seth Guterman
I was a new doctor in 1997 when one of my patients suffered severe swelling in the throat after being given medicine in the emergency room at the hospital. I tried unsuccessfully to place...
CAUTIONARY TALES by Gershom Gerneth Mabaquiao
How do you make people listen? You tell stories.
For children, these stories usually featured mythical creatures. For Filipino children, these mythical stories always had a touch of darkness. Abduction, drowning, attacks, soul-stealing. For...
LETTING GO OF “WHAT IF” – OUR PARENTING STORY Cynthia Damon
Letting Go of “What If”: Our Parenting Story
“What if” questions, especially for parents, can be terrifying. Children’s books can help.
“What If…”
When my wife and I were informed by the fertility clinic that she was...
XIFAKI, A SOUTH AFRICAN SOCCER GRANNY by Jean Duffy
Xifaki, A South African Soccer Granny
“I am eighty-six years old. I don’t know what my mates say when they look at me. Most of them do not even believe that I am that old....
THE FOUR OF US LOST THE STREET by Hellen Albuquerque
Nós quatro perdemos a rua
Por Hellen Albuquerque
Quando eu tinha 11 anos, me mudei de escola. Novo uniforme, agora azul escuro com listras amarelas laterais que me faziam parecer parte oficial dos Correios. Novos nomes...
MY BODY IS MY MEMORIAL by Barbara Ann Bush
I was 14 when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986. I was glued to the classroom television because, like other school children in the US, I was actively taken along on...
THE MISBEGOTTEN TEAM by Paul Perilli
This came back to me years later when my brother and I were moving my mother to a smaller apartment in Waltham, Massachusetts.
I was cleaning out a drawer when I came across a batch...
EVERYTHING I LEARNED ABOUT BEING AN ARTIST I LEARNED FROM RUNNING by Carlos Cajina
Yesterday afternoon the snow had finally begun falling from the sky. Mid-January, with barely any snow on the ground, was a runner's dream in Canada. Despite the cold and rainy conditions that fogged my...
THE UNIVERSE AS A FLUKE by Greg Seitz
The Universe as a Fluke
The laws of physics have always existed. They manifest as potential energy and interact randomly. They have no consciousness or purpose. They exist outside of space and time in a...