Monthly Archives: July 2018
by Michael Messina | Jul 31, 2018
I like to term myself “religious but not spiritual.” I enjoy the trappings and rituals of church: the hymns, taking communion, post-service cookies (especially the cookies).
by Juliana Ludema | Jul 30, 2018
Which poison: a lifetime spent seeing flashy landmarks, never staying put, or a lifetime getting lost in one place?
by Cole Campbell | Jul 29, 2018
With this skewed perspective, it’s almost impossible to disassociate Calvin’s intended view of vocation, and our idea of vocation in relation to our career.
by Matt Coldagelli | Jul 28, 2018
Not only did this miscreant have the gall to stop far too distant from the proper spot, he had the utter audacity to hesitate and linger when the blessed green light at last showered itself onto us lowly plebeians.
by Brad Zwiers | Jul 27, 2018
I sank my water bottle into nature’s LaCroix, took a sip, offered some to Gwyn.
by Nick Meekhof | Jul 26, 2018
Like a tube of toothpaste gettin’ squeezed out,
The rest of that dishwasher slowly eased out
by Jack Van Allsburg | Jul 25, 2018
Her voice was not strong. But it was powerful in softness, clear in tone. After dozens of services hearing her struggle with melody, she sang in perfect harmony.
by Lauren (Boersma) Harris | Jul 24, 2018
Simply begin at Blog Post #1, in which I make a rudimentary, over-simplified attempt at the “can’t we all just get along?” argument that would become a recurring theme in my work over the years.
by Julia LaPlaca | Jul 23, 2018
Then we heard an all-too-familiar sound―a jolt and an internal groan as the bus gasped for breath. We all responded in cartoon-like unison.
by Paula Manni | Jul 22, 2018
We receive a hearty “Welcome, hullo! Glad you’re here!” from the blueberry man, who is sitting in a plastic patio chair next to an old truck filled with boxes and buckets.
by Gabe Gunnink | Jul 20, 2018
Now that my grandma has died, though, I feel almost embarrassed when people comfort me. I find myself dodging and deflecting each earnest, brow-furrowed condolence with chipper sound bytes: “It was a mercy at this point.” “It was a long time coming.” “I actually had a great time with my family. It was so fun to see my cousins from out of town!” I refuse to play into the cliché.
by Mary Margaret Healy | Jul 19, 2018
The fullness of the characters’ lives and the variety of their responses to such ruthless adversity forced me to think of the victims of history as more than what their oppressors made them.
by Ben DeVries | Jul 18, 2018
For a long time, my reading habits resembled a Michael Pollan polemic, if Michael Pollan had been trying to cure the Western diet with genre fiction instead of carrots: Read fantasy. Not much else. Mostly Tolkien.
by Tony Ditta | Jul 17, 2018
A while ago my friend Ryan won three games of Club Keno in a row.
by Cassie Westrate | Jul 15, 2018
I’m not always good at saying what I mean to say, so here: Mom likes to tell me how you could soothe my crying as a baby by carrying me around the house, pointing out people in picture frames, and telling me stories about them.
by Will Montei | Jul 14, 2018
As if knowing he was a caricature of a human, Grandpa Jack did most if not all of these things with a pipe in his mouth.
by Catherine Kramer | Jul 13, 2018
When going out for ice cream, getting an exemplary hard serve cone should be your primary goal.
by Abby Zwart | Jul 12, 2018
This was not a lesson I knew as a kid. I wanted to save everything good for later. I ate all the cereal bits out of Lucky Charms and the raisins out of trail mix, leaving huge mouthfuls of marshmallows and M&Ms behind.
by Elaine Schnabel | Jul 11, 2018
We worked side-by-side for two hours, me snatching glances to see how a septuagenarian was keeping up with me and her admitting I was “quite a worker!”
by Jenna Griffin | Jul 10, 2018
I am the fifth stranger here, and perhaps the strangest of them all. I am passing through this place. This will be my only night in the city, and then I will be gone.
by Bart Tocci | Jul 9, 2018
This was where I came of age. I was born in Boston, grew up in Lexington, and came of age in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
by Paul Menn | Jul 8, 2018
I’m hopeful about the future. I’ve been trying to learn from my mistakes and grow as a person. To be more dependable. To be more forgiving. To love more.
by Caroline (Higgins) Nyczak | Jul 7, 2018
In that apartment, we started with four and ended with two because Eliza got married which is a good thing and we love her wife but it’s still kind of sad because we love her too, you know?
by Josh deLacy | Jul 6, 2018
When I die, bury me naked. Or burn me. I’ll leave the choice between casket or urn to my loved ones, so long as they keep clothing out of it.
by India Daniels | Jul 5, 2018
It’s a kitsch I find myself unexpectedly into. I try to keep up with the quick footwork at square dances, I voluntarily turn the radio dial to the country music station, I pronounce the names of nearby towns like the locals do.
by Caitlin Gent | Jul 4, 2018
I’ve caught a bit of wedding fever. I talk a good game about not getting caught up in that sort of thing, but truthfully, that is a hot load of shit. I frickin’ love weddings.
by Meg Schmidt | Jul 3, 2018
I had opened up the pomegranates in the first place for the deep red, and dropped the sparkling contents onto a bed of mango and blueberries and lime.
by Carolyn Muyskens | Jul 2, 2018
It can exist in its difficulty without any dressing up and still be deserving of love.
by Katerina Parsons | Jul 1, 2018
The solution to undocumented labor is not the deportation of laborers—it is their documentation.
