BALKAN SHEEP by Maria Ivkovic Manuccia There are plenty of ways to feel like an outsider; for me it was that I was a Balkan girl growing up among the lily white. Not all white is white-white, which we Eastern Europeans, particularly the Balkans, understand. Growing up, I attended Catholic elementary school in a Chicago suburb. … [Read more…]
THE CELLO PLAYER by Rori Leigh Hoatlin On summer nights, when I was supposed to be asleep, I sat on our back deck with my father and listened to his stories. In Michigan, June nights can be chilly, so I took the faux goose down comforter that my mother bought me in Traverse City and … [Read more…]
FREQUENT FLYERS by Amanda Leduc PLEASE PRESERVE MY TESTICLES FOR THE QUEEN. The nurses get this note from the King of England just before the doctors discharge him to the street. He’s been in and out of the ward for the past two days. “Malingering,” the doctor says. To exaggerate mental or physical symptoms for … [Read more…]
AVERAGES by Angela Palm At The River I have a new job and a car payment I didn’t ask for. I am sixteen. I am forcibly learning “the value of a dollar” and missing out on Friday night boy-girl trips to Pizza Hut with kids who wear letterman jackets. It is 1997. I have my … [Read more…]
KADDISH by Susan Lynn Solomon Pellets of snow stung my cheeks. I bent into the January wind and reached for my brother. He glanced at me from the corner of his eye. For a moment I thought he might brush my hand from his sleeve. “It was nice,” I said. Linda, his wife of three … [Read more…]