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THE FIRST TRAIN OUT | Creative Nonfiction by Cindy Sams
A girl rides west toward a new stepfather, a yellow bedroom, and a life she hadn’t asked for. June 1972 The train pulled out of the station in New Orleans at dawn and headed west over Lake Pontchartrain on a long stretch of track that led to Benson, Arizona. Our new home. At least for…
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I THINK I’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE | Creative Nonfiction by Katrina Ralbag
It was 98 degrees with 90% humidity, and my thighs were sweating through a beige knee-length pencil skirt. He had to choose yesterday to kill himself, in the middle of summer, during a pandemic. It felt like a final fuck you. One last gag from a man who’d always had a dark sense of timing.…
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UNEARTHING OUR ANCESTORS: An Interview with Jeremy B. Jones | by Jessica Cory
Jeremy B. Jones’ most recent work Cipher: Decoding My Ancestor’s Scandalous Secret Diaries will come out in September 2025 with Blair Publishers. Cipher follows Jeremy’s fourth great-grandfather’s encoded writings while simultaneously grappling with the author’s own role in his family, particularly as a parent. This book offers a raw, honest look at the role of…
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MAYBE PARALLEL UNIVERSE ME WAS BORN WITHOUT A CLEFT PALATE | Creative Nonfiction by Sage Tyrtle
Maybe her philtrum is intact. The skin between her nose and lip a gentle slope, leading to a rosebud smile. She could have nursed from her mother’s plump breast with a strong suck, no whistling holes in her cat’s mouth. At school, perhaps Dawn held hands with her at recess instead of luring her into…
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WANDA, BRIEFLY | Creative Nonfiction by Amanda Ashworth
Editor’s note: This story reads more like a folk tale than creative nonfiction, even with the beginning sentence stating that it’s a true story. However, one section of Amanda’s cover letter brought everything together in a way that we felt was important. We also didn’t want to interrupt the flow of Amanda’s writing and ask…
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FEBRUARY, 44 | Creative Nonfiction by Melissa Flores Anderson
The week you died, before I knew you were dying, a black blur crossed my path in the cold, still morning. The creature paused to look back at me, a dog with no owner in sight. As I jogged closer, a narrow snout and a lack of collar signaled it might not be domesticated. The…
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FAMILY RITUALS | Creative Nonfiction by Mary Ann McGuigan
The guests at my brother Sean’s wedding have formed a huge circle on the dance floor, ready to watch Uncle Johnny and Aunt Peggy do their Peabody. They’ll have the floor to themselves. It’s a tradition in Mama’s family, a kind of initiation performed for each of the many cousins at their receptions. My aunt…
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ARS POETICA | Creative Nonfiction by Grace Ann Elinski
I believe any activity done with love and presence is a spiritual practice. I believe Love and Connectedness is the God of my world. I believe in hand-rolled cigarettes for espresso shot emergencies. I believe in the Body remembering, immersed in the funk ridden Ross Barnett, suicidal pull of The Atlantic, The Gulf and its…
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HEALTHY HABITS: What I Need
By Valerie Peralta April marked one year in my position as the coordinator of a college writing center. In the past 12 months I’ve become adept at using Microsoft Teams, developed an attitude of tolerance toward AI as a tool, and gained the trust of my team of tutors as well as several students and…
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BURNING AND DROWNING | Creative Nonfiction by Megan Hanlon
The house was so dark during those long winter evenings without electricity. You and I did our homework by the light of a hurricane lamp and the weak beams of setting sun that managed to crawl through the dining room window. The kitchen, with no windows except one over the sink that inexplicably opened into…