Make yourself useful! Rock the baby, feed the baby. Move away from that radio, before I pull both your ears and unplug the thing forever. Today, I’ll teach you how to make pickles. First, go to the garden and pick enough cucumbers to fill this pan. Then I’ll show you how to wash them and make the pickling juice. Go, before your mother comes back. Do this for me. My father supported his widowed mother. Dad was Grandma’s baby, her youngest of seven, and he brought her to live with him and my mother on … Continue reading Her Apron Full of Crinkle Root by Roselyn Elliot→
I’ve always been irked by those lists of “beach reads” that turn up online and in magazines every summer. In the first place, it’s difficult to actually enjoy the experience of reading while on a beach. You get put off by the glare, the blowing sand, your children who stand around and drip on you. The only time I really took pleasure in reading at the beach, it was a subversive pleasure. I lived in a seaside town where the public library was ruled over by one of those martinets who is drawn to the profession … Continue reading Un-beach Books→
My grandmother was a card shark. Not that she would have appreciated being called one. In her day, that usually meant someone who cheats at cards. But usages change and words evolve. Today, according to grammarist.com, among other sources, “card shark” (as opposed to “card sharp”) is generally understood to mean someone who’s skilled at playing cards and it no longer has a negative connotation. I’m pretty sure my grandmother would appreciate the whole idea of words and phrases evolving over time, because, in that same positive sense of the term, she was a word … Continue reading The Last Word→
My first trip to California was when I was a kid. I loved the long car ride. Janie and I sat in the backseat and drank Kool-Aid from paper cups. We were in the belly of a lion. The cars we passed were hunted game. Mustangs and elk fell beneath our giant paws. If we were passed it was a wound, never fatal. Incantations and chants. We vowed revenge. When I left Chicago for Los Angeles I pretended I remembered the route in detail. Motel rooms and roadside tables and certain stretches of highway disappearing … Continue reading Hypnotized by Barbara Nishimoto→
Katie Rogin’s wise, sad, absorbing story “Afternoon,” appears in our current issue. She writes dialogue with such perfect pitch – revealing both what is spoken and what is left unspoken – that it was not surprising to learn that she honed this talent by writing for film and television. And, that “Afternoon” might have become a play rather than a story – and may perhaps become a short film. Rogin graciously agreed to answer our questions about how she writes – and what happens next: When did it become clear to you that Afternoon … Continue reading “For Now, I’m Focusing on Fiction”→
In a dream, I’m running through a green meadow with my dog when she turns to me and says “you must be yourself.” My message in a bottle that floats from the invisible sea of mystery I call the unconscious. It might be the voice of God or as close as I can get to it. My dreams often give this advice or I hear it from others. But what does it mean to be myself? My strong belief tells me I have a soul and that soul has a purpose, a … Continue reading Poetry, Spirituality and Me→
StreetlightMag.com –– a locally grown and growing arts journal in Charlottesville, VA –– seeks a committed intern looking to gain experience in digital publishing and marketing in a non-profit journal environment. Creative and detail-oriented applicants should have technical knowledge of and proficiency in social media, WordPress/blogging proficiency, (web design experience ideal but not required.) Other responsibilities will include managing publishing schedules, some proofing/copy editing. Position is unpaid and would begin immediately. Contact: Susan Shafarzek sshafarzek@yahoo.com Follow us!
From what Fern can tell it looks like a fight. Fern’s watching through a back screen door which makes the scene look like a pointillist painting. Grace flies across the kitchen floor at Philip, something in her hand, and it looks like she’s hitting him across the shoulder with it. Fern stands still for a minute, holding a bottle of white wine with one hand, her book bag and purse in the other. Then she goes for the door handle. “Ask him what he’s been doing!” Grace shouts into Fern’s face, jerking the screen door … Continue reading Full-Price Angel by Mariflo Stephens→
She adjusted the nasal cannula in his nostrils. She couldn’t hear the oxygen moving through the tubing. “Is that better?” He nodded, saving his breath for breathing. “The flight of stairs was a lot.” She hoped she didn’t sound condescending. “One flight—pretty fucking tragic.” He had more wind by the time he finished the sentence. “Let me just suck some of this for a few minutes and then I’ll be good.” “I’m going to unpack your stuff and open some windows.” She pushed herself off the bed that had been their bed and was now … Continue reading Afternoon by Katie Rogin→
If You’re Here With Us, Give Us a Sign of Your Perversion My wife is a ghost hunter. Actually, my wife considers herself more of a Paranormal Anthropologist. But, essentially, she’s a ghost hunter. And if that makes you think of poorly socialized men on basic cable running around decrepit buildings in the dark, adorned with over-moussed fauxhawks, poorly groomed goatees, and overdeveloped vanity muscles, then you’re in the ballpark. My wife does tend to bump around decrepit buildings or other structures in the dark. However, she doesn’t tend to run screaming from strange noises … Continue reading Previews of Coming Attractions→
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