Stolen Summers by Lauren Dunn I’m sweeping up a pile of sand from the hardwood floor. It’s everywhere. Under each throw mat and area rug. In the corners of the room and hiding ben […]

We Have Winning Essays by Susan Shafarzek The annual contest is a big event here at Streetlight’s essay/memoir section. We never know what our invitation is going to bring, but it’s always i […]

Asa Fowler by Miles Fowler I am leery of ancestor worship, but the more I research the history of my great-great grandfather, Asa Fowler, the more I find admirable about […]

Cicadian Rhythm by Quincy Gray McMichael Quincy Gray McMichael has earned an Honorable Mention in Streetlight’s 2024 Essay/Memoir Contest    As I stretch my shoulders, arms aloft, t […]

Death Reprise by Lauren Dunn My mom died sometime last year. And it’s funny, I couldn’t tell you exactly when it happened. Well, it’s not so much funny as it is strange. Becau […]

Slugger by Walter Lawn I know a story they left out of her obituary. In the late 1970s and early 80s I worked in the Development Department at The Franklin Institute, the […]

The Grass is Always Greener by Miles Fowler Growing up in Massachusetts in the 1950s and early 1960s, my schoolmates and I used to watch a children’s television show called Big Brother. At n […]

My Funny Little Valentine by Lucinda Guard HEART OF GOLD The calendar waves its pages, and announces it’s time for our annual tradition of tapping trees and sugaring. Oh wait: not you! No more […]

The Rauschenberg Retrospective by Ingrid Jandrewski Studio by Katy Nicosia. CC license. When we first enter the Robert Rauschenberg retrospective at the Tate Modern, my parents’ eyes brighten as if t […]

The Last Time by Cheryl Somers Aubin We never know when it will be the last time, do we? If I had known, I would have paid closer attention to the story mom shared about her […]

Cockroaches in Coffee Pots by Rebecca Watkins Rebecca Watkins has earned an Honorable Mention in Streetlight’s 2024 Essay/Memoir Contest    “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from a troubled dre […]

The Trivet by Nancy Halgren Through a dimly lit haze, I see myself in my adult son’s psych ward room, gathering his things into a paper bag so we can check out. I place his c […]

Deus Absconditus by Philip Newman Lawton Philip Newman Lawton has earned an Honorable Mention in Streetlight’s 2024 Essay/Memoir Contest   My sister Margaret is dead. Her body has gone […]

Shoe Story by J. Tara Scott I LOVE shoes. I have loved shoes for as long as I can remember, but it wasn’t until I became an adult that I had the disposable income to explore what […]

The Earth is Round by Karen Dolan Karen Dolan has earned an Honorable Mention in Streetlight’s 2024 Essay/Memoir Contest    I had seen the penis on the ultrasound, I knew I was h […]

The Oppenheimer Retrospective by Katherine Slaughter Katherine Slaughter has earned an Honorable Mention in Streetlight’s 2024 Essay/Memoir Contest   Oppenheimer: Back to the Future In the movie […]

The Thinly Disguised Autobiography by Miles Fowler By the time I reached my teens, I was taken with the idea of writing a fictionalized autobiography, but as my college roommate, Barry, observed, no […]

Tongues of Fire by Sandra Hopkins Sandra Hopkins is the 1st place winner of Streetlight’s 2024 Essay/Memoir Contest   How did my grandpa, Papa Hop, know that it would be […]

Blindsided by Jeanne Malmgren Jeanne Malmgren is the 2nd place winner of Streetlight’s 2024 Essay/Memoir Contest   This should be a quick in-and-out, I’m thinking. As we wa […]

Stop Shivering by Avery Roche Avery Roche is the 3rd place winner of Streetlight’s 2024 Essay/Memoir Contest   Pain. This is a word I am intimately familiar with. In fact, it […]