By Kandi Maxwell A few months back, when I traveled to my former home in California’s north-eastern corner, I knew the fall colors would be vibrant. The bright yellows of the Quaking Aspen leaves shimmered at the slightest breeze. The tall cottonwoods hadn’t turned completely yellow. Instead, brilliant green and yellow leaves blended together against … Continue reading Release
I Know Where
By Katherine Casey I know where the sadness lives in you. I know the savagery, too. I know how it felt to lie on your mother’s chest, skin to skin, and hear her heart beat; how whatever happens and wherever you go, you feel her with you. I know how your mother lost babies and … Continue reading I Know Where
Lusting After Intuition
By Jeanine Stewart Know your own happiness. Want for nothing but patience—or give it a more fascinating name: Call it hope. – Jane Austen Somewhere along the path of singlehood, solitariness begins to take on a life of its own. It squeals to be soothed, nags at me as I walk the half mile to … Continue reading Lusting After Intuition
The Hero Is The Problem
By Mary Murray Bartolomé The stories I read as a child were filled with heroes, but now I’m not so sure. They were tales, ancient and folkloric, of a singular strong man (yes, man) who bravely challenged his antagonisers; a man fearless beyond reason, who either alone or with paltry aid, became victorious; a man … Continue reading The Hero Is The Problem
You Will Scream It At The Clouds If You Don’t Say It
By Heather Box I've been to what feels like too many whiskey-drenched nights, filled with shock, loud laughs, tears, subtle nods, and people collapsing in their grief. The way people work to create a silver lining so immediately after someone dies hurts so bad. In all the deaths I’ve seen, I have yet to find … Continue reading You Will Scream It At The Clouds If You Don’t Say It
“B is for Bath” : An Alphabetical Retelling of the Bath School Massacre and its Legacy
By Abbey Toner A: Alphabet During elementary school, kids are aged 5-11. All elementary schoolers should, in theory, know how to read. They should learn the alphabet in preschool, at the ages of 3-4. In the 1920s, schools often combined all grades. During elementary school, kids would have been aged 5-14. Psychologists would say that … Continue reading “B is for Bath” : An Alphabetical Retelling of the Bath School Massacre and its Legacy
It’s Only Temporary
By Chloe Bortnick 20 June 2025 I expected my senior year to be filled with lasts. My last school dances, the last school break, the last day of class, and eventually the last day in my hometown. What no one could have prepared me for was the development of something brand new: a friendship that, … Continue reading It’s Only Temporary
Weathered Baseballs
By Frank Petrignani During lunch I like to leave the office behind and go walking around the baseball field about a mile down the road. I started doing this at a time in my life where I was so stressed I could barely sit still. Somehow, walking that field and finding baseballs brought me a … Continue reading Weathered Baseballs
Money Talks But Not To Me
By Debra J. White Money doesn’t grow on trees, nor is it in my bank account. I’m in my twilight years, recently turned seventy. I’ll probably die without a hefty stock portfolio, or wads of cash stashed underneath my bed. Just as well. I can’t take it with me beyond. Then again, no one else … Continue reading Money Talks But Not To Me
Hardwired
By Jill Sisson There were a lot of them, a small crowd of pronghorns, shining like bits of lightning on the sagebrush hills just outside the small town of Worland, Wyoming. I was part of a three-person crew of field biologists, all of us in our mid-20s, crammed in a government rig to inventory and … Continue reading Hardwired
Academy of the Heart And Mind 