Associate Editor Blessing Christopher: Dustin M. Hoffman’s story straddles multiple timelines and seamlessly connects the past to the present. The piece highlights how the silent things we inherit can course through our blood unnoticed, to emerge in unexpected ways much later. Listen to Dustin M. Hoffman read the piece: Bean Burritos: to Eat, to Save …
National Pen Pal Day June 1, 2018 Think back to when you were a kid and you’d give the classroom globe a spin, stop it with your fingertip, and vow to move to whatever loca- tion you landed on. Recall how sometimes you’d hit the ocean and have to spin again. Recall that sometimes you’d …
Assistant Editor Leila Chatti: As the weather begins to cool into autumn (and, if we can imagine it, eventually winter), this quiet, attentive piece felt like an appropriate choice for the more ruminative season. “The Broken Leaf” is like a snow globe in which a miniature world stands in for something larger. In this story, …
Associate Editor Blessing Christopher: Tender and fluid, Koeplin’s miCRo explores faith and belief, transitioning smoothly from intangible concepts to a more corporeal investigation. Listen to Sydney Koeplin read “Witness”: Witness After dinner, you sneak under the hem of my shirt and lie with your head on my chest, the shell of your ear over my …
March 6, 2017 Well, well. Welcome to Catherine’s word journal for the MELVIN Project. I’m only a long-term temp (a “long-term temp,” what an idea!), so it’s an honor to be chosen. If I reveal anything too personal, don’t hold it against me, Doc, ’cause I like this job, even though it’s only for eight …
Our train broke down in the frozen heart of the taiga. At first we were startled. We had grown accustomed to the relentless presence of the engine, the way that it throbbed beneath our toes and thrummed through our veins. When we tried to rise, we stumbled and then tried again. How strange it was …
The man called first thing on Mondays. The clinic was open every day except Sunday, and the day off had nothing to do with God. Every week, Virginia unlocked the glass doors, wiped down the countertops, and took her seat at the front desk. She booted up the computer and waited for the man’s call …
We didn’t care, really, about the traveling euthanasia veterinarian’s failed marriage. We didn’t care about why this woman showed up nine hours later than she said she’d arrive. I don’t know all of this for certain. I’ll admit that I’m making some suppositions. I’d like to say that I could call Miranda and fact-check the …
from a novel-in-progress Something had gone wrong. Gracie had arrived just when she said she would, on the final ferry of the day, the winter light dimming over the course of the two-hour journey east, and she unable to enjoy the drama of the ocean, the air too bitterly cold for standing on deck, the …
The first woman Mom brought home was a server from Thai Fantastic.That night, the curtained strip-mall restaurant was cleared out, andwe had our pick of the seven Formica tables. We’d arrived long pasta normal dinner hour, but it didn’t matter when Mom got hungry.Our happiness in those days was hitched to her eating, and cravingstypically …