Kathleen Crisci received an MFA in writing from Sarah Lawrence College in 2008. Her story, "Windows," was anthologized in DIRT: The Quirks, Habits, and Passions of Keeping House, published by Seal Press in 2009. She has also been published in Many Mountains Moving and Mr. Beller's Neighborhood. Kathleen is a co-founder of and workshop leader at Uptown Writers, a venue for writers of all stripes in northern Manhattan. Two of her short stories are featured in the January 2013, issue of Eleven Eleven online journal. She is currently working on a novel.

                  All the Way to Aloha                     

When my husband announced he wanted a divorce, it cut deep. Then it became strangely freeing. As our ties began to slowly unravel, I pondered who I once had been before I became half of a couple.  I started looking up former friends on Facebook. What happened to the people I’d known in the two decades before my twenty-five year marriage? Might acquaintances from the distant past provide clues to the person I was before I became a wife and mother? I also pored through boxes of relics I’d saved—photos, letters and writings—mostly from my teen years in the Bronx. In discovering the trajectories of the lives of those I’d known in days gone by, perhaps I could discover some truths about my own life that could help me move forward.

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David WJ Lee has been published in the New York Times Observed column and Surfers Path magazine. He is currently working on his first novel, inspired by the following true story… 

Grown Man Cries In The Bahamas

We stood on the dock under the tropical rain. Katy took one last look at Southwind before she shouldered her backpack.

I drove her to Nassau International Airport along flooded roads; the roof of our beloved “Monty” so leaky that we wore matching Heineken hats to deal with the torture. It was the first time we hadn’t laughed at the tragicomedy of the situation.

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Laura Lewis Brown is a Baltimore-based writer and editor. She serves as an adjunct professor of English at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and the University of Baltimore. She has a B.A. in English from Georgetown University, an M.A. in journalism from the University of Maryland, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts from the University of Baltimore. Her favorite time to write is early in the morning while her husband, three kids and various pets are still sleeping.

Facebook and the Boy Who Bit Me 

As I upload recent photos of my three children to Facebook, I notice a friend suggestion for me. Apparently I “may know” my first love, the social networking gods inform me. Sounds fairly romantic and potentially cute. If only Facebook knew that JJ was the boy who hit me. 

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Claire Rudy Foster holds a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing. Her professional activities include acceptance of critically recognized short fiction by various respected journals, several small press award nominations, including the Pushcart Prize, and grudging participation at academic conferences. 

Not Today

A few weeks ago, early in the morning so I would miss the brunt of traffic and the July heat, I got on my bike and pedaled out to Sauvie Island. The Island is an actual island, about ten miles from the north edge of Portland. To get there you follow Highway 30, which traces the western bank of the Willamette River. Along the way are train yards. About halfway is a tiny town named Linnton with a gas station, a Subway and a church called St Birgitta where they still do the Mass in Latin. I’ve never stopped there.

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Lavanya Sunkara is an Indian American freelance writer in New York. Her work has appeared in various publications including the New York Times. She writes about books, charities, culture, conservation, furry friends, and world travels. She is a regular contributor to NBC’s Petside.com and JeffCorwinconnect.com.

My First Car, My First Love

On an oak tree lined street in Northern California, I saw it on the side of the road. It was small, teal, and had a ‘For Sale’ sign: a used 1993 Toyota Tercel.

I had dreamt of owning a VW bug for a long time. Each time I got into a Beetle while car-pooling over the Bay Bridge during my Berkeley years, I imagined driving it, but I couldn’t afford it with my just-out-of-college salary.

Something about the Tercel made me forget about my dream car. It wasn’t sleek or fast, but it was fuel-efficient and had back seats that folded down. I could carry my mountain bike and backpacks for camping trips. The windows weren’t electric, but I didn’t mind. I zipped along Highway 1 to my favorite Pacific beaches singing along to Bollywood songs. It was my first big investment and I was in love with it.

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M. Sophia Newman is a burgeoning freelance writer whose current "day job" is mental health research in Bangladesh under a Fulbright grant. Soph has worked as a technical writer at the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, writing nerdy things about large data sets. She writes about health, travel, and various other topics at msophianewman.com. The essay rejected by Modern Love was the first pitch of her writing career. She can't wait to go back to Ghana and discuss this with Joyce.

Zen and the Art of African Prophesying

“White woman? When you come back, you bring your boy. Your boy have yellow hair.”

Esther's voice broke the quiet of the room. She had slipped past my screen door a few minutes before, while I sat on the bed, working on my laptop. Lounging on the cool linoleum floor, she had planned words until she was ready to speak.

It was a quiet day in the West African village where Esther, age 12, had lived all her life. Outside, the sun was intense on the cement courtyard between the single mud-brick room I rented and the one where Esther’s family lived.

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