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.

Read More→

1 Comment »

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.

Read More→

No Comments »

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. 

Read More→

No Comments »

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.

Read More→

No Comments »

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.

Read More→

No Comments »

Kristen Forbes is a freelance writer in Portland, Oregon whose writing has been published or is forthcoming in Bartleby Snopes, Crack the Spine, Down in the Dirt Magazine, Constellations: A Journal of Poetry and Fiction, Front Porch Review, Wavelength Magazine, Stork Magazine, Portland Tribune, Pause: Journal of Dramatic Writing, the Stand Up To Cancer web site, and other publications. Her short story "Hair Club for Men and the Peacock Lady" was voted the July 2012 Story of the Month at Bartleby Snopes. She holds a BFA in writing, literature and publishing from Emerson College and an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University.

Necklace For Sale

"I met someone here that I get along with pretty well. I convinced them to go to grad school. And they're moving with me to Grand Forks to go to grad school. And we're living in the same apartment."

This is the email I received five months after my boyfriend of two years broke up with me over the phone, citing his need to be alone, not be in a relationship, be independent, to find himself.  This, after insisting for years he wasn't ready to move in with me.  He wasn't capable, he said, of settling down yet. He had applied to more graduate school in North Dakota, and he needed to find his way and go there alone.

Jamey and I hold MFAs in creative writing. We met in a writing workshop at graduate school.  We spent our time reading each other's stories, hanging out in bookstores, brainstorming novel ideas in coffee shops. He is a talented writer who knows not to incorrectly pluralize his pronouns. Them?  They?  Say it: She. Her.

Say it: Samantha.

Read More→

1 Comment »