by Kate Reed In the most selfless act of love I have ever committed, I told my husband that once a year on Halloween, I would watch a horror film with him— his pick. On year one of this new agreement, he chose The Conjuring. Have you seen The Conjuring? In case you haven’t, I’ll … Continue reading Imagine Yourself Better: Lessons of The Fall
by Karissa Knox Sorrell A couple of months ago, I went to a funeral. It was for a woman named Joyce whose husband had been my pastor at one time. When I greeted him at the front of the church, I unexpectedly burst into tears, and he took me in his arms and cried with … Continue reading Death and Blossoms
by Ann Marie Bausch Once upon a time, I was lucky enough to be invited on a free trip to Paris. I encountered the usual teasing beforehand—“Say you're Canadian”—and after I came home—“Was everyone really rude?” I always responded that I encountered no more rudeness in a week in France than I did in a … Continue reading Forgiving Our Small Towns
by Kenneth L. Field If someday they take the radio station away from us, if they close down our newspaper, if they silence us, if they kill all the priests and the bishop too, and you are left alone, a people without priests, each one of you must be God’s microphone, each one of you … Continue reading The Example of Romero
by Andy Zell As I write this, we are expecting our fourth child in a matter of days. A few days before the birth of our third child, my wife asked me if I had looked into home births. She had come across a website called Idiot’s Guide to Emergency Home Births and thought … Continue reading Expectations
Rock & Sling's Creative Nonfiction editor, Julie Riddle, recently corresponded with writer Dawn Claflin about what R&S seeks in an essay. Check out Claflin's blog post on the conversation. Riddle is the craft-essay editor for Brevity. She works as senior writer for marketing and development at Whitworth University, and is associate editor of Whitworth Today magazine. Her memoir, The Solace of Stones: Finding … Continue reading CNF Editor Offers Advice to R&S Submitters
by Cara Strickland I am the last person you might expect to see at a music festival. Although I’m a lover of live music, that love is rivaled by my love of sitting down in climate-controlled spaces. I camp only when there is no other option. My feet get easily tired. My brother called in … Continue reading Love, Loss, and Rock & Roll
our third nominee, from issue 10.2 The Sack People The sack people are at it again, singing on the corner about his pleasing light, oh light, how light we feel with only you, only you, oh light. When they really get going, it sounds a little like the fifties doo-wop Mom tortures me with in … Continue reading Pushcart nominee, The Sack People, by Katie Flynn
by Sunni Brown Wilkinson When the Spanish poet Antonio Machado fled Spain during that country's civil war, he crossed the Pyrenees in an old car with his elderly mother on his lap. The two died only a few days apart. In one of the notebooks he left behind he writes about how, one day when … Continue reading What Have You Done With Your Eyes?
by Laura Bloxham When I was in grade school I lived for summer reading programs at the local library. If I read so many books or so many pages, I could qualify for prizes. Usually the top prize was a ride through town on a fire engine. I qualified for that prize after the first … Continue reading Looking Back at Summer Reading
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