by Laura Bloxham I have always loved reading. When I was a child I gravitated toward Nancy Drew, who solved mysteries, had a supportive father, although largely in the background, a best friend, a boyfriend, Ned, and a car. She was independent. I avoided animal stories, which almost always ended with the animal dying. I … Continue reading Shaping Identity: Literature that Lives in Me
I've been blessed to work with a stable lineup of genre editors since I took over as editor-in-chief of Rock & Sling in 2010. We've changed our font more times than we've changed editors. Both Laurie Lamon (poetry) and Julie Riddle (nonfiction) have been on board as long as I have. For the next two … Continue reading Announcing a Guest Poetry Editor
by Emily Donnel Dr. Laurie Lamon lives in Spokane, Washington and is currently a professor in the English department at Whitworth University, where she teaches classes on creative writing and poetry. Dr. Lamon’s poetry has appeared in many well-known journals and magazines, including The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, Ploughshares, Ruminate, The Literary Review, The … Continue reading Environmental and Nature Writing: An Interview with Laurie Lamon
by Sunni Brown Wilkinson I’ve always thought of myself as a fairly average person but for one thing: growing up, my tastes never seemed to align with those of my peers. In high school I dressed far too old or too quirky (blazers with shoulder pads, suspenders, tights underneath shorts), I read the English pastoral … Continue reading Shaping Identity: Musical Misfit
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by Susannah Brister For twenty-two years, I didn’t really know what my body looked like. Whenever I got in or out of the bathtub or the shower, I never looked straight at myself. I averted my eyes from the mirror, afraid that seeing my own nakedness was somehow wrong. Raised in the homeschooling evangelical Christian … Continue reading Shaping Identity: Body
by Ann Marie Bausch There is a famous family story about my husband as a little boy. At a gathering, a relative asked one of the only questions adults can think to ask of children: “So what do you want to be when you grow up?” Wes, five years old, looked puzzled, and then replied, … Continue reading Shaping Identity: The Identity that Wasn’t
A note from Rock & Sling: Jason Mehl’s essay “Ears to Hear” appears in Rock & Sling 13.1. You can read the essay here. By Jon Maire On the surface, “Ears to Hear” is an interesting personal essay about a safari and a guy with a real – or imagined – heart problem. But when … Continue reading An Interpretation of Jason Mehl’s Essay “Ears to Hear”
by Margaret Rozga As a person who has long been active in social and racial justice movements, my goal as a poet is to create poetry written from a deep commitment to social justice issues. My books can serve as examples. 200 Nights and One Day is about the Milwaukee fair housing marches in which … Continue reading Vox II: Contributor Notes
by Ann Marie Bausch When news of sexual assault allegations against author Junot Díaz broke in the spring of 2018, my first reaction was grief: Not him! Díaz was one of my favorite writers, an advocate for immigrants and the causes of the dispossessed worldwide, someone I felt I had learned from. But his alleged* … Continue reading What We Read
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