A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.Madeleine L'Engle Where there is smoke, there is wrath. Where there is smoke, She is reborn. A phoenix flits into horizon, but you don't see where the Spirit of Fire begins and the phoenix's feathers end. … Continue reading Fire →

 

I go out to the porch to watch the sunset. Or what little bit I can with a busted eye that’s already near-sighted as hell. My little sister, Della-Rose, leans against a pasture fence, smoking. Her nails are orange and manicured. Her dress has pearl beads near the collar. She came back up the mountain, … Continue reading The Song of Arthur Lee Wade →

I pledge allegiance to myself chiefly. Then to my parents. In the old country, my mother was linguist. When it came time for her to choose an English name, she chose one with the same meaning in Bulgarian. So “Branmira Andreyeva Grigorova,” became “Winifred Andrews Gregory.”  “Winifred is terrible name,” I tell her. But she … Continue reading A Manifesto by Aneliya Mira Wise →

When I was four, Peggy LeBoutillier and Virginia Cowles wrote an article in Collier’s about the downside of the debutante community. It said, “The society girl is less of an individual than any other class member. She is, in miniature, a perfect reflection of American mass production. She looks alike, she talks alike, she thinks … Continue reading The Autobiography of Rosemary June Gladwell →

Dear diary, “Then for the teeming quietest, happiest days of all! The brooding and blissful halcyon days!”- Walt Whitman I mostly find Whitman quotes pedestrian. But I think in this case, it fits my summer goals. This is my first summer staying at school, away from home. I am finally taking a poetry class! I … Continue reading The diary of Claire Cait Byrne →

There's the old adage about real estate: Location, location, location. In talking with Chris and Emily about their ideal location for the shoot, they wanted to do a theatre. Most theatres in our area are difficult to get into. Thankfully the University of Michigan has the Lydia Mendelssohn theatre inside one of its public buildings. But … Continue reading Bewitched Bothered Bewildered: Behind the Scenes →

    Witches burn. We also laugh and sing and dance and study all the world around us, and we weep when love is lost to other planes and worlds. But mostly we burn. Burn with passion and anger and remorse. We burn the in hellfire and brimstone people toss us in. Witches burn, they … Continue reading Bewildered →

As the scenes flash by, there are all sorts of queer noises, such as the cries of wolves and the hooting of owls, not to say anything of the screams of Dracula's feminine victims, who are found with twin red marks on their white throats... In this guise he is supposed to be able to … Continue reading Bewitched →