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A Hate Letter to Personal Statements
I find myself once again writing personal statements for grad school applications. Why I would do such a thing to myself again after so many years of not doing that, I have no clue. Perhaps I have a sadistic streak, an echo of my Catholic upbringing which manifests the typical emotional self-flagellation into a desire to apply to and inevitably get rejected from grad school. I could put applications in all day, don’t get me wrong. I love going over checklists and reaching out to old professors asking them sweetly if they would be so kind as to say nice things about me on the official record for Miscellaneous University and their Obscure College of the Performing Arts. But good God, dude, why do I have to write a damn personal statement for each and every one of these programs?
By Steven Christopher McKnight3 months ago in Humans
The Healing Power of Publishing Memoirs
Over the last eight months, I took a break from publishing anything new — apart from the odd piece here and there for a handful of writing competitions. And to be honest, after wrapping up the competition submissions and these past couple of years, trying to make it as a writer, I felt totally wiped out.
By Chantal Christie Weiss3 months ago in Writers
Frost Queen. Runner-Up in The Sound of First Frost Challenge.
The corporeal chill stiffens as Fall fades and air thins, bowing to the first. I cower cross-legged in dampness, beneath her cadaverous snow-mounted stare, for she knows I. The tremulous temper of blitzkrieg blizzards is nigh on this horizon.
By Edward Swafford3 months ago in Poets
A Veteran Named Ruby
What do you get when you take a rough neck from the south and a wild child from the west and put them in the US Navy together? Technically you get me because the rough neck and the wild child are my parents. The wild child is my mother, Ruby Lee Spencer and it was because of her that I learned what impact the US military has on civilian life.
By Joe Patterson3 months ago in Confessions
Days of Indian Summer
Although the exact origins of the term are uncertain, Indian Summer was perhaps so-called because it was first noted in regions inhabited by Native Americans, or because the natives first described it to Europeans. Or, it had been based on the warm and hazy conditions in autumn when Native Americans hunted.
By Novel Allen3 months ago in Writers
Médea's Recipes for Life. Winner in Maps of the Self Challenge.
The book was waiting where I left it when I came home from the funeral: on my kitchen table, wrapped in brown paper and tied with a red velvet ribbon. My grandmother never wrapped gifts like that. She preferred wax paper and flax string, that could be repurposed later like leftover stew.
By Imola Tóth3 months ago in Humans
In-flight safety videos that are fun to watch
This British AIrways in-flight safety video casually appeared in my YouTube feed. Yeah, sometimes the algorithm does those things. So, I watched it. And boom! I thought it was the best in-flight safety video I have ever watched.
By Susan Fourtané 3 months ago in Humor
