When I was young, the first house I remember living in had a single big tree in the driveway. We had a long driveway leading up to our little trailer home, and you passed by that big tree right before you parked. When I was four, a tornado hit late one night and tore up […]
Monthly Archive for September, 2019
Set Me On Fire
Posted in Fiction on Sep 13th, 2019
That man seems to me to be equal to the gods who is sitting opposite you and hears you nearby speaking sweetly and laughing delightfully, which indeed makes my heart flutter in my breast; for when I look at you even for a short time, it is no longer possible for me to speak but […]
Tales from the Church Grim (Final)
Posted in Fiction on Sep 13th, 2019
A large black dog peels away from the shadows and into the path between tombs, the heavy rain passing through it as easily as it does the air. It’s silent in its patrol despite its mass and doesn’t stir a puddle as it trails toward the church on the edge of the graveyard, appearing more […]
Lower 9th Ward Diary
Posted in Fiction on Sep 13th, 2019
August 26, 2005 Thank God it’s Friday! School just started and I’m already over it. We’re learning about Shakespearean tragedies in English and it is so dull I cannot focus. Even if I wanted to pay attention in there I couldn’t, because John and Andre sit behind me and they always fool around, touching my […]
Dear Dhaka
Posted in Essays on Sep 13th, 2019
Dear Dhaka, As I am writing this letter, I am thinking about you. It has been years since I last saw you. Are you still the way I left you? You change so fast, a little too fast. I don’t know what to expect from you anymore. Are your sky still a little grey […]
Odes to Van Wert
Posted in Poetry on Sep 13th, 2019
Ode to Angela, who works at Brookside. If I were to see you in public, I would have to duck out of your sight. You wouldn’t recognize me, of course, wearing clothes other than my pajamas and without raccoon eyes of old makeup. At night, you’re my closest friend, my confidant, behind the counter of […]
The Abandoned Houses
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 12th, 2019
Throughout my twenty-two years of life, I have lived in a myriad of houses across multiple states. I was born in a small town in Texas thirty-five miles from any city of importance and lived there for roughly the first three years of my life; between then and my tenth birthday my mother and I […]
Bellocq’s Ophelia
Posted in Bellocq"s Ophelia on Sep 12th, 2019
Bellocq’s Ophelia was a beautiful yet grim portrayal of the life of a sex worker. There are many preconceived notions of sex workers in society, and I believe many of these notions are through the eyes of men that have been passed. Throughout the poems in Bellocq’s Ophelia, we see how Ophelia is constantly objectified. […]
My First Friend
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 12th, 2019
Nahomi and I on the front steps of my house on Halloween 2004. Nahomi*, my next-door neighbor and first friend, was Hispanic. We went to the same elementary, middle, and high school, but she was a year older than me. Growing up next to Nahomi was so much fun and taught me a lot […]
The Moviegoer
Posted in The Moviegoer on Sep 12th, 2019
While The Moviegoer was very hard and time-consuming for me to get through, I did find myself relating to Binx. When reading novels with neurodivergent main characters I often find myself trying to diagnose them with personality disorders. This probably comes from my own struggle with my disorder and my need to find things, people, […]
Final Project Photos
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 11th, 2019
Van Wert Photos and Poems
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 10th, 2019
To Angela, Who Works at Brookside If I were to see you in public, I would have to duck out of your sight. You wouldn’t recognize me, of course, Wearing clothes other than my pajamas And without raccoon eyes of old makeup. At night, you’re my closest friend, my confidant, Behind the counter of the […]
The Abandoned Green House
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 10th, 2019
Located on the corner of a lively intersection in Forest, Virginia is a little green house. Compared to the vibrant houses that surround it on both Thomas Jefferson and Waterlick Road, this house is quite bleak; however, there is something peculiar about it. Despite the plywood boarding the two windows to the left of the […]
The Diary of a Storyville Sex Worker
Posted in Fiction on Sep 9th, 2019
The Diary of a Storyville Sex Worker Storyville was the red-light district of New Orleans, Louisiana, from 1897 to 1917. It was established by municipal ordinance under the New Orleans City Council, to regulate prostitution and drugs. Prostitution became a lucrative source of income for the city. At the peak of its success, there […]
Tales from the Yard
Posted in Fiction on Sep 9th, 2019
Dorian always gets antsy when it rains. Panics when the water gets above the soles of his shoes. Always fights to get to the highest point at the first flash of lightning or roll of thunder. He doesn’t like storms, or rain, or dark skies, or clouds. No one can blame him, though no one […]
The Chronophobic
Posted in Essays on Sep 9th, 2019
509 South Main Street, Blackstone, Virginia. 23824. I don’t remember what the kitchen looked like, other than the tacky black and white linoleum on the floor. I remember that the dining-room was where my mother kept the hundred-gallon fish tank and that I had one of those bottom-feeding eel things that I named Jojo. I […]
A Virgin in Virginia
Posted in Fiction on Sep 8th, 2019
Dear Holy Blessed Virgin Mother, Forgive me, for I have sinned. When I told Mama about it, she slapped me in the face. She said it was my fault, even though I tried to tell her that I’m still a virgin, but she went to the doors and pulled them open so I could see […]
John Boutté, “Louisiana 1927”
Posted in Music on Sep 5th, 2019
Donald Harrison on Afro-New Orleans Culture
Posted in Music on Sep 5th, 2019
Mardi Gras Indians
Posted in History on Sep 5th, 2019