Essay in THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS 2018;
(cited in BAE 2015, 2016, 2020); PUSHCART poetry finalist

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Fall/Winter 2012

Editor’s Note

This is a breakthrough issue for Solstice where we integrate more forcefully the power of the online format with literature and photography, and illustrate how online journals can promote juried literature rather than dilute it.  We are thrilled with our new updated web design, which offers mobile friendly interface and alternative reading options for e-readers and tablets.  Our new home page features a slide show of our authors and excerpts from their work.  Also we’re featuring new Audio Author Chats, the first one with Roland Merullo, author of the recent novel, Lunch with Buddha.  Also, check out our new Book Review section; the first review by our nonfiction editor Richard Hoffman is on D. Nurkse’s new poetry collection, A Night in Brooklyn.  (Four of D. Nurkse’s poems are in the poetry section of this mag.)  Also, we feature a reactivation of our new Blog by Eugenio Volpe.

And surely you didn’t miss on our new Homepage our new cover:  a portrait by the famous photographer Lou Jones, from his lauded book Final Exposure:  Portraits from Death Row.  Click on the thumbnail images and you won’t forget them.  Read Lou Jones’s artist’s statement, and ponder.

And, of course, for this vital issue we continue to offer vital literature of diversity and literature from the margins.   A few examples:  in poetry, read Major Jackson, and also Diane Glancy, whose grant from the Museum of the American Indian has influenced her new poetry.  Helen Elaine Lee writes from the point of view of an African American prisoner, echoing in some ways Lou Jones’s photos, an echo that ricochets into nonfiction with Jean Trounstine’s essay about her friendship with a woman released from prison.

Some of the lit we publish uses humor and irony to probe deeply, such as in Sean Conway’s moving piece of self destruction, or Jose Skinner’s loss of innocence story.  Speaking of innocence, Roland Merullo’s essay challenges concepts of innocence between student and teacher.  And speaking of irony, read Dawn Potter’s challenge to the loss of innocence in love.

There are many more rich pieces.  Please leave comments for these fine authors.

And do check out our new staff page with their photos so you can get to know our ever-growing group of writers and other volunteers working together to promote diversity of all types in the arts.  Also, we give deep thanks to our new Web developer/designer, Andrai Whitted.

So why not also check out our donations page?

To all, welcome to our community.   Warmly, Lee Hope

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Editors' Notes

  • Editor’s Note
    by Lee Hope

Fiction

  • This Kind of Red
    by Helen Elaine Lee
  • Monte Carlo [Mint Condition]
    by Sean Conway
  • The Chameleon
    by Karima Grant
  • Looking Out
    by José Skinner
  • Driftwood
    by John Sibley Williams
  • Impossible Terms
    by Benjamin A. Doty

Nonfiction

  • A Gift from Prison
    by Jean Trounstine
  • Studying Innocence
    by Roland Merullo
  • The Cumulative Shrinking Effect of Explanation
    by Dawn Potter
  • Am I Ugly?
    by Terri Sutton
  • ROOM FOR WONDER
    by Michelle Blake

Photography

  • Final Exposure: Portraits from Death Row
    by Lou Jones

Poetry

  • Pencil Factory, Est. 1972, Blackfeet Reservation
    by Diane Glancy
  • They Said Hallelujah
    by Diane Glancy
  • That Was Never There Before
    by Diane Glancy
  • Night Steps
    by Major Jackson
  • Slowness
    by D. Nurkse
  • The South Side
    by D. Nurkse
  • Force Drift
    by D. Nurkse
  • Distance Of the Givers
    by D. Nurkse
  • Hue and Cry
    by Dolores Hayden
  • The Hinge of the Year
    by Wally Swist
  • JULY GRAVE YARD
    by John McKernan
  • Tenderly
    by Carol Ellis
  • Why I Joined the Convent
    by Sharon A. Foley
  • Dear Dad,
    by Julie Ebin
  • ¿Carmencita?
    by Julie Ebin
  • Dreams of My Father
    by Margaret Vidale
  • The Girl from Appalachia
    by Shelley Savren
  • The Mayor of Ra’anana
    by Shelley Savren
  • To The Man Walking Behind Me
    by Amy Vaniotis
  • Eradicating Wrinkles: Stolen Beauty, Stolen Land
    by Denise Bergman
  • The Telling
    by Denise Bergman
  • A Poem for Wendy
    by Robert Shreefter
  • Eclipse
    by David Radavich


Contributors

Avatar photoAmy Vaniotis
Avatar photoBenjamin A. Doty
Avatar photoCarol Ellis
Avatar photoD. Nurkse
Avatar photoDavid Radavich
Avatar photoDawn Potter
Avatar photoDenise Bergman
Avatar photoDiane Glancy
Avatar photoDolores Hayden
avatar for Helen Elaine LeeHelen Elaine Lee
Avatar photoJean Trounstine
Avatar photoJohn McKernan
Avatar photoJohn Sibley Williams
Avatar photoJosé Skinner
Avatar photoJulie Ebin
Avatar photoKarima Grant
Avatar photoLou Jones
Avatar photoMajor Jackson
Avatar photoMargaret Vidale
Avatar photoMichelle Blake
Avatar photoRobert Shreefter
Roland-MerulloRoland Merullo
Avatar photoSean Conway
Avatar photoSharon A. Foley
Avatar photoShelley Savren
Avatar photoTerri Sutton
Avatar photoWally Swist

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We experiment.  We publish fine work, of course, from published established writers to emerging writers, whether formal or informal, traditional or experimental. We also publish underserved writers, or writers on the margins. We publish writers of diverse nationalities, races and religions, and also writers from diverse cultures within our culture.
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The articles, poems and stories and photographs we publish do not necessarily reflect the points of view of the magazine.

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