Issue 5: Storytelling Beyond Literature
Cover art: “Dad’s Oar” by Helen Gwyn Jones
Editor’s Letter
Dear readers,
Text... Exploration of place, both physical locations and their historical or personal significance.
Themes of resilience, finding joy in unexpected places, and embracing the present moment. "Scampton" collects all these stories, readers’ stories and places them together, wide open spaces).
If you know me personally as an English teacher, you have likely heard me talk your ear off about storytelling--Chimamanda Adichie’s TED Talk, “The Danger of a Single Story,” in particular. In every course I teach, this video makes its way into the first week. It shapes everything we do afterward. One of my favorite parts is her statment, “The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.
I’ve always felt that it is impossible to engage properly with a place or a person without engaging properly with all the stories of that place or that person. The consequence of the single story is this: It robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar . . . Stories matter. Many stories matter.
“Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower, and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity.”
Just as Adichie laments that her own culture's story is suppressed into stereotypes, I and other English teachers asked our students to reflect on this talk and write a response entitled, “What I wish you knew…”. What do you wish that people really knew about this aspect of your identity? I, thinking teenagers on the first week of school would give me half-hearted responses, was unprepared and humbled by the depth of thought and care in most responses I received. These students spoke of being new to the city, the country, the language. Some had a dual-language dictionary next to them while writing, but the fire in their eyes spoke volumes. These students knew something about storytelling. We all do.
And because we know about storytelling, we have seen the uglier side where we
Welcome to Issue 4.
Sincerely,
Hannah Cole Orsag
Editor-in-Chief
Text... Exploration of place, both physical locations and their historical or personal significance.
Themes of resilience, finding joy in unexpected places, and embracing the present moment. "Scampton" collects all these stories, readers’ stories and places them together, wide open spaces).
If you know me personally as an English teacher, you have likely heard me talk your ear off about storytelling--Chimamanda Adichie’s TED Talk, “The Danger of a Single Story,” in particular. In every course I teach, this video makes its way into the first week. It shapes everything we do afterward. One of my favorite parts is her statment, “The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.
I’ve always felt that it is impossible to engage properly with a place or a person without engaging properly with all the stories of that place or that person. The consequence of the single story is this: It robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar . . . Stories matter. Many stories matter.
“Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower, and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity.”
Just as Adichie laments that her own culture's story is suppressed into stereotypes, I and other English teachers asked our students to reflect on this talk and write a response entitled, “What I wish you knew…”. What do you wish that people really knew about this aspect of your identity? I, thinking teenagers on the first week of school would give me half-hearted responses, was unprepared and humbled by the depth of thought and care in most responses I received. These students spoke of being new to the city, the country, the language. Some had a dual-language dictionary next to them while writing, but the fire in their eyes spoke volumes. These students knew something about storytelling. We all do.
And because we know about storytelling, we have seen the uglier side where we
Welcome to Issue 4.
Sincerely,
Hannah Cole Orsag
Editor-in-Chief
Not sure where to start?
Here are our favorite lines and passages from the pieces in this issue: Snippets of Issue 4
Here are our favorite lines and passages from the pieces in this issue: Snippets of Issue 4
Narratives Threads: As Above, so Below
Dad’s Oar by Helen Gwyn Jones // Visual Art
Above Ground by Author // Visual Art
Configuration by Author // Visual Art
Above Ground by Author // Visual Art
Configuration by Author // Visual Art
Once Upon a Time...
The Magic's in the Telling
My Family through the Rearview Mirror
Displaced Person by Author // CNF
Language isn't what matters by Author // Poetry
between a drowning man by Author // Poetry
Legacy by Author // Poetry
Multiverse Ars Poetica by Author // Poetry
Reverse Migration by Author // Poetry
Language isn't what matters by Author // Poetry
between a drowning man by Author // Poetry
Legacy by Author // Poetry
Multiverse Ars Poetica by Author // Poetry
Reverse Migration by Author // Poetry
Thunderstruck
*CW: some pieces in this section include mentions of death and/or depictions of violence.
Elderberry Wine and Jack Daniels* by Author // CNF
To a Father, Never Known by Author // Poetry
An Old Friend* by Author // Fiction
Daphne by Author // Poetry
Maybe Today by Author // Fiction
To a Father, Never Known by Author // Poetry
An Old Friend* by Author // Fiction
Daphne by Author // Poetry
Maybe Today by Author // Fiction
A Tale of Who We Were Then
Summer Storm on East 38th Street by Joan Hagy // Poetry
The Archaeology of Dreams by Kathy Gentile // Poetry
Laces by Sandra Coffey // Fiction
Green in Amber by E. H. Warrington // CNF
The Mailbox by Chaya Friedman // Fiction
A Big Quarry in a Small Place Named Genoa by Jeremy Schnee // CNF
The Archaeology of Dreams by Kathy Gentile // Poetry
Laces by Sandra Coffey // Fiction
Green in Amber by E. H. Warrington // CNF
The Mailbox by Chaya Friedman // Fiction
A Big Quarry in a Small Place Named Genoa by Jeremy Schnee // CNF
Here We Find Grace
Stormy Weather by Jacqueline Goyette // CNF
Joy in Unexpected Fields by Elizabeth Bird // CNF
Murfreesboro by Hart Christopher Vetter // CNF
Storm Shelter by Bethany Cutkomp // Fiction
Grief Manifests as Dancing in the Animal Crossing Butterfly Exhibit by Ashley McCurry // Fiction
His Butterfly by Thomas Elson // Poetry
Joy in Unexpected Fields by Elizabeth Bird // CNF
Murfreesboro by Hart Christopher Vetter // CNF
Storm Shelter by Bethany Cutkomp // Fiction
Grief Manifests as Dancing in the Animal Crossing Butterfly Exhibit by Ashley McCurry // Fiction
His Butterfly by Thomas Elson // Poetry