More Than Arm Candy

by Jessica Taylor   I had been in Australia for seven weeks when I finally accepted that Albert wasn’t going to marry me. I followed him to Sydney like a puppy dog, tongue panting, eyes focused lovingly on him. I realize now his gaze never fell on me like that. I...

Thought I Might Die Today

by Ellen La Penna   I thought I might die today, no reason why, just a feeling …. Tromping through the forest, over and over to mark the borders of death—a new group of beautiful trees to come down. Each one so different, living gods and goddesses, some still...

How to Begin Again

by Sherry Peterson   How to begin again. And again. And again. I am four months old in the womb. Floating in oblivion. Everyone who came before is with me. Floating. Whispering their stories. The old stories playing out on repeat. What limited joy there was left...

Four Words

by Rebecca Jo Dakota   I trudged up the hill to an old university building, one with no air conditioning, then up the stairs to the classroom. Students settled at desks for the next Sociology 101 lecture, trying to stay awake in the warm room. Perhaps I was a...

When Otter Came Into My Life

by Gina T. Ogorzaly   Otter was a woman who joined me early one morning on the produce run for the Minneapolis Co-op where I was only the second woman to hold the job of produce buyer. She was on a diet of persimmons and wanted to see where they were coming...