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Carrier Pigeons
Every morning, after dropping Tyler off at school for his half-day kindergarten class, Carmen took her power walk. For this pregnancy she’d read a variety baby books; all of them stated that healthy exercise could induce labor. They also warned not to start an exercise regimen before consulting a doctor. At nine months, Carmen was…
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Calla’s Song
Calla’s Song is a meditation on music, memory, and the quiet acts of love that outlive us. As a mother facing the end of her life searches for someone to safeguard her son’s extraordinary gift, old friendships, broken promises, and the enduring power of jazz converge in a story about the communities that shape us…
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The Apprenticeship Model
Creative writing doesn’t fit that paradigm at all. Like any art form or taught skill – learning how to dance, make music, mold clay, knit, crochet, embroider, carve – writing is best done via the apprenticeship model where you acquire skills from others who have more experience than you.
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The Bitter and the Sweet
The first time I saw a cocoa orchard my husband and I were living on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Miles from the city center, the trees clung to the hills, their trunks speckled with tiny pink and white flowers until the red and yellow fruit pods appeared resembling…
writer, editor, storyteller