2001 (Volume 13)

 

Writing in this issue deals with the theme of remembering the past, whether it be romanticizing it or simply viewing it with new eyes.  

 

Margaret J. Hoehn in her award-winning poem "An Early Fall" recollects the life and death of a los sister. This perfect oneness of autumn and grief, the melting of the human life into the natural world, and the fluid movement from the present to past "against the curve of time" unify this exquisite poem about grief — or what the author calls "the stone that I carry with me always."

 

The prize-winning story "Strict Rules" begins in the present with Miss Reece working for the IRS. She likes the job because everyone must follow the rules. Ignoracne is no excuse. The story flashes to the past when she was a young girl who talked her friend Numan into going to the quarry lake despite the "No-quarry rule imposed by her mother." Strict Rules touches us deeply, reminding how we all mkae rules we try to live by ... and are surprised by how they apply to us.

 

Angela McDermott in "Politics Schmolitics" tells us how her mother's generation was heavily involved in politics while her generation doesn't seem to care. She says, "It's so sad to say but I think politics just aren't exciting enough for a generation raised on Sega and Nintendo and Japanese animation."