Music and Story by McKinley Johnson
Music as a form of storytelling has been part of human culture since time immemorial, and something as simple as a few note can tell us a lot about a person or a world. We can watch a love story unfold over piano with sparing use of instruments like in Pixar’s Up, or...
Prompt: verb by Debbie Johnson-Hill
prompt: verb. assist or encourage (a hesitating speaker) to say something American author Jonah Lehrer once said, “Creativity is a spark. It can be excruciating when we’re rubbing two rocks together and getting nothing. And it can be intensely satisfying when the...
The Patron Saint of Lost Comfort Lake, by Rachel L. Coyne, Reviewed by Caitlin O’Brien
Patron Saint of Lost Comfort Lake Rachel L. Coyne New Rivers Press 2015 ISBN 9780898233162 168 pages Reviewed by CAITLIN O'BRIEN Rachel L. Coyne’s second novel, The Patron Saint of Lost Comfort Lake, centers around a woman learning to accept the things that cannot be...
Community Building Behind Our Screens
Why are you reading this? Why are you even on the internet? You wanted to build a community with someone. You wanted to reach through that ethereal bond of the internet and be able to say, “Yes, you get me. Please metaphorically hold my hand through the next episode...
We Slept Here, by Sierra DeMulder, Reviewed by Blythe Baird
We Slept Here Sierra DeMulder Button Poetry January 2015 ISBN 978-0989641586 58 pages Reviewed by BLYTHE BAIRD Sierra DeMulder reflects on recovering from the trauma of an abusive relationship in We Slept Here with stunning yet jarring imagery. This collection never...
Transcending the Syllabus, By Connor Rystedt
Why Overworked College Students Need to Remember that Reading is Actually Fun This isn't what it looks like. This isn't Just Another Blog Post giving you chic little tactics for how you can overcome the inevitable storm of finals-week stress. If you're anything like...
Zoologies: On Animals and the Human Spirit by Alison Hawthorne Deming, Reviewed by Sophia Myerly
Zoologies: On Animals and the Human Spirit Alison Hawthorn Deming Milkweed Editions October 2014 ISBN 9781571314697 Reviewed by SOPHIA MYERLY In her fourth book of creative non-fiction, Alison Hawthorne Deming seeks to examine the increasingly tenuous links...
Three Things to Jumpstart That Wordcount, by Morgan Miller
With National Novel Writing Month just around the corner, those of us who are readying to participate in the 50k word endeavor are probably sweating bullets. If you're like me—a full-time college student juggling a heck-ton of work and just trying to keep your mental...
To the Next Step: MFA Applications, by Paul Patane
Applying to MFA programs can be a little like exploring the Wild West, especially if you’re not sure how the process works. If you’ve decided to apply to Master of Fine Art programs but aren’t sure what to expect or how the process works, you’ve come to the right place.
Dealing With Literary Rejections, by DJ Hill
You’ve finally done it. Early mornings and sleepless nights spent staring at a computer screen. You’ve pined, labored, edited, and re-edited every phrase, every comma, until at last you are satisfied there is nothing left to be done. You click “submit” and your...
Notes on Joni Tevis’ Visit
The Runestone Creative Nonfiction editorial board was pleased to be given the task of transcribing and editing the interview with our visiting writer, Joni Tevis. The following are the thoughts and reflections of each member as they took Tevis’ spoken words and turned...
BLACK APERTURE by Matt Rasmussen, Reviewed by Sandra Youngs
Black Aperture begins with a bullet, opening a hole for the reader to step through into a moment, an event, and all the repercussions of such a decision. Matt Rasmussen writes with starkly honest grief. He does not shy away from the intimate details of what his brother’s suicide has wrought…
