Student Showcase
Here we proudly feature students of all ages and in various genres. Many are the product of Susan Hodara‘s memoir class or Beth Hahn‘s students of fiction; some are also featured in the coinciding Student Showcase published monthly in the Hudson Independent newspaper serving our neighboring Rivertowns. Enjoy!
Yahrzeit By Barbara Livenstein
I have always been doubtful, and envious, of people who believe they see signs—signs as omens, signals from other worlds, divine messages. I attribute their experiences to optimism, sadness, religious devotion, weed, or in some cases, mental illness. My religious...
Walking Through Covid by Linda Puner
My New Balance Expert Precision walking stick and I met two years ago, after I chipped two front teeth on a stale bagel. My dental bill was $14,700. To protect my investment, I walk with Expert Precision – I call her EP – on challenging terrains. That’s...
The Last of the Line by Lisa N. Peterson
Linx rests his grizzled, warm snout on my left bare foot where his whiskers tickle my skin with each slow breath. Sometimes he licks my toes, or nibbles on the little ones. Linx is under my desk on his dog bed. I can see him through the glass tabletop. His...
Afternoons with Simeon by John M. Delehanty
An unexpected pleasure of every pandemic day is the hour Judy and I spend on Zoom with our four-year-old grandson, Simeon. From 2:30 to 3:30, while his lawyer parents in Brooklyn are on their phones, we get to teach him. Simeon has big brown eyes, bangs across his...
Raquel Welch & Mayonnaise by Bonni Brodnick
When I say “Raquel Welch,” you probably think of her in that famously babacious publicity shot. She’s standing on the beach in a busty, fur bikini. The earth is parting. Mountains are falling. Volcanoes are going off all over the place. You’re probably thinking of...
To the Desert and Back by Bonnie Chwast
John and I never did see Le Conte’s Thrasher on our recent birding trip to the Mojave desert. While our guide, an enthusiastic young man with exhaustive information about avian life and an occasionally exhausting determination to find each promised species, may have...
Thanksgiving Dinner by Brooke McKamy Beebe
I think of Thanksgiving dinner as a military campaign, with a successful outcome requiring planning, execution, monitoring and the final mopping up. Unfortunately, I am the general in charge, and I am ill suited to the task. I don’t like to plan the menu, I don’t...
Confessions of a Firebug by Russ Harris
I was 10 years old when I started making fires in my house. I'd grab a book of matches from the old man's night table drawer, where he kept them alongside packs of cigarettes, nail files, clippers, and such. For a kid growing up in the ‘50s and ‘60s, getting matches...
Fall 1966: The Cool and Groovy Look by Bonni Brodnick
When I was growing up, my mother sewed everything my sister and I wore. Dresses. Skirts. Blouses. Bathing suits. Coats. Everything but our underwear. By early August, my mother was already planning what we would wear on the first day of school. It was time to...
Mila is Coming Home by Lynne Reitman
After my daughter, Eliana, gave birth to a healthy baby girl who instantly latched on to her breast, I was assigned to housesit the dog. Mom and Dad and baby Mila were healthy, happy and exhausted, and would be staying in the hospital for the night. Minnie, their...