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!
Terence by Leslie Lisbona
Terence By Leslie Lisbona [Featured image: Leslie in Paris in her bomber jacket.] On a September afternoon in 1986, under a sunny Paris sky, my brother, Dorian, and I walked into a BNP bank to open a student account. We had arrived from New York that morning, jet...
The Crazy, Mixed-Up Way By Barbara Livenstein
It is time to go home. It is always time to go home. I just got here. But it is time to go already. I do not want to go. I want to stay here with Daddy. He says it is time. I get my crayons and my coloring book and my jacket. Viv comes with us to the door. She...
The Hall Closet By Katharine Krahl
Nonna’s house had a hall closet. It was located outside of the bathroom and across from my bedroom. The hallway was so small that if the folding stairs to the attic were down, they ended exactly at the entrance to the closet, making it impossible to open the door. ...
Socks By Caitlin Daniels Israel
The last picture he drew was of a sock. Periwinkle and turquoise blue stripes. Magic markers firmly pressed on white paper by a small, tender, five-year-old hand. Drawing his final wish, just a few days before he died. I had learned to knit a few months prior,...
John Jay Pool By Leslie Lisbona
Dorian talked to me like I was an equal, even though he was an adult in his late 20s and I was a child of 13. Debi, our sister, was closer to Dorian’s age and like a mother to me. Sometimes Dorian did unsafe things or said things an adult wouldn’t say, which made me...
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...