Month: November 2018

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A WWS Publication Roundup for November

A laptop computer with an article titled "Submissions Made Simple" on the screen and a stack of literary journals sits on top of the laptop base, titles facing out

November was another banner month for Women Who Submit publications! Congratulations to all the writers.

From Ryane Nicole Granados‘ “Helping Out in L.A.” at L.A. Parent:

My children have taught me that, if you look close enough, you’ll see tiny flowers breaking through their concrete and waving their tenacious petals in the breeze. That’s the beauty of children: they can see brilliance in the bleakest situations. With guidance, they can also harness their vision and use their innocence to change the world. As we embark on these holiday season, here are some family-friendly organizations making a difference…

From DĂ©sirĂ©e Zamorano‘s “Austin” at Moria:

After two weeks of a dull rage, the rage turned into despair, then confusion, then transformed gloriously into a plan.
Things made no sense, they made no sense, and sometimes it was up to the individual to turn the inside out all right side out again.  That’s what Austin would do.
Make it all right. Continue reading “A WWS Publication Roundup for November”

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Breathe and Push: Why LAUSD Teachers Might Strike

By Noriko Nakada

Union Sign

Like most fall weekends, this past one was busy. There was a Friday night festival at my child’s school, there was a homecoming football game; there were soccer games and birthday parties.

But this weekend was not like all the others, because I’m an LAUSD public school teacher, and like every other year, I had many papers to grade and many students on my mind as I made my way through the weekend, but unlike other years, this year held an added stress. All weekend I carried the weight of a looming work stoppage, and very public contract negotiations that put my public school colleagues and me in the crosshairs of public conversation on the sidelines of sporting events or gathered around a table waiting for the cake to come out.

And in all of my interactions this weekend, I had to gauge, fairly quickly, where friends, old and new, stood when it came to public education. What did they already think about our public schools and what were they willing to learn? Did they ask me about what was happening with the teacher strike? Did they want to hear my perspective? Or, did they know nothing about this issue, because their kid goes to a charter, or a private school, or they don’t have kids, or upon hearing I teach in a public school they want to explain to me why community public schools just don’t work? Continue reading “Breathe and Push: Why LAUSD Teachers Might Strike”

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Behind the Editor’s Desk: Tisha Reichle

Note: This interview is a repost that originally appeared in January, 2017.

by Lauren Eggert-Crowe

On my first visit to a Women Who Submit submission party in 2015, I ended up sitting across from Tisha Reichle, who was deliberating on a hiring announcement from BorderSenses. They were looking for a Fiction Editor. Even with her busy schedule, she decided to take a shot. It was a perfect example of the WWS spirit. She has now been Fiction Editor for a year.

From their website: “BorderSenses is a non-profit organization located in El Paso, dedicated to promoting the literary arts through various community projects and an annual print journal publication. Our mission is to provide a voice to visual artists and writers of this region and beyond and to promote cross-border exchange in the arts. We provide a venue for artistic growth that helps improve the quality of life for our communities.” Continue reading “Behind the Editor’s Desk: Tisha Reichle”

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Spilling the Beans on Macondo Magic

by Natalia Treviño

I wake up each day and begin assessing. Did I get enough sleep? I do math, guessing at total hours without waking up fully. It is the first thing that comes to mind. I want to live. Sleep, I have learned, will help me do that. I tell myself a lot of things in order to calm down the monsters that are always at me, always wanting me to give up, stop trying hard, and hide under a rock for the rest of my life. I reason away the monsters as best I can by way of dreams, concoctions, stories, alternate realities, television, statistics, oppositional thinking, lectures, readings, creativity. Community. Comunidad is the one brain, heart, and soul medicine that sticks, that works, that helps create something out of all the muck and beauty that I see. I grew up with a lot of fear, as a Mexican girl told by her father not to make waves, to always stay under the radar, and eke out a living if possible. He also trained me to understand that death was around every corner, that predators surround every public space, and the goal is not to get fired or divorced again. I had to make this work for me, make my fear be the catalyst for living despite it. Writing is my act of hope against fear, and hope is what my writing mentors have given me over the years, but the unstoppable hope I have now I can only attribute to Macondo Magic. Continue reading “Spilling the Beans on Macondo Magic”

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A WWS Publication Roundup for October

A laptop computer with an article titled "Submissions Made Simple" on the screen and a stack of literary journals sits on top of the laptop base, titles facing out

Happy Halloween and Happy publications! Congratulations to all the Women Who Submit who were published in October.

From Arielle Silver‘s “Mother” at Matador Review:

Mother: [Noun] a woman who has borne a child.

    1. First came love.

                       Father: Spring break she took a road trip down from Georgia for the weekend. Ended up at my frat party.

                                   Where are you from? I asked.
                                   New York, she said.
                                   Your name sounds Jewish, I said.
                                   I am, she said.
What’s that on your finger? I asked.
                                   I’m engaged, she said.
                                   Why don’t you break up with your fiancĂ© and go out with me, I said.

    2. Then came marriage.

From Arlene Schindler‘s “The Night I Became a Gift from Cary Grant to One of His Friends” at Purple Clover:

The party was in a fancy restaurant in New York City attended by 75 rich and famous types. The entertainment preceding me were five different -grams. I had to follow a singing Yankee Gram, a gift from party guest George Steinbrenner. Shortly after I got into my costume, a guest who was an infamous nasty person—Roy Cohn—walked up to me and said, “If you are not funny, kid, your friend loses her job.” No pressure there. Continue reading “A WWS Publication Roundup for October”