Literature

All Over America By David Daniel Was it the recent summer Olympics that put it in my mind? Or, somehow, the TV footage of the chaotic evacuation of Afghanistan? I’m not sure, but . . . does anyone remember the great high-jumping mania that once gripped the nation? All over…

Boarding School Blues: Chapter 20 By Louise Peloquin Ch. 20: Orderliness That Friday evening in study hall, Sister Roger had special instructions. “A week from today, you will be home eating leftover turkey sandwiches and telling tales of your first weeks here – the friends you have made, the academics,…

Spangeldorff’s Got It By David Daniel My niece is going off to college in a few days and was telling me she was approved for a new credit card. She already has two. “Is that a good idea?” I asked. She shrugged. “Sure, I guess.” It got me remembering a…

Boarding School Blues By Louise Peloquin Ch. 19: Post Conference Assessment Blanche swallowed a few bites of ground beef and mashed potato while reliving the afternoon’s events. With shoulders back and chin up, she had survived the ordeal of walking around the reception hall in the bright red outfit her…

Notes from a Plane By Christine O’Connor After a brief vacation in the American southwest, I jotted a few notes on the flight home: there are 16 million Mormons worldwide; the canyons had nine formations over 150 million years; Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was filmed in Zion; roadside…

Dental Tales By David Daniel One: Music The dental hygienist wants to talk about music, which is issuing quietly from the speaker in the laptop open on the counter. The screen displays my most recent set of x-rays. But x-rays seem incidental; she’s going on about singers she likes—Nora Jones…

Boarding School Blues By Louise Peloquin Ch. 18: Dress up, sit up, chin up The afternoon’s special guest positioned herself in front of the lectern while the headmistress took her seat on the nuns’ platform. Adeline Greenwood’s slim athletic build was similar to Sister Roger’s. Blanche thought maybe she played…

Tinkertoys By David Daniel Lucy is in Boston for a three-day conference on commercial architecture. She grew up in the city’s suburbs, and although she has not been back in twenty-five years and no longer has family in the area, she nevertheless finds herself experiencing an unexpected sense of return.…