Statues

We built them in every plaza, large packs of horses and our favorite presidents and the founders of our cities. They reminded us of our history, kept us grateful and proud to be who we were. They were beautiful to look at, and powerful and strong, and we picnicked in their shadows.

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Wild Boy

In the mornings he rose before five, whether there was school or there wasn’t, ringed by the cold walls of the cave, pale light, sharp air. He walked quickly through the forest to the stream, where he stripped off his shirt. It took him five seconds to wash his hair, face, feet, and under his arms. An hour and a half to walk the eight miles to school. Where he was with me.

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BOOK REVIEW: Age of Blight

With a flip through Age of Blight, the new collection of short stories by Kristine Ong Muslim, one of the first things a reader notices is the images: strange, black and white photographs. One also notices that the stories are very short, most spanning fewer than ten pages. What one might not notice upon a simple flip-through is how carefully chosen each element of this book is, and how each works together to maximize the reader’s experience.

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