Posts Tagged "mental illness"
Behind the Words: Joshua Scott Ricker
Joshua Scott Ricker’s “I’m an Asshole: Marathon Monday” is a bravely written essay that explores regret and fear on the sidelines of the Boston Marathon. He is the author of Hephaestus: A Modren Affair, which can be found on Amazon. Julia: In “I’m an Asshole: Marathon Monday” you seamlessly shift the tone of your work from frivolity to contrition and concern, which I would suspect captures a slice of many experiences that day—normality followed by its complete toppling. What helped you to decide that this would be the focus of your piece on the Boston Marathon bombings? Joshua: When we made those jokes to the runners about Copley...
Read MoreBehind the Words: Elizabeth Cooley
Elizabeth Cooley’s small poem “Genesis” charms the reader with its depiction of creation as child’s play. But there’s much more to this poem than play. Elizabeth was kind enough to answer some questions about this poem and her writing process in general. Donna: If you’ll pardon the bad pun, what was the “genesis” for this poem? Elizabeth: Sometimes for me, poems run out onto the page and I’ve no idea where they come from. Of course, there are plenty of poems I really have to coax out, but “Genesis” wasn’t one of them. I didn’t immediately think of the Genesis story, but of Earth being a kind...
Read MoreBehind the Words: Laura Bernstein
With engaging format and a flowing narrative, Laura Bernstein’s essay, Ice-Locked, reflects on the dynamics of mental illness and family. She was kind enough to answer some questions regarding writing about family, her writing style, and how writer’s can benefit from certain craft aspects. Zac: How do you think the breaks from the essay act in this essay? Did you find that these breaks can be interpreted in many ways? Laura: Almost all of my work is poetry, but this story begged to be creative nonfiction. Begged, I tell you! Mid-revelation that I wanted to dab my toes into another genre, an NPR...
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