Celebrate 30 years of the OA.
With original work from Imani Perry, Kristen Arnett, Diane Roberts, and so many others, our Spring Issue honors our past and looks into our expansive future.
With original work from Imani Perry, Kristen Arnett, Diane Roberts, and so many others, our Spring Issue honors our past and looks into our expansive future.
“You may not be the person that your parents take you to be. And—this thought is both more exciting and more dangerous—you may not be the person you take yourself to be, either.” — Mark Edmunson’s advice to college freshman.
Essays by Kevin Brockmeier, Emily Bernard, Mark Edmundson, J. Malcom Garcia, and others.
Ron Rash, Walton Muyumba, J.D. Daniels, Erik Reece, William Caverlee, Wendy Brenner, Megan Mayhew Bergman, and many more offer up their take on education in “Classroom Confidential”
Editor’s Box
by Marc Smirnoff
South Toward Home
AN ARMISTICE PROPOSAL
by Warwick Sabin
I Don’t Hate It!
WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM GERALD McRANEY?
by Jack Pendarvis
Local Fare
MISSING GRANDMA’S KITCHEN
by John T. Edge
Dealer’s Choice
FOURTH AND LONG
by Hal Crowther
Essay
WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?
by Mark Edmundson
After the Storm
SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS
by Constance Adler
Writers on Dating
IN REAL LIFE
by Dan Kelly
Working Life
NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT
by Andrea Avery
Writing on Writing
WRITING WITH BOYS
by Lisa Annelouise Rentz
After the Storm
THE LOTTERY
by Anne Gisleson
THE REFUGE OF THE CLASSROOM
Silence is not the only option.
by Emily Bernard
SEVENTH GRADE
On Monday, they will wake up and everything will be different.
by Kevin Brockmeier
SMOKE SIGNALS
They survived Iraq—and died at home.
by J. Malcolm García
THE THINGS SHE CARRIED
You don't need to be a war hero to fulfill your duty.
a story by Betsy Berry
SPONTANEOUS ORDER
A postmodern pop quiz.
a story by D.H. Varma
GHOST COLLEGE
He should have taken better care of his wife.
a story by Jack Pendarvis
THE COLLECTED STORIES OF MADISON CHARLES
Couldn't he just figure out a way to make that shit up?
a story by Steve Yarbrough
American Gulag
by Emily Witt
Suck It Up!
by Marc Smirnoff
The List
by Kevin Brockmeier
Losting It
by Jed Horne
with Ron Rash, Walton Muyumba, Michael Martone, J.D. Daniels, Dale Ray Phillips, Greg Bottoms, Wendy Brenner, Megan Mayhew Bergman, Erik Reece, Sarah A. Strickley, Mark Winegardner, James Whorton, Jr., Susan Straight, Michael Garriga, Steve Almond, William Caverlee, Clifford Paul Fetters, John Holman
Cover: “Untitled #71” (2003) by Nicholas Prior