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.

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Magazine


Issue 74, Fall 2011

The Education Issue

“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”







 

Columns & Departments 

 

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

 


 

Features

 

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

 


 

Fiction

 

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

 


 

Books

 

American Gulag
by Emily Witt

 

Suck It Up!
by Marc Smirnoff



The List
by Kevin Brockmeier

 

Losting It
by Jed Horne

 


 

Classroom Confidential

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