Mid-Month

I Whistled and the Sky Danced By Lillian Norma Gillingham     Bernice woke up tingling with excitement.  Today was the day her older brother was going to teach her how to whistle. Ever since she could remember,  Bernice followed her brother everywhere. At first he didn’t mind but now that he and his friends were […]

Are The Olympics Dead Yet? (Unraveling the doping scandal) By Marcel Woland   Followers of mass media in the West may be forgiven for not noticing that the Olympic movement has been severely damaged by the recent weaponization of the Olympics. What the average Western viewer was expected to take away from the much-reported ‘Russian

Madre Mia By Barbara Outland Baker bbaker9618@aol.com   When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.     Paul McCartney Around the time that the Beatles were breaking up in 1970, Paul wrote his lyrics to “Let It Be,” praising “Mother Mary” for her consoling

Pancho Villa’s Granddaughter By James Tipton spiritofmexico@yahoo.com          Immediately after Ethel Chestnut chucked her old resources administrator job in Chicago, she began to sell almost everything.  A few short weeks later she jumped on a plane and headed to the tropical mountains of southern Mexico, to Chapala, near Mexico’s largest lake, Lago de Chapala.  Ethel

The View From The Top By Gloria Bryen   “I thought you said it was open?” “Yeah, well I’m not going to shove on this door again. It’s locked and I have no idea why.” We peered into the window, hands cupped around our faces to reduce the competing glare of the September sun. “Sure

SINGING  A  DIFFERENT  TUNE—For the Same Old Song By Ron Knight   This dusty cluster of 14th century cobblestoned villages has spawned a mini cultured growth of US and Canadian expatriates who left their home countries for a variety of economical, political, and social reasons, most with an alter-ego sense of wanderlust; and a few

Leap Into Life By Blue   One day, while sitting in a meeting with several male executives and watching them maneuver through a game of “Oneupsmanship,” a voice from within me whispered, “Run.” I shook my head, trying to understand what had just happened. As I gained clarity, I realized I no longer wanted to

A Chip Off The Back By Mel Goldberg   “Take your shirt off, lie down on the towel, and stretch your arms out above your head. Put a piece of it in your mouth. This is going to hurt like hell.”             “Can’t you give me something? An aspirin, maybe?”             “Don’t be silly, man.

Photograph By Michael James Cook, PhD MikeCookCottingham@hotmail.com   The day was empty already, the sun rose in a blood red sky as Nathan pondered on a third mug of coffee and smiled. Like always he said, “Today is going to be a good day,” as he looked at his wife’s photograph in his wallet. It

FIRES! By Jan Steinbright                       Dawn summoned me outside to take a look. I was confronted with a strong smell of smoke. I looked up toward the “v” in the hills at the head of our small arroyo. A large red cloud hovered above it returning my fears of yesterday when the wildfire