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Take a good long look at this issue of the North American Review because by the time our summer issue drops, you’ll be holding a newly redesigned magazine in your hands. We’re transforming, evolving, taking on a new form with a new guiding vision. Sarah Pauls, the Marketing Manager in the College of Humanities, Arts & Sciences here at the University of Northern Iowa, has herded us literary cats and helped us through this whole process of reimagination.
In the meantime, you’ve probably heard us touting our upcoming spring issue, which will present some remarkable pieces by José Angel Araguz, Maria Nazos, and Jonathan Wei written in response to NAR Contributing Editor Terry Tempest Williams’s provocative collection of essays from 2004, The Open Space of Democracy. Terry will deliver the keynote at our writing conference April 19-21, 2019 celebrating the NAR’s 50 years at UNI. Our other featured writers include Molly Antopol, Taylor Brorby, Martín Espada, Adrianne Finlay, Kij Johnson, Joyelle McSweeney, Sophfronia Scott, and Joseph Scapellato. The conference is free and open to the public so submit a proposal to present your work on our Submittable page.
We’re open for submissions for the 2019 Hearst Prize, judged this year by Dana Levin, and for the first time in more than a decade, we’re reading for the Kurt Vonnegut Fiction Prize, which intends to recognize the finest speculative fiction, judged by Karen Joy Fowler. We’re thrilled to welcome Dana and Karen into the NAR family.
Another momentous occasion: in this issue you’ll read the final Past Perfect column, which is fittingly dedicated to the memory of longtime NAR editor Robley Wilson, who not only steered the NAR ship for more than thirty years but published his own stellar writing to great critical acclaim. He’ll be missed.
ART
Cover Aldous Huxley: Brave New World [mixed media] • Gary Kelley
17 Swims [ink, digital] • Catherine Byun
25 Growing [digital] • Brianne Burnell
37 Spears and sneers [pen and ink, Photoshop] • Jared Rogness
FICTION
17 Origins • Mel King
25 Listening to Apples • Warren Jones
37 Elephant in the Room • Clay Whisler
NONFICTION
3 Eight Hours, with Cow • K. S. Phillips
7 Splendor • Refael Paul Arenson
42 Confluence • Taylor Brorby
POETRY
11 The Asethetics of Dairy Farming • Ellie Tipton
11 The Landscape of Separation • Kendra Tanacea
12 Ronald Reagan • Elisabeth Farrell
12 The Cloth Room • G. C. Waldrep
13 The Conversions of the Body • Al Maginnes
14 I Love My Wife But the Problem Is • Gregory Fraser
16 A Guide to Wild Flowers • Laura McCullough
22 What Is The Body • Hannah Dow
23 For When You Are Down About Various Ignominious Fates • Paul Guest
24 Ode to Superstition • Jennifer Militello
24 In the Rainshadow of Whom • Jennifer Militello
32 Meditation • Trenton Pollard
33 On Faith: “What If It’s Broken?” • Michael Hurley
34 Leaves of Grass Lipogram • Michael Kriesel
35 The Day Her Speech Was Slurred • Cathryn Cofell
35 Sunlight • Emily Vogel
36 Gone Of • Emily Vogel
40 The Hunger Artist • Carolina Hotchandani
41 Around Phelps Lake • David Salner
41 Hapa Song • Michael Prior
Listening to Words • Jeff Hardin
REVIEWS
43 Review of The Commandant of Lubizec • Stephen J. Gaies
45 Synecdoche: Brief Book Reviews • Rachel Morgan
46 Crosscuts: Brief DVD Reviews • Grant Tracey
48 Making Life Matter [Past Perfect] • Chris Johnson
MISCELLANY
2 From the Editors
47 Contributors