296.1 Winter Issue 2011

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As always in the first issue of the year, we are proud and honored to celebrate Black History Month (February in the US) and Women’s History Month (March); in this regard we are publishing Rachel Eliza Griffiths and January Gill O’Neil, two of the brightest African American women poets.We similarly applaud both commemorative occasions in our Synecdoche column by reviewing poetry books by African American women.

Apropos of Women’s History Month, from 1930 to 1960—the so-called neoclassical period of Hollywood cinema—you could count the number of female directors working in the industry on one hand. But with the expansion of independent cinema and the success of film festivals like those at Cannes, Sundance, and Toronto, women have been more able to tell their stories through movies. This issue’s Crosscuts column highlights two films directed by women, the gritty hardscrabble masterpiece Winter’s Bone by Debra Granik and the sad and lonely Wendy and Lucy by Kelly Reichardt. Both of these films are like literary stories, full of nuance and stillness.

This issue’s fiction also features two strong woman-centered stories. Susan Jackson Rodgers’s “The Other Alan” questions identity, past and present relationships, and the future. The language is exquisitely subtle. Erin McReynolds’s “VIVA!” centers on loss, grieving, and the fractured self. Powerful.

We hope you’ll savor the fine literature and art in this issue. Enjoy!

ART

Cover Holiday Travelers [acrylic on paper] • Gary Kelley

8 Untitled [photoshop and ink wash] • Jessica Fink

14 Untitled [pencil] • Li-Ying Bao

25 Untitled [pen and ink with digital texture] • Joanna Barnum

32 Untitled [digital collage] • Marty Gotera

FICTION

8 This Other Alan • Susan Jackson Rodgers

14 Dragon Money • Charles Conley

25 VIVA! • Eric McReynolds

32 What Rises • Iver Arnegard