The Midwest | JOYLAND

Everyone Gets It

Sara Schaff -

Cici in Social Media has returned from vacation with a new personal belief system. "In the end," she informs me, "everyone gets what they...

In the Realm of the Pheasants

Melanie Janisse-Barlow -

‘Our profession is covert, therefore little understood by outsiders.’ –Lynn Crawford, Paula Regossy, 2014. 1. I remember one early morning on Brush Street in Detroit in...

Shipwrecks

Matthew Fogarty -

1. The winter I was twelve, my father found work as a surveyor and we moved north to the Upper Peninsula, to Sault Ste. Marie....

Rolesville

Michelle Hart -

Kate was a Specialist in the Army, which was perfect for her, since Specialists don’t really specialize in anything. Even as a kid, Kate...

Heritage Theater

Rebecca McKanna -

There was a little memorial on the side of Highway 67, right past the S&W Manufacturing Plant, with a knee-high white wooden cross in...

French Absolutism

Brandon Taylor -

Before Lionel was an exam proctor, he had been a math major on the cusp of graduating with honors. Then something had gone wrong...

The Thin, Frozen Lake

Matthew Socia -

This is one I’ve needed to tell for a while. After I dropped out of Michigan State and moved back to Alpena to live...

Oysters

Aaron Burch -

Pilot went first. First because it was his family’s cabin, first because he was going to show us proper form, how to do it....

Flag Girl

Aram Mrjoian -

Wearing a confederate flag as a cape, a suntanned girl walked across the muddy fairgrounds of rural southeast Michigan, her bare skin shining in...

Her, Guts and All

RS Deeren -

The agreement started with Rid Bellows Sr. He owned the most plowable earth north of Caro, a 1400-acre tract whose western boundary snuggled up...