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Supplementary materials for teaching Issue 32 are listed below.
For further exploration, here and elsewhere…
Students who enjoyed Kas Bernays’ poem “Dolphins, the Mycale Strait” can explore the Ionian Dolphin Project, an organization that monitors dolphin pods around Greece to ensure their long-term conservation. Learn more about their work on their official website.
In Karolina Letunova’s story “Good Little Fox,” Beba Lena serves pirozhki to Alisa Vasilyevna. Pirozhki are Russian pies in which a fruit or meat filling is enclosed in dough. Students are invited to learn more about pirozhki, their place in Russian culture, and how to make them in this Express to Russia article.
Andrew Steiner’s essay “In Rightful Solitude” follows the author’s fascination with “dungeon synth,” a music genre originating from Norway’s black metal scene and the atmosphere of dark fantasy novels. Notably, the dungeon synth scene bears a controversial history, which students can learn more about in this article from The Guardian.
Jose Hernandez Diaz’s poem “I Stopped Dreaming” shines in its careful veneration of everyday life. Students interested in reading more of Hernandez Diaz can read his poems “Ode to Chicken Quesadillas” and “Ode to a California Neck Tattoo,” which further exemplify his careful, considerate eye.
“Of Diverting and Diversions” takes its title from a chapter of Michel de Montaigne’s Essays. Paralleling the speaker in Paloff’s poem, Montaigne was the mayor of Bordeaux when a plague broke out, leading him to flee. In an isolated chateau, he wrote his Essays, which would become the template of the writing form we know today. Students can learn more about Montaigne in this New York Times op-ed.
Tina Cane’s poem “Thank You For Your Attention to This Matter: Mariachi” draws on the long history of Mariachi music, which originates in the Jalisco region of Mexico. What began as a means of expression for field workers eventually became a symbol of Mexican pride, a transformation students can read about on the Houston Symphony website.
Students who enjoyed Hannah Gersen’s story “The Department of Home Economics” can explore the complex and surprising history of home economics through this Cornell University Library online exhibition, which chronicles the history of the New York State College of Home Economics at Cornell, now the College of Human Ecology.
“Wild Aster” by Anna Hogeland is excerpted from her novel Wild Aster, published in 2026. Students eager to read more of Hogeland’s place-based writing are invited to check out her dispatches from the canyonlands of Utah, a snowy cemetery in Colorado, and a pub in Liverpool.
The poem “You Must Change Your Life” by Sharon Dolin takes its title from the final line of “Archaic Torso of Apollo” by the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 – 1926). To acquaint yourself with Dolin’s poetic inspiration, read Rilke’s famous poem here.
Matthew Lippman’s “Happy Birthday Marc Chagall” explores and enjoys the ways human beings spend time with art. Students captivated by this poem can follow its references to the Jewish painter Marc Chagall’s goats here at the Museum of Modern Art, or read NPR’s interview with Ted Chiang, whose novella “Story of Your Life” inspired Arrival.
The equestrian statue of Simón Bolívar, “El Libertador,” is a contested symbol in Danielle V. Schoon’s story “Father, Land.” To learn more about the history of Venezuelan independence, listen to this podcast about Simón Bolívar and Hugo Chávez in today’s context.
The hyena boys of Samuel Kọ́láwọlé’s eponymous short story are based on the Gadawan Kura, or “hyena men,” a popular sect of Nigerian animal handlers and street performers. Students can see striking photographs of the hyena men in this famous portfolio by photographer Pieter Hugo.
After reading James K. Boyce’s essay “For the Love of Loons,” students interested in learning more about the charismatic Common Loon are encouraged to browse the interactive visual and sound gallery, as well as the fun facts, in this Cornell Lab of Ornithology guide.
Judith Baumel’s poem “No One is Going Anywhere” decries the hypocrisies of American agriculture, specifically the cattle industry. Students can learn more about the connection between mad cow disease, chronic wasting disease, and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease here.
See all of Issue 32.
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