Emma Crowe

The Center of the Rebellion

By LYNNE WEISS

Seneca Falls has a much bigger place in history than it does in geography. It is usually mentioned only as the location of the 1848 Women’s Rights Convention, famously organized by women’s rights crusader, Elizabeth Cady Stanton. So rarely is it mentioned in any other context that one might think it did not exist before or after that event. It’s a small town, much like many other old mill towns in New England and upstate New York, and seems an unlikely setting for, as Stanton called her farmhouse home, “The Center of the Rebellion.” (Stanton was proud of having kept her birth name–Cady–after she married, but for purposes of brevity I call her Stanton here.)

The Center of the Rebellion
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At the Y

By ANNITA SAWYER

May 1966
The lav itself was tiny; its air felt warm and full. The walls of pale green tiles seemed to bend under a heavy film of water exhaled from my hot bath. Wet hair stuck to my face, which dripped with sweat. My cheeks burned. My eyelashes spilled water droplets so large I couldn’t see. I was sunk up to my neck in hot, sudsy bath water, soaking in my elixir of independence. I was taking my first bath on the first evening of my first day in my new home – the Y. My first day on my own. Ever.

At the Y
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Antiquing in the Desert

By AARON GILBREATH

As a longtime collector of vintage American soda bottles, I’d become a bit numb to their charms. The bold funky fonts, the cheeky allure of cartoon mascots and Space Age starbursts etched into the glass – sadly, the very elements that drew me into this odd subset of antiquing had lost their luster. Then I found a cache of old bottles in the California desert.

Antiquing in the Desert
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Enclave Reading Series

Event Date: 
Saturday, April 28, 2012 – 4:00pm
Location: 
Cake Shop, 152 Ludlow Street, New York, NY

Jennifer Acker hosts Martha Cooley, contributor to Issue 02, and Gabriel Brownstein, contributor to Issue 03, for the Enclave Reading Series.

Saturday, April 28, 4:00pm.

Cake Shop, 152 Ludlow Street, New York, New York.

Enclave Reading Series
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Gabo and Me

By GINA LUJAN BOUBION

The high stone wall guarding Gabriel García Márquez’s vacation house in the hills of Cuernavaca, Mexico was a foot thick and topped with broken glass. Bougainvillea spilled over the top and formed a magenta canopy over the wall’s wooden door.

Gabo and Me
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Issue 03 Launch Party at Amherst College

Event Date: 
Friday, April 27, 2012 – 7:00pm
Location: 
Alumni House, Amherst College

Come celebrate the release of Issue 03! Join us at Amherst College’s Alumni House on April 27 for drinks and music. Featuring readers Susan Stinson and Brad Leithauser. The event, which is free and open to the public, starts at 7:00 p.m. Click here for a map of the Amherst College campus.

Issue 03 Launch Party at Amherst College
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12th Annual Juniper Literary Festival

Event Date: 
Friday, April 13, 2012 (All day)Saturday, April 14, 2012 (All day)
Location: 
Fine Arts Center, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Once again, The Common will keep a table at this year’s Juniper festival. Enjoy the journal and press fair, and a keynote reading by James Tate.

12th Annual Juniper Literary Festival
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Snake Season

By SAMANTHA ENDER

On Sunday, on the side of a rural ridge path that cut through fields of maize and newly planted papaya trees, I watched a man kill a venomous adder. He threw large rocks to stun the snake, and then used his heel to crush its head. Even after he stopped, the snake’s body kept moving, dragging its destroyed head behind it.

Snake Season
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