Emma Crowe

Leading a Blind Man to the Liquor Store

By J. J. ANSELMI

I heard him yelling as I ate breakfast.

“Help! Won’t anyone come out and help me?” I looked out the window and saw a tall man with feathered blonde hair and large sunglasses standing on the sidewalk across the street. He reached out, trying to find something, anything, to guide him.

Leading a Blind Man to the Liquor Store
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Nicaragua Canal Project

Artist: BEN SHATTUCK

When I first heard of the Nicaraguan Canal Project, I thought of the 19th-century artists Martin Johnson Heade and Norton Bush. It was winter, and I was driving through Wisconsin, early evening, listening to the news. The canal, the reporter said, would be three times as long and twice as wide as the Panama Canal. It would fit extra-large container ships. It might stimulate Nicaragua’s economy. Environmental groups were protesting potentially large-scale disaster.

Nicaragua Canal Project
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The Straw Dog Craft Workshop: Getting Published Locally

Event Date: 
Saturday, November 7, 2015 – 10:30am12:00pm
Location: 
Lilly Library, Florence, MA

 

 

Come see The Common’s Managing Editor Diana Babineau in conversation with editors of three other premier Massachusetts literary magazines. The panelists will present their journals’ identities: who they are, what they are looking for, and the process of getting published by them.

The Straw Dog Writers’ Guild––the panel’s hosting organization––is a collaborative open to writers, readers, booksellers, and editors alike, providing a vibrant network of resources to the Western Massachusetts writing community.

The Straw Dog Craft Workshop: Getting Published Locally
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The Common at The Mead

Event Date: 
Saturday, November 7, 2015 – 5:00pm6:00pm
Location: 
Amherst College, Mead Art Museum, Rotherwas Room

 

 

The Common welcomes parents, students, and the general public for a cocktail hour of poetry, essays, and fiction from The Common‘s special 10th issue. Join us in the Rotherwas Room in the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College. Wine & cheese will follow. Join the Facebook event here.

This event is free and open to the public.

The Common at The Mead
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Boston Book Festival

Event Date: 
Saturday, October 24, 2015 – 10:00am6:00pm
Location: 
Copley Square, Boston, MA

 

The Common will be attending the Boston Book Festival in October! Drop by Booth 18 to meet our editors and staff, pick up submission guidelines, get a copy of our most recent issue, and spin our Wheel of Chance to win a prize!

The BBF is New England’s largest annual literary event, boasting a street fair, live music, writing workshops, and other interactive events for both adults and children. Find out more about this year’s event at www.bostonbookfest.org.

Boston Book Festival
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Bannerman Island

By MARIA TERRONE 

There is something in me that loves an island. I live on one (Queens, New York, on Long Island, across the East River from the isle of Manhattan). I’m attracted to all kinds—those buried by volcanic eruptions; adrift in a blue void endless as the cosmos; locus of nearly extinct languages; and even the fictitious Island of Lost Souls ruled by the mad scientist Dr. Moreau.

Bannerman Island
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Amherst Poetry Festival

Event Date: 
Saturday, October 3, 2015 – 10:00am6:00pm
Location: 
Emily Dickinson Museum Grounds, Amherst, MA
Celebrate poetry with The Common at the Amherst Poetry Festival in downtown Amherst! Visit our booth on Booksellers Row from 10am–6pm for delicious homemade cupcakes and a chance to win exciting prizes.

Booksellers Row is located on the Emily Dickinson Museum Grounds.

View the full schedule of events here for more information on the Emily Dickinson Poetry Marathon, readings by acclaimed poets, panel discussions, workshops, and more!

Amherst Poetry Festival
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Sunday Night in Mauerpark

By NOOR QASIM 

I wake up from my three-hour nap because of a text from my brother.

I’ll be there in five!

After reading some texts and checking Facebook, I summon the strength to pull myself off the mattress, leaving the sheets damp with sweat behind me, and approach the red-framed mirror on the bright yellow wall of our hostel room. The nap had been good and deep but my head feels swollen with the heat and the grogginess of an interrupted sleep cycle. My eye-makeup is slightly smudged, which makes sense considering I’d applied it five minutes before I passed out. It didn’t have time to dry.

Sunday Night in Mauerpark
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