Introducing Dispatches

Today we are proud to launch Dispatches, a weekly column that will feature news, notes, and impressions from around the world. Some of our dispatches will be posted with great speed, to reflect recent experience. Others, like today’s installment from Jock Doubleday, might be a postcard of a season gone by.

We’ll post something new every Wednesday, so check back next week for our second dispatch, “Ethiopian Notes.” Although our first two pieces are from a traveler’s point of view, we will also publish vignettes from local perspectives.

The Common is all about exchanging ideas and impressions, especially those regarding place. No locale is too small or too big; no observation too prosaic or too abstract. So, go on—send your 250-500 word stories through our online submissions system here.

We look forward to hearing from you. Your voices will shape this column.

Introducing Dispatches

Related Posts

The Most-Read Pieces of 2024

THE COMMON
The Common published over 175 stories, essays, poems, interviews, and features online and in print in 2024. Browse a list of the ten most-read pieces of 2024 to get a taste of what left an impact on readers.

A sunny, cobblestone street framed by buildings with flat, golden-yellow facades. Ivy creeps between the buildings, hanging above the path.

The Laws of Time and Physics

JESSICA PETROW-COHEN
My necklace has a thin silver chain and a pendant made of sapphires. My mommy says she knew that my mama was ready to die when she gave away her jewelry. I can see it all so vividly. It’s happening now, in June, not then, in June, time is collapsing, June is June is June.