Power Vinyasa

By Jacqueline Skokna

Head face down on the mat, you start in child’s pose, the one most instructors start with. It opens the hips and shoulders and is supposed to make you feel grounded, at peace. But peace couldn’t possibly exist in a room just shy of one hundred degrees. This class just began yet here you sit in this uncomfortable position, feeling small beads of sweat form along your forehead and limbs. Focus on your breathing, you tell yourself – or was that the instructor who said that? Either way, the Ujjayi pranayama breath, the breath of victory, begins to calm your chaotic mind. Thank God for the air. Thank God for your lungs that can breathe it.

Creative NonfictionBLJFebruary 18, 20192017

Pre-loved

By Cheyenne Bilderback

I fell in love with Chicago. A smattering of a thousand little worlds. Cities within cities encapsulated by an infinite lake. You and I often rode our rickety bikes through these little worlds, these cities within cities, alongside the infinite lake. It was easily my favorite sight in Chicago- unpolluted, calm, and quiet, much unlike the rest of the dirty urban streets (I also secretly loved the way the hue of your blue-green eyes matched the hue of the blue-green waves).

Creative NonfictionBLJMarch 29, 20182017

The Difference Between Elementary School and College

By Emma Tamplin

In elementary school I didn’t need sleep. I would wake in the middle of the night to some kind and gnawing urge to form and mold, with my insides, a miraculous woman-doll with a massive head.

Creative NonfictionBLJApril 4, 20172017

Slow Down

By Andrew Cox

I do not know exactly when I learned that garbage trucks ran every day and not just on the day they collected our trash. I figured “Garbage Day” was universal. Santa can make it to each house around the world in one night – surely, these garbage men treat every Tuesday like Christmas: trucks flying off to every neighborhood unobserved in broad daylight.

Creative NonfictionBLJApril 4, 20172017

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