STRANGER THAN FICTION
“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.”
—Mark Twain
FOR THE SAKE OF ARGUMENT
“That’s the beauty of argument. If you argue correctly, you’re never wrong.”
—Christopher Buckley
EXPANDING BEYOND
“Closed in a room, my imagination becomes the universe, and the rest of the world is missing out.”
—Criss Jami
THE SUPER POWER OF LANGUAGE
“Language is what makes us human. It is a recourse against the meaningless noise and silence of nature and history.”—Octavio Paz
JAM SESSION
“I think that my job is to observe people and the world, and not to judge them.”
—Haruki Murakami
THEME PARK
“Repeat the good. And the bad. Do it all…and pile on the years.”
―Natsuki Takaya
WALK THE TALK
“Every flower blooms at a different pace.”
—Suzy Kassem
LET THERE BE LIGHT
“Without the emotion of the beautiful, the sublime, the mysterious, there is no art, no religion, no literature.”
—John Burroughts
Get the “Writers at Large” Newsletter sent to your inbox
LATEST FROM RIFF
The Email
I’ve just gotten an email. Hope fades like a rainbow as I scan to the part where they tell me that my story isn’t a good fit for the magazine and...
Jam Session — History Rhymes: Black Lives Lost, PT. 3
When we asked Cornelius Eady about Black History Month, he responded by sending us a cycle of songs / poems. Eight in all, Eady named the cycle...
Speaking for Farmers
Did He Know? Did We Know? (For farmer Gajendra Singh who hanged himself in 2015, and for the six farmers of Mandsaur, India, killed by the police...
A Valentine Story: An American in Paris
We've been so happy about Madison King's active and generous participation in our RIFF Facebook group, sharing an array of observations and always...
Jam Session — History Rhymes: Black Lives Lost, PT. 2
When we asked Cornelius Eady about Black History Month, he responded by sending us a cycle of songs / poems. Eight in all, Eady named the cycle...
Seven Tips for Getting Up Early to Write (Even if You’re a Night Owl)
For many years, while I was working full time, I got up early to write before my kids woke up and things got hectic. As a die-hard night owl,...
Plate Tectonics
“We can’t always ask our students to take off the armor at home, or even on their way to school, because their emotional and physical safety may...
Jam Session — History Rhymes: Black Lives Lost, PT. 1
When we asked Cornelius Eady about Black History Month, he responded by sending us a cycle of songs / poems. Eight in all, Eady named the cycle...
Opinion and Truth Are Not Synonyms
Yesterday, a friend asked me what I thought of the participation of veterans in the events at the Capital Building in Washington, D.C. this past...
AND STILL WE RISE
Hearing stories recently from so many young black men and women picked at emotional scabs from invisible wounds accrued over the years. We — meaning...