[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”4.9.2″ custom_margin=”-2%||||false|false” custom_padding=”0px|||||”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”4.7.7″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.9.2″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_padding=”4px||4%||false|false”]<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve only been around since late October of 2020, but already have posted some \u201cGreatest Hits\u201d with topics ranging from the gratitude of whales to “pop ops” about Harry and Meghan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We’ve been given sweet and salty slices of life by Nick Carb\u00f3, Rick Moody, Cornelius Eady, Owen Egerton, Ellen Sweets, Lee Martin, Ruth Pennebaker, Wang Ping, Jim McGarrah, and many others. They’ve shared quick-to-the-blood experiences; plumbed arguments; advised writers; and revealed questions behind questions (sometimes pretending to be answers).<\/p>\n
In this epic time, compressed like a haiku written by Homer, we\u2019ve watched the fall of Trump and the rise of human decency. Filling the vacuum left by binge tweeting, we now have substantive dialogue about science separate from opinion, infrastructure, climate change, and the impact of white privilege on black lives. We can again admit that problems exist and need creative solutions. As we rejoin the global community, we recognize the humility of leadership. We are regaining our dignity and owning our shame. American Democracy proved frighteningly fragile.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Behind it all, driving both action and inaction, nationally and world-wide, has been the beating drum of the pandemic.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][cwp_image_collage num_image=”3″ cwp_gw=”14px” st_src_one=”https:\/\/writersatlarge.com\/riff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/switzerland-4353411_640.jpg” src_one_v_pos=”17%” st_src_two=”https:\/\/writersatlarge.com\/riff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dna-3539309_640.jpg” st_src_three=”https:\/\/writersatlarge.com\/riff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/drums-755530_640.jpg” src_three_h_pos=”56%” src_three_v_pos=”62%” st_src_four=”https:\/\/writersatlarge.com\/riff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/girl-2701075_640-violin.jpg” src_four_v_pos=”25%” _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” border_width_all=”7px”][\/cwp_image_collage][cwp_facebook_gallery _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default”][\/cwp_facebook_gallery][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default”]<\/p>\n
And RIFF<\/em> has been there the whole way, aiming for crafted, fast reads on the themes of the day. While the word \u201criff\u201d is rooted in jazz, we can apply a literary meaning, \u201cTo improvise in the performance or practice of an art, especially by expanding on or making novel use of traditional themes.\u201d Apt, especially when one considers the etymology of the word as a “quickening” of the word \u201crefrain.\u201d<\/p>\n The literary appropriation of musical “refrains” seems about as natural as adding lyrics to song.<\/p>\n Milan Kundera in his astounding novel of ideas, The Unbearable Lightness of Being <\/em>(which somehow survives translation admirably), blends philosophy, romantic love, history, and human values as seamlessly as brass, percussion, strings, and operatic trills. He then pilfers Beethoven’s motifs for his own character, Tomas:<\/p>\n “Tomas shrugged his shoulders and said, Es muss sein. Es muss sein.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n It was an allusion. The last movement of Beethoven’s last quartet is based on the following two motifs: Muss es sein? Es muss sein!<\/em> \/ Must it be? It must be!<\/p>\n To make the meaning of the words absolutely clear, Beethoven introduced the movement with a phrase, ‘Der schwer gefasste Entschluss,<\/em>‘ which is translated as ‘the difficult resolution.'”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][cwp_image_collage num_image=”3″ three_style=”five” cwp_gw=”14px” st_src_one=”https:\/\/writersatlarge.com\/riff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Beethoven.jpg” src_one_v_pos=”17%” st_src_two=”https:\/\/writersatlarge.com\/riff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/crowpexels-tim-mossholder-953150.jpg” src_two_v_pos=”59%” st_src_three=”https:\/\/writersatlarge.com\/riff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/girl-2701075_640-violin.jpg” src_three_h_pos=”56%” src_three_v_pos=”62%” st_src_four=”https:\/\/writersatlarge.com\/riff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/girl-2701075_640-violin.jpg” src_four_v_pos=”25%” _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”2%||||false|false” box_shadow_style=”preset3″][\/cwp_image_collage][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”5%||2%||false|false”]<\/p>\n This fusing of philosophical and musical imperatives feels right to me. Kundera’s characters find themselves driven by fate and thwarted by political and historical pressures (e.g., The Prague Spring) that challenge and then push their personal stories.<\/p>\n RIFF<\/em> gives us similar pursuits in smaller bites. While not a full-scale novel, RIFF<\/em> posts are no less driven by their dynamic context: whether the pounding of the pandemic drum, the rise and fall of shrill voices, or the slow, comforting downbeat of a returning refrain.<\/p>\n Which brings us to my first bloggish 45-degree turn at break-neck speed–my eager affinity with musical metaphors, which is more than a little odd since I\u2019m far from being musically inclined.<\/p>\n My singing sounds like the offspring of a crow and a cat in perpetual heat. I snap my fingers and tap my foot mid-beat. \u00a0My overbite kept me from forming a tight enough \u201cO\u201d even to whistle well. My second-grade violin lessons never made it past two weeks of a screeching \u201cTwinkle, Twinkle Little Star.\u201d<\/p>\n We didn\u2019t play \u201cair guitars\u201d when I was growing up, but hairbrushes made great microphones. From my bed-stage I\u2019d shriek Beatle songs to an imaginary audience, a year later the Monkees, then Grand Funk Railroad, and by mid-teens, Jesus Christ Superstar<\/em> and Neil Young.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_5,3_5″ _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” background_image=”https:\/\/writersatlarge.com\/riff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pexels-arvind-shakya-724259.jpg” box_shadow_style=”preset2″][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Times New Roman||||||||” text_text_color=”#ffffff” text_font_size=”21px” text_line_height=”1.8em” background_color=”rgba(51,51,51,0.5)” custom_margin=”9%||||false|false” custom_padding=”10%|10%|10%|10%|true|true”]<\/p>\n My unrequited passion for music took vicarious turns. In college I went with not one but TWO jazz guitarists, both of whom had albums in the day<\/em>. And, truth be known, I don\u2019t even like jazz guitar.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#ffffff” background_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.56)” custom_margin=”52%||20%||false|false” custom_padding=”6%|5%|5%|5%|false|true”]<\/p>\n But, I did love jazz and its steamy, twilight world: the low moaning sex of the sax, the tinkling piano keys, the swish of the brush across a drum . . .\u00a0 I\u2019m naturally a night owl\u2014and here were my peeps . . .\u00a0 a whole subculture rising under the dark, moon-shaped gel spots and nimbus clouds of smoke, nights that synched with Manhattans, chilled straight up.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.22″ custom_padding=”0px|||||”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||6%||false|false”]<\/p>\n Jazz and its whole heady lifestyle colored outside the lines, yet, like graffiti, told it like it is. <\/em><\/p>\n Conversely, scat singing took the human voice and turned it into an instrument, escaping the L-R confines of sentences, blending nonsense syllables into pure music. Having belonged to a Jesus-Freak cult for one of my teen years, I remember the swaying and harmonious stupor of speaking in tongues until (we were sure) our blood flowed God.<\/p>\n Three cocktails and a little Coltrane can do the same thing.<\/strong><\/p>\n Or so it seemed.<\/p>\n In the day.<\/em><\/p>\n In retrospect, now, seriously sober and watching CNN, and reflecting on life carved into years, themes, blog posts, it occurs to me I really don\u2019t know what I\u2019m talking about, except that I am drawn to extended metaphors, to analogy, as are salmon to spawning waters.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_5,3_5″ _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” background_image=”https:\/\/writersatlarge.com\/riff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Seminarpexels-fotografierende-4069667.jpg” custom_margin=”-2%||3%||false|false” box_shadow_style=”preset1″ box_shadow_blur=”12px” box_shadow_spread=”12px”][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#ffffff” background_color=”rgba(58,58,58,0.46)” custom_margin=”13%|-76%|4%|-2%|false|false” custom_margin_tablet=”|50%|||false|false” custom_margin_phone=”|20%|||false|false” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|desktop” custom_padding=”8%|5%|8%|5%|true|true” locked=”off”]<\/p>\n Unable to sing or whistle or play an instrument, I found that soul-thumping sumpin sumpin<\/em> through words and their craft. I could choose, instead, to become a conductor of all those off-beat, truant voices and braying instruments inside myself that want to play on stage, piped into elevators, alone in the shower.<\/p>\n Music and reading. Music and writing. Of course! I am in thrall to Kundera’s brilliant overlay of Nietzche with Beethoven.<\/p>\n Think Ragtime<\/em>, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love<\/em>, Amadeus. <\/em><\/p>\n From yet another prespective, who hasn’t walked down the street to the beat of a sound track playing behind us? Or found an ear worm thematically informing our every decistion for the day (“That’s the way, uh huh, uh huh, we like it uh huh, uh huh. . .”<\/em>)? Or replied, almost singing, “Que sera sera<\/em>“?<\/p>\n Music also gives us literary folk a wealth of metaphors where even poetry sometimes fails to deliver. \u201cHarmony,\u201d \u201cDiscord,\u201d \u201cMovement,\u201d \u201cCounterpoint,\u201d \u201cAccent,\u201d \u201cCadence,\u201d \u201cMotif,\u201d \u201cChord,\u201d \u201cTone deaf,\u201d \u201cComposition,\u201d \u201cGenre,\u201d\u201d Croon,\u201d \u201cPhrase\u201d \u2013 what writer or teacher of language hasn\u2019t shared these terms to describe a voice, a brand of discourse, a form of writing?<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||-5%||false|false”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||6%||false|false”]<\/p>\n After a few other hairpin turns, I’ve finally riffed my way back to RIFF.<\/em> What a great word. Like \u201ctruffle,\u201d \u201cquip,\u201d or \u201cpraline,\u201d it\u2019s just fun to say. And the meaning of “riff”–an improvisational or inspired refrain–is spot on<\/em> what we hope to achieve.<\/p>\n Social media has taken on a life we didn\u2019t expect. Why not use its existing infrastructure, like an autobahn, to drive readers back and forth between the blog, writers, and each other?<\/p>\n For those of you with Facebook, we’ve set up a RIFF<\/em> group that acts as a reception lobby to chat it up with writers, other readers, literary professionals, and students. We share literary jokes, comment on RIFF<\/em> blog posts, and try out some “riffs” of your own. Readers and writers are instantly<\/em> interchangeable peers.<\/p>\n If you are not a member, but would like to be, join us here.<\/a><\/p>\n If you are new to RIFF<\/em>, below by month is an entire table of contents with links to past articles and multi-media “jam sessions.”<\/p>\n Two forms, two motifs: Muss es sein? Es muss sein!<\/em> \/ Must it be? It must be!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||5px||false|false”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_testimonial quote_icon_color=”#841212″ _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#0C71C3″ background_image=”https:\/\/writersatlarge.com\/riff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/performance-3202707_640.jpg” background_blend=”darken” background_layout=”dark” custom_margin=”-6%||||false|false”]<\/p>\n Jam Sessions: Vlog \/ Streams, Interviews, performances, talks, multimedia<\/strong><\/p>\n JAM SESSION with Kathleen Rodgers | Interviewed by Jan Morrill<\/a><\/p>\n JAM SESSION with Dennis Bock | Interviewed by Michael Merschel<\/a><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_testimonial][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||5%||false|false”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Times New Roman||||||||” text_text_color=”#a54200″ text_font_size=”30px” text_line_height=”1.8em” custom_margin=”-2%|15%||5%|false|false” custom_margin_tablet=”-5%||1%||false|false” custom_margin_phone=”” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|phone” custom_padding=”|10%||5%|false|false”]<\/p>\n “In this epic time, compressed like a haiku written by Homer, we\u2019ve watched the fall of Trump and the rise… of dialogue . . .”<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/writersatlarge.com\/riff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pexels-ron-lach-6867596-scaled.jpg” alt=”Wagon of Books” title_text=”pexels-ron-lach-6867596″ _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”-20%|-5%||-5%|false|false” custom_margin_tablet=”0%||||false|false” custom_margin_phone=”” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|desktop” box_shadow_style=”preset1″ box_shadow_blur=”29px” box_shadow_spread=”13px”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_4,1_4″ _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” background_image=”https:\/\/writersatlarge.com\/riff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/hands-1846428_640-1.jpg”][et_pb_column type=”3_4″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_testimonial quote_icon_color=”#841212″ _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”rgba(209,106,23,0.45)” background_layout=”dark” custom_margin=”-33%|-10%|61%|5%|false|false” custom_margin_tablet=”” custom_margin_phone=”-60%||90%|0%|false|false” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|desktop” custom_padding=”|3%||3%|false|true”]<\/p>\n I know we can transform and triumph through this pandemic, together, as a community, a country, with our special intelligence for love and gratitude for the self, the community, and life on earth.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n — Wang Ping<\/strong><\/p>\n The Long Con and Donald Trump | Jim Dolan<\/a><\/p>\n REEL HEALING: How the Films of Lon Chaney Helped America Grapple with the Tragedy of World War I, Part 1 | John Petty <\/a><\/p>\n REEL HEALING: How the Films of Lon Chaney Helped America Grapple with the Tragedy of World War I, Part 2 | John Petty<\/a><\/p>\n CHAUCER, The Torch Bearer of Literature | Perminder Kaur<\/a><\/p>\n A Kind of Intelligence\u2013the Whale Who Knows \u201cThank You\u201d | Wang Ping<\/a><\/p>\n Riffing on How Books Save Lives | Millie Davis<\/a><\/p>\n Five Children and Me | Joyce Saenz Harris<\/a><\/p>\n LIFE Coach: A Literary Exchange Between NICK CARB\u00d3 and RICK MOODY<\/a><\/p>\n (Call Me) Robin | Robin Reagler<\/a><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_testimonial][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_testimonial quote_icon_color=”#841212″ _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”rgba(45,45,45,0.75)” background_layout=”dark” custom_margin=”-20%|2%||15%|false|false” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_blur=”28px” box_shadow_spread=”10px”]<\/p>\n Now, the brevity of childhood is no longer in my imagination. I know it all too well, which makes the hugs even more precious and dear.<\/em><\/p>\n \u2013 Jan Morrill<\/span><\/p>\n COVID Has Made Me Old Before My Time | Marcia Smith<\/a><\/p>\n Of Cattle Crossings, Barbed Wire, and Cuddle Corners | Natalie Walston Abbott<\/a><\/p>\n The Ineffability of a Hug | Jan Morrill<\/a><\/p>\n Jam Session: 2020 NYE with the Cornelius Eady Trio | Riff by Writers at Large<\/a><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_testimonial][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_5,2_5″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/writersatlarge.com\/riff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/new-year-5678207_1280.jpg” alt=”Wagon of Books” title_text=”new-year-5678207_1280″ _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”-15%||||false|false” filter_contrast=”97%” filter_sepia=”44%”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||3%||false|false”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_testimonial quote_icon_color=”#841212″ _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#0053ef” use_background_color_gradient=”on” background_color_gradient_start=”rgba(54,45,226,0.03)” background_color_gradient_end=”#261908″ background_color_gradient_direction=”276deg” background_color_gradient_start_position=”4%” background_layout=”dark” custom_margin=”-25%|5%||5%|false|false” box_shadow_style=”preset6″ box_shadow_blur=”37px” box_shadow_spread=”22px”]<\/p>\n A person can only read so many words in a lifetime. Your reader is choosing to read you instead of Shakespeare, Hemingway, Whitman. Humbly honor that and give them the best of your soul.<\/em><\/p>\n — Owen Egerton<\/p>\n Type So Hard You Bruise the Screen | Owen Egerton<\/a><\/p>\n My Thoughts on the Book White Fragility <\/em>| Jeanne Devine<\/a><\/p>\n Old Arguments, Won and Lost | Ruth Pennebaker<\/a><\/p>\n Me, Myself, & Why | Erin Ryan Burdette<\/a><\/p>\n New. Year. Count. Down. | Ellen Sweets<\/a><\/p>\n In Praise of Working on Two Novels at the Same Time | April D\u00e1vila<\/a><\/p>\n Turning Point | Juli McCullagh<\/a><\/p>\n Humanity\u2019s Super Power \u2013 Part I | Thea Temple<\/a><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_testimonial][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_5,3_5″ _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#b2b2b2″ background_image=”https:\/\/writersatlarge.com\/riff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/african-american-5955137_1280.jpg” custom_margin=”-6%||||false|false” custom_margin_tablet=”-6%||||false|false” custom_margin_phone=”” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|tablet”][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Times New Roman||||||||” text_text_color=”#ffffff” text_font_size=”20px” background_color=”rgba(122,30,9,0.34)” custom_margin=”15%|5%|80%|5%|false|false” custom_padding=”10%|10%|10%|10%|true|true”]<\/p>\n “Twilight is the hour of the Motherless Child \/\u00a0Another man gone, gone down that lonesome mile . . .”<\/p>\n –Cornelius Eady<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”|||10%|false|false” custom_padding=”|8%||8%|false|false”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_testimonial quote_icon_color=”#841212″ _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”rgba(104,59,0,0.54)” background_layout=”dark” width=”110%” max_width=”150%” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”-25%|10%|||false|false” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_blur=”31px” box_shadow_spread=”20px”]<\/p>\n So don\u2019t ever, ever ask a black person whether he or she is angry, unless you really want the answer.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n — Ellen Sweets<\/span><\/p>\n AND Still We Rise | Ellen Sweets<\/a><\/p>\n Opinion and Truth Are Not Synonyms | Jim McGarrah<\/a><\/p>\n Jam Session \u2014 History Rhymes: Black Lives Lost, PT. 1 | Cornelius Eady Trio<\/a><\/p>\n Plate Tectonics | Molly Moynahan<\/a><\/p>\n Seven Tips for Getting Up Early to Write (Even if You\u2019re a Night Owl) | April D\u00e1vila <\/a><\/p>\n Jam Session \u2014 History Rhymes: Black Lives Lost, PT. 2 | Cornelius Eady Trio<\/a><\/p>\n A Valentine Story: An American in Paris | Madison King<\/a><\/p>\n Speaking for Farmers | Bina Sarkar Ellias<\/a><\/p>\n Jam Session \u2014 History Rhymes: Black Lives Lost, PT. 3 | Cornelius Eady Trio<\/a><\/p>\n The Email | Jude Pedersen<\/a><\/p>\n Jam Session \u2014 History Rhymes: Black Lives Lost, PT. 4 | Cornelius Eady Trio<\/a><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_testimonial][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_4,1_4″ _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” background_image=”https:\/\/writersatlarge.com\/riff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Lightbulbspexels-rodolfo-clix-1036936-1.jpg” background_size=”contain” background_position=”top_center” width=”60%” custom_margin=”-2%|6%|-5%|13%|false|false” box_shadow_style=”preset6″ box_shadow_blur=”49px” box_shadow_spread=”26px”][et_pb_column type=”3_4″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_testimonial quote_icon_color=”#841212″ _builder_version=”4.9.2″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#141414″ background_layout=”dark” width=”133%” max_width=”150%” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”76%|10%|-6%||false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n I think the only way to combat sadness, frustration, and terror is not to fight it; we have to make it work for us.<\/em><\/p>\n –Christina Rauh Fishburne<\/p>\n NICHO | Richard J. Gonzales<\/a><\/p>\n Why I Never Had Babies | Marcia Smith<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0The Value of Accountability | Jim McGarrah<\/a><\/p>\n COVID-19 Therapy Cuisine | Ellen Sweets<\/a><\/p>\n Green Mountain Trail | Christina Rau Fishburne <\/a><\/p>\n Solo Travel Safety | Penny Sadler<\/a><\/p>\nOctober<\/strong><\/h4>\n
november\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n
December<\/strong><\/h4>\n
January<\/strong><\/h4>\n
FEBRUARY<\/strong><\/h4>\n
MARCH<\/strong><\/h4>\n