49 writers featured authors

Erin Hollowell: A Family Affair

One month. I’ve been Executive Director of 49 Writers for one month. During that time, I’ve been tasked with updating our database. Transferring the information from one donor management software that was no longer available into another. It doesn’t sound like a sexy job does it? It doesn’t sound like a lot of fun, spending […]

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Kaylene Johnson: Unraveled

Kaylene Johnson The weight of gravity presses me into my seat as the plane lifts off the ground. As the 737 banks over the Columbia River, pelicans wing low over the gray water. I am thinking about what it must be like to unlearn everything you’ve ever known. My father has Alzheimer’s disease and as

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JT Torres: Conviction

The altar for San Lazaro and Chango, the orisha who walks with San Lazaro. The desserts are left as offerings for both spirits. My research in Cuba is impossible. I can use physical descriptions to illustrate those who became possessed for you readers. I can describe a young man convulsing, his body contorted on a

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JT Torres: Forbidden Worlds

Our host family gathered around the TV to watch Raul Castro announce the return of the Cuban spies, which would improve relations with the U.S. As my departure from Cuba approached, I experienced a sort of barotrauma, much like decompression sickness experienced by divers who resurface too fast. I needed to slowly ascend, slowly return

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JT Torres: En Trance

The first ceremony of the week-long Festival de San Lazaro. We were sitting at a brightly lit café in a neighborhood in Colón. The dirt streets stretched into darkness in each direction. Maybe two houses were lit; the rest faded into the night sky glowing impossibly clear constellations. This was my first dinner in Cuba.

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