traveling

Meet the Interns: Sarah Ladman

Superstition Review

Nonfiction Editor Sarah Ladman is a senior at Arizona State University. She will be graduating in May 2011 with a degree in Literature, Writing, and Film, and a minor in Human and Family Studies. After graduation, she would like to break into the world of children’s literature, and hopes to begin writing her first book very soon. Her passion for children’s books and youth literacy has been nurtured by the years she has spent working with children as a preschool teacher. This is Sarah’s first semester with Superstition Review.

1. What is your position with Superstition Review and what are your responsibilities?

My position with Superstition Review is Nonfiction Editor. Some of my responsibilities include reviewing submissions, working with the other interns to vote on submissions, and get the word out about our spring issue launch.

2. Why did you decide to get involved with Superstition Review?

I’m interested in possibly pursuing a career in the publishing field, so I felt it would be an excellent experience to intern with the Superstition Review. Previously, I took a course in writing pieces to submit to literary magazines, and now I have the chance to see the other side of the equation.

3. How do you like to spend your free time?

In my free time, I enjoy reading, spending time with my boyfriend, family, and friends, and traveling.

4. What other position(s) for Superstition Review would you like to try out?

Many of the positions for Superstition Review sound very interesting, and I think they all offer valuable experiences. It would be interesting to try out the position of Fiction Editor, Open Submissions Content Coordinator, or even Advertising. Each of these positions differs from my current job, and I wouldn’t mind gaining experience in those areas as well.

5. Describe one of your favorite literary works.

It’s difficult to select a single favorite literary work, since there is such a massive collection of books I have loved over the years. Currently, my interest in children’s literature has led me to develop a love for the Series of Unfortunate Events collection of books, written by Lemony Snicket. Although these chapter books are intended for children from 9-13 years of age, the author takes a novel approach in his writing: he refuses to dumb down words or content. The plot follows a trio of siblings through their adventures as they try to uncover the mystery of their parents’ deaths, attempts to find a home, and discovering family secrets. The 12 book series is definitely a shining example of the type of children’s literature I would like to write in the future.

6. What are you currently reading?

Currently, I am just wrapping up Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. It is a humorous re-writing of the Jane Austen classic, with plenty of adventure weaved in, and has been a very enjoyable read.

7. Creatively, what are you currently working on?

I’m in the beginnings of writing what I hope to be the first of many children’s books. At the moment, I am only in the very early brainstorming stages, and have a lot of work ahead of me. I’m hoping to have a work in progress within the next several months.

8. What inspires you?

I’m inspired by literature that seeks to be different, eclectic stories for both children and adults, and everyday events.

9. What are you most proud of?

At the moment, my proudest accomplishment would have to be so close to receiving my degree in Literature, Writing, and Film. It was a busy four years for me, especially since I both worked and attended school full time. I’m proud that I was able to pull it all off, and learn a lot from my variety of courses.

10. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

In 10 years, I hope to be writing children’s books full-time, with a bit of freelance writing sprinkled in. It would be wonderful to be able to do my writing from home, so I can spend time with the family I imagine having by that time. Predicting specifics is tough, but I can only hope that I’ll still be busy reading, writing, and learning about life!

Meet The Interns: Maria Holguin

Superstition Review

Maria Holguin is in her fourth year at ASU studying English Literature and minoring in Transborder Chicano/a & Latina/o Studies. Upon graduation, she hopes to pursue a career in magazines writing documentary articles. She is excited to have a hands-on editing experience as Interview Editor with Superstition Review.

1. What is your position with Superstition Review and what are your responsibilities?

I am one of the Interview Editors with Superstition Review. We are responsible for formulating a list of authors to interview, researching them, coming up with interview questions and then interviewing them.

2. Why did you decide to get involved with Superstition Review?

The magazine field is something I always wanted to do but never knew what it was like. I am very excited to have a hands-on experience with Superstition Review since it is one of my interests.

3. Besides interning for Superstition Review, how do you spend your time?

I attend classes at ASU, read and compute for academic purposes. I enjoy hiking, walking my dog and being with my friends and family.

4. What other position(s) for Superstition Review would you like to try out?

Another position I would I like to try out would be Nonfiction Editor. I love nonfiction, especially memoirs, documentaries and historical nonfiction.

5. Describe one of your favorite literary works.

One of my favorite literary works is Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. I absolutely love the metaphors in that book and the Japanese culture.

6. What are you currently reading?

I am currently reading The Latino Reader for my Latina Literature class which is excerpts from many Chicano/a authors. I love it because it is a great way for me to look at authors of a genre I enjoy, reread favorites and take a look at Chicano history.

7. Creatively, what are you currently working on?

I enjoy knitting, especially for my nieces. Recently, I made them sundresses: one looks like a watermelon with rose for the main color and green trimming. The other dress is yellow with blue flowers stitched on the front. My last knitting project was a scarf and two beanies which I donated.

8. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

In 10 years I see myself well-traveled and hopefully living in cooler temperatures.

Meet The Interns: Kylie Powell

Superstition Review

Kylie Powell is currently a junior at Arizona State University where she is studying Literature, Writing, and Film. She is now part of the Superstition Review team where she is in charge of the advertising. Kylie someday hopes to take her advertising and writing experience and work with companies to advertise their products.

1. What is your position with Superstition Review and what are your responsibilities?

My position with Superstition Review is Advertising Coordinator. My responsibilities include seeking out places to advertise SR, and then contacting those places to get the best deal for an ad that we can get. I also try to build partnerships with other literary magazines by also helping them to advertise with us.

2. Why did you decide to get involved with Superstition Review?

I decided to get involved with Superstition Review because I looked at it as a great opportunity to get experience in the field of both writing and advertising. It is also a helpful way to get more involved and learn the behind the scenes of how a literary magazine is put together.

3. Besides interning for Superstition Review, how do you spend your time?

Most of my time is spent working for the Campus Recreation department at ASU. I work at the gym and also with intramural sports, so between the three things it keeps my life pretty busy, but I love everything that I do.

4. What other position(s) for Superstition Review would you like to try out?

I would like to try out being a fiction editor or maybe even a blogger because it would give me more opportunities to write.

5. Describe one of your favorite literary works.

One of my favorite literary works is Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I read it for a film class and was able to compare a movie to a novel and it really showed me how different literary works can be from what someone portrays when making a movie. It was a novel that was impossible to put down and always had something exciting to grab the reader.

6. What are you currently reading?

I am currently reading a lot of travel stories. They have really sparked my interest after beginning a travel writing class and it is a whole new kind of reading and learning.

7. Creatively, what are you currently working on?

I am currently working on ideas for a fiction book. I have always wanted to write a book not to sell but more so for myself and family.

8. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

In 10 years I see myself doing some kind of writing whether it be in a magazine, newspaper, or even writing a book.

 

Melissa Pritchard discusses Superstition Review reading and other works

Superstition Review

On November 8th the Superstition Review Reading Series will feature Melissa Pritchard at Arizona State University’s Tempe Campus. Her reading will take place at 7 p.m. in the Memorial Union’s Pima Auditorium. Pritchard has published several books such as Phoenix: A Novel, Late Bloomer and Devotedly, Virginia: The Life of Virginia Galvin Piper. She has also published her essays Finding Ashton and A Woman’s Garden, Sown in Blood in O, The Oprah Magazine, and The Collagist 4, respectively. I had the opportunity to discuss the upcoming reading and Pritchard’s latest novel The Odditorium.

Superstition Review: How is The Odditorium different from your other works?

Melissa Pritchard: The Odditorium is a collection of seven stories and a novella. Most are based on unusual or enigmatic historical figures, all look at the ways architecture exerts subtle or unsubtle pressures on human consciousness. So they are different in those ways from most of my previous stories. More than half of them do not approach narrative in a traditional or conventional way. I experiment in one story, “Watanya Cicilia,” with a pastiche of historical documents, songs, research and fiction, contrasting the Wild West Show and the real, genocidal story of the West. “The Hauser Variations,” based on the life of Kaspar Hauser, a German boy kept in an underground dungeon throughout his childhood and then mysteriously released into a second tragic fate, is based, in terms of narrative strategy, on Bach’s Goldberg Variations. In another story, “Patricide,” two sisters meet in a haunted hotel in Richmond, Virginia, its courtyard said to be a place where Edgar Allen Poe once played as a child. In this hotel, one of the sisters goes mad. So I was less interested in the traditional structure of plot and expected emotional release than in ethics, history, architecture and the effects of these upon both historically based and purely imagined characters.

SR: What has in been like working with Bellevue Literary Press?

MP: We are in the earliest phases; I accepted their offer to publish The Odditorium in January, 2012, and had a lengthy phone conversation with the publisher, Erika Goldman. I was so impressed with her aesthetic understanding of the collection, her excitement over the departures I had taken in terms of subject and form, I became convinced this was the proper home for these pieces. The BLP website is terrific, too, as is their history with Bellevue Hospital and New York University’s Medical Center. They publish elegant books at the nexus of art, science and medicine, and only publish two fiction titles a year. One of this year’s fiction titles, Tinkers, by Paul Harding, won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize, resulting in a flurry of attention for the press, with articles and interviews in The New York Times, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, and other media venues. It’s a tiny press operating out of Bellevue Hospital, and they do terrific work. I come from a family of surgeons, doctors and nurses, and have always been fascinated by science, medicine and the history of medicine, so this could not be a better place for this book, as a number of the stories deal with medical histories, issues and questions.

SR: How has your time at ASU influenced your writing?

MP: Because my time to write is limited, I have to be disciplined. Sometimes I find it quite difficult, having time and energy to both write and teach. A fragile balance at best. On the other hand, teaching keeps me awake to current trends in literature, to remaining relevant to students year after year, and I am blessed to work with some incredibly gifted students, both graduates and undergraduates. I always say my students teach me in equal proportion to what I teach them. At least I feel that. Also, ASU has always been tremendously supportive of my outside work–traveling for research, traveling to conferences, traveling for reportage or for humanitarian work, which I also do. I am extremely grateful for the university’s support.

SR: What are you most looking forward to as the Superstition Review reading draws near?

MP: I have a background in theater, in acting, so I always love reading my work aloud in a public setting…for me, it is as close to performance as I come these days. I love an audience and I love hearing the piece I’ve chosen come alive in the room, seeing the reactions of the listeners, answering questions afterwards. It is truly a wonderful exchange. This past summer at The Glen, a writing workshop in Santa Fe, New Mexico, part of Seattle Pacific University’s MFA Program, I read my collection’s title story, “The Odditorium,” to a full house. It is a comic piece about Robert Ripley of Believe It or Not fame, and other audiences have responded with laughter and lively commentary afterwards. This audience was dead silent. The room was dark, I couldn’t see anyone. I kept reading, on and on, by the little glow from the podium light. Afterwards, no one even asked questions! I was horrified, sure I had failed, sure the story had been a failure…I wanted to crawl under a carpet had there been one. What I found out later, was that the story had gone over so well, people couldn’t react, they went silent–stunned. I won’t repeat the praises I later heard, but then I became overwhelmed the other direction–was my story really that good? So one never knows, and one always doubts. Also, I’m always a little nervous before a reading, hoping it goes well, that I don’t disappoint people who made the time and effort to come to my reading when there are dozens of other things for them to do….I am also always scared no one will show up, and thrilled to pieces when they do. Finally, I’m looking forward to meeting all the staff and interns at Superstition Review. They’ve even managed to arrange to have copies of A Public Space #11 mailed from New York to be available for sale on the night of the reading. (I’ll be reading a story, “Ecorche, The Flayed Man,” from that issue.)

SR: What are you currently working on creatively?

MP: I’m in between three pieces right now…a non-fiction piece about my miniature dachshund, Simon, a speech about Sr. Airman Ashton Goodman and the Afghan Women’s Writing Project that I will be giving at the Air Force Institute of Technology in December, and a novella set in 19th century Florence, Italy.

SR: What advice would you give to an aspiring author?

MP: Read voraciously. Read the best work you can find. Read what interests you. Be observant. Practice empathy and compassion. Know that what you write ultimately reflects who you are. Write every day, even if only for an hour and be humble in your practice while aspiring to greatness. Be gentle with yourself, and always reward yourself in some small way after a writing session. Leave the writing at a place where you are eager to return the next day.

 

Matthew Gavin Frank discusses “Warranty In Zulu” and other projects

Superstition Review

Superstition Review was pleased to feature Matthew Gavin Frank’s poems in our very first Issue. Recently I had the opportunity to correspond with Frank to discuss his latest published work, Warranty In Zulu. Frank has published several poetry manuscripts including, Aardvark, Sagittarius Agitprop, Four Hours To Mpumalanga, and 6 X 6. His prose has also been published in Blue Earth Review, Plate Magazine, Brevity, Transfinite, and elsewhere.

Superstition Review: How is Warranty In Zulu different from your other works?

Matthew Gavin Frank: Warranty is far more research-based than my previous collection, Sagittarius Agitprop. Warranty began as a project to engage the ways in which the exhibits of South African museums and galleries have changed since the fall of apartheid in 1994, documenting how the “landscape” of the South African art scene has changed in style, substance, and accessibility with the socio-political landscape, with the aim of uncovering a larger statement about the interaction between politics and aesthetics.

SR: What has it been like working with Barrow Street Press?

MGF: Risking overstatement: heavenly. Barrow Street is wonderfully hands-on when it comes to the editing process, design, lay-out, etc. They’re very involved, continually offering feedback and suggestion, which contributes to the rare, essential dialogue between writer and editors (who, in the case of Barrow Street, are brilliant writers themselves). The experience of working with them will likely save me a crap-load of time when it comes to self-editing future manuscripts before submitting.

SR: What was the most difficult part about writing Warranty In Zulu?

MGF: Avoiding “othering” or “exoticising” the various cultures of South Africa. In order to aid in this, I felt I had to immerse myself in the country via research and travel, many-handed observations. After numerous trips to South Africa, my wife’s homeland, and her family’s country of residence, the project became laced with the personal, the various narrators herein (many inspired by unofficial interviews, casual conversations, and folklore) engaging issues of history, identity, confused observation, the nature of healing, irrational fear, irrational love and the collision between insider and outsider voices. While not every poem in the manuscript is set specifically within South Africa (most are), each struggles with similar thematic strains.

SR: How have your life experiences (such as working the Barolo wine harvest) shaped your views in your writing?

MGF: I’ve been incorporating things from my own life into the work, more than I have in the past. In the past, I always had a great time wearing masks, playing the asshole, protecting myself. But lately, I’ve been finding greater fulfillment in taking a risk, meaning: being honest. Or more honest at least. This desire ignited at about the same time I began to feel a draw to return to the Midwest, my roots, after wandering and traveling quite a bit. Both desires can, I think, be leashed to my mother’s recent illness. In 2006, Louisa (my wife) and I had just, on a road trip (after leaving Tempe), landed in Montpelier, Vermont, and decided we wanted to live there for a stretch. On the day we were to sign our lease, we received a phone call from my sister in Chicago telling us that my mom was sick. We fled Vermont, returned to Chicago for a year, lived in my parents’ house, and took care of the family while she battled illness (and won, thankfully). This infected my writing with the honesty I mentioned earlier. Does this mean I’m being merely confessional? Attracted solely to the Midwest and the actual? It’s complicated, but no way. As if to balance this, I’m presently working on a series of short essays based on photographs I took in Oaxaca, Mexico, and a poetry manuscript based on couching the bad joke in verse. Its working title is “Your Mother.”

SR: What are you currently working on creatively?

MGF: Well, the Oaxaca book, tentatively titled, SELF-HELP, MEXICO, deals with the aftermath of living in my parents’ house in suburban Chicago for over a year, helping my family during my mother’s battle with cancer. Louisa, and I, struggling to rediscover our footing as a married-couple-in-love, fled to Mexico. Our search for ourselves, our sanctuary, our relationship, took us from the wild crowds and violent social protests of Mexico City, to the culinary jewel of Oaxaca City, and finally to a tiny indigenous Zapotec village in Oaxaca’s Sierra Juárez mountains. The manuscript, which is still in-progress (I’m hoping to finish my final tinkering before 2010 ends), is fusing the narrative storytelling techniques typical of memoir with historical and folkloric research, becoming a series of sort-of lyric essays, and situating the sense of loss and confused search of one particular young married couple within a larger socio-cultural context. In this village, we discovered an unlikely band of U.S.-American expatriates of various demographics, on grappling journeys of their own, contributing to a community both unique and ubiquitous in its quest for some version of fulfillment. I’m going to go back to the “Your Mother” project after I’ve finished SELF-HELP, MEXICO. My nonfiction book, POT FARM, about my work on a medical marijuana farm in Northern California will be coming out from the University of Nebraska Press in 2011 or 2012.

SR: What advice would you give to an aspiring author?

MGF: Travel. Eat things that scare you: cock’s combs, for example. Force perspective onto your life. Allow your memory to distort things. Write a lot, even if it’s crappy. Read a lot. Be vulnerable. Allow the act of writing to play various roles in your life: mother, father, son, daughter, lover, pet goldfish. Argue with all of them, even though you love them. I will not say, be persistent. I swear to you: I will not say it.

 

Meet The Interns: Anthony Cinquepalmi

Superstition Review

Anthony Cinquepalmi is a sophomore English (Creative Writing) major in Barrett, the Honors College at ASU. He has been enthralled with poetry for the past six years and hopes to make poetry his focus in the upcoming semester. Other interests include photography and specialty coffee, the latter of which he plans on pursuing thoroughly alongside his writing, and the former being the knowledge foundation for his work on Superstition Review‘s Photoshop/Design tasks.

Superstition Review: What is your position with Superstition Review and what are your responsibilities?

Anthony Cinquepalmi: I am the Photoshop editor. I touch up headshots and design advertisements.

SR: Why did you decide to get involved with Superstition Review?

AC: I wanted to get a closer look at the publishing world. I figure: working with other writers and/or publishers can only benefit my own writing knowledge. Last year, I was talking with a friend about this desire when another Superstition Review intern overhead the conversation and told us to apply. Here we are.

SR: Besides interning for Superstition Review, how do you spend your time?

AC: School and work consume almost equal halves of my week. I work at Cartel Coffee Lab in Tempe, though, when I’m not working or schooling, I visit with friends or I read or write.

SR: What other position(s) for Superstition Review would you like to try out?

AC: Poetry Editor.

SR: Describe one of your favorite literary works.

AC: Letters to a Young Poet, a series of letters from Rainer Maria Rilke to an aspiring poet attending a military academy, is one of the most enlightening pieces I’ve ever read, and it’s non-fiction! It has become a reference point, a source of hope–even, a new bible.

SR: What are you currently reading?

AC: For class: Aurora Leigh by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and The Norton Anthology American Literature. For fun: Making Certain it Goes On: The Collected Poems of Richard Hugo, John Berryman: Selected Poems (American Poets Project), The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, and Howl by Allen Ginsberg.

SR: Creatively, what are you currently working on?

AC: I’m currently pursuing photography as well as creative writing. I’m hoping to release a chapbook later on this year.

SR: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

AC: Well, hopefully not dried up in terms of writing, and I’d like to be finished with formal education (with an MFA from somewhere or other). I want to exhibit photography at least once, have a chunk of poetry published in book form. I’m not opposed to teaching. I want to go to London.

 

Craig Childs At Changing Hands Bookstore

Superstition Review

On Monday September 27th, author Craig Childs will be reading at Changing Hands Bookstore from his latest book, Finders Keepers: A Tale of Archaeological Plunder and Obsession.

If you read and enjoyed Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer, Craig Childs’ nonfiction would fit well into your list of reading interests. Childs writes from his personal experiences in nature, and in Finders Keepers, he explores the clandestine side of archaeology. Of the nonfiction I have had the opportunity to read, Childs writing stands out as creative and bold.

Since the publication of his first book in 2000, Childs has published nonfiction including The Secret Knowledge of Water, House of Rain, and The Animal Dialogues. His writing has also been feature in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Men’s Journal. In addition, he frequently provides commentary for National Public Radio’s Morning Edition.

While reading his website (http://www.houseofrain.com/) I discovered that you can listen to some of Childs’ NPR broadcasts and audio clips from his travels using iTunes. His website also offers a complete list of his published works as well as an anecdotal “about the author” written by Childs.

For more information about the Craig Childs reading and other upcoming events at Changing Hands Bookstore go to http://changinghands.com/.

Meet The Interns: Rebecca Glenn

Superstition Review

Rebecca Glenn is looking forward to the challenge of contributing to the publishing process at Superstition Review. Her experiences in upper-division class work have inspired and encouraged her to consider a career in publishing. She is thrilled to have an opportunity to experience the field first-hand through Superstition Review.

Superstition Review: What is your position with Superstition Review and what are your responsibilities?

Rebecca Glenn: I am an Art Editor and I am responsible for soliciting art submissions from local and national artists. I also make decisions on art to include in the issue and then I correspond with artists to facilitate its publication.

SR: Why did you decide to get involved with Superstition Review?

RG: I took a class on publishing in literary magazines with Trish Murphy and my interests stemmed from that experience. I have always been drawn to the publishing process, but it wasn’t until I took the class that I was educated on what exactly literary magazines are.

SR: Besides interning for Superstition Review, how do you spend your time?

RG: I’m a homebody with a traveling streak. I love to cook and goof around with my two girls. We do a lot of drawing, art projects and impromptu dance parties.

SR: What other position(s) for Superstition Review would you like to try out?

RG: Nonfiction is my passion. It would be exciting to be the nonfiction editor. I also really like the idea of being a reader.

SR: Describe one of your favorite literary works.

RG: Madelene L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time is a personal favorite. There are certain creations, like A Wrinkle in Time, that are beyond category and that is part of the appeal to me. Most would say it is a children’s novel and yet I read it again a couple weeks ago and was entranced.

SR: What are you currently reading?

RG: I like to spend summers re-reading books from my childhood. I was addicted to reading in my youth and my summer days were almost always monopolized by a book and a cool spot in the shade. Since we are just coming out of the summer months now, I most recently finished the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

SR: Creatively, what are you currently working on?

RG: I paint sporadically and also dabble in charcoal. I am constantly drawing. I just finished a charcoal portrait of my mother for her 50th birthday. It is such a momentous celebration and I spent a lot of time trying to capture the years of her life in a single expression; it was tough. As far as writing goes, most of it is academic these days due to my school schedule.

SR: Where do you see yourself in 10years?

RG: That is the big question…I’m not so concerned with knowing. I can say with all confidence I have no idea; maybe a pig farmer in Peru.

Meet the Interns: Lisa Mortensen, Reading Series Coordinator

Superstition Review

Lisa Mortensen is a third year Imaginative Writing major at ASU.

What is your position with Superstition Review and what are your responsibilities?
Reading Series Coordinator—I set up Superstition Review’s three readings for the semester.

Superstition Review: How did you hear about Superstition Review and what made you decide to get involved?

Lisa Mortensen: My Fiction 288 professor announced to our class about the possibility of working with Superstition Review. I was super excited to work on a project which promoted literature and art, not to mention the enthusiasm I had about being part of a publication which is created by undergraduate students of ASU.

SR: What are you hoping to take away from your Superstition Review experience?

LM: After working with Superstition Review I hope to take away the knowledge and experience necessary to work for a publishing house as an Acquisitions Editor.

SR:Describe one of your favorite literary or artistic works.

LM: Although I have specific authors in mind when I think about my favorite literary works, I must take a moment to talk about three genres that have recently demanded my attention: The Short, Prose Poetry, and Flash Fiction. At first glance, or read, it would be easy to call these genres simplistic, because of their length. However, a closer inspection reveals thoughtful and careful word choice, where quality of word takes over quantity. The powerful words, images and thoughts of the narrator are coming at you so quickly that your attention never wanders or strays from the piece. The effect is like being in the moment with the narrator when the surprises and twists come along, as well as the reader themselves feeling vulnerable to the raw emotions that come along with those experiences.

SR: What are you currently reading?

LM: In keeping with my newly found favorite genres, I have recently read and highly recommend Judith Ortiz Cofer’s “Volar,” Brian Doyle’s “Two Hearts,” Denis Johnson’s “Crash While Hitchhiking,” Russell Edson’s “Dinner Time,” and Luisa Valenzuela’s “Vision out of the Corner of One Eye.”

SR: What is your favorite Superstition Review section, and why?

LM: I am rarely able to narrow down any choice to just one, therefore I have two favorite sections of Superstition Review and they are the fiction and art sections. The fiction section is my favorite, because the content comes from a variety of authors who offer up memoir, short story, and essay. The art section is also my favorite due to the gallery’s assorted collection of art and artists from around the world. I also appreciated the bios and headshots that went along with each author and artist.

SR: Who would be the Superstition Review contributor of your dreams?

LM: For the fiction writing portion that would be Toni Morrison, and as far as art goes I would love to see more collage artists featured.

SR: What other position(s) for Superstition Review would you like to try out?

LM: Art or Fiction Editor

SR: Do you prefer reading literary magazines online or in print?

LM: Until recently I would have said that I prefer literary magazines in print. However after a recent assignment that had us review several online literary magazines I now appreciate the convenience of locating articles of art and literature online. There isn’t the delay of snail mail or money spent on gas to retrieve the latest literary works. Which leads me to my other appreciation of online literary magazines; they are very eco-friendly!

SR: Do you write or create art? What are you currently working on?

LM: Recently, I’ve combined my love of writing and art and created a collage called, “Élan Vital” which is made of words and pictures. I am an Imaginative Writing major at ASU’s Polytechnic Campus, therefore I am always creating pieces of fiction, mostly on demand. Nevertheless, I actually enjoy both writing fiction and drawing in my spare time. In fact, this is only the second semester where I haven’t taken any art classes since high school.

SR: Besides interning for Superstition Review, how do you spend your time?

LM: I have adopted two children, one from Ethiopia and another from the US foster care system; so much of my spare time is spent with them. However, in the precious moments that I have to be child-free I enjoy riding motorcycles, traveling, having book club discussions, going to concerts, theater and art shows, singing, yoga and spoiling myself with an occasional spa day.

SR: What is your favorite mode of relaxation?

LM: My favorite mode of relaxation is meditation, for sure. Since I have a hard time shutting my mind off, I grab my headphones and go sit in a darkened room while I listen to soothing music or Emmett Miller’s meditation MP3s. I’ve also found that shutting down my cell phone for an hour works wonders too.

SR: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

LM: In 10 years I definitely see myself as a credible and published author. I also see myself owning a publishing company and teaching Creative Writing to be used as a way of therapy. I realize that this is a lot to accomplish, but I think 10 years is a reasonable enough time to attain all of my goals.

Meet the Interns: Nicole Dunlap, Development Coordinator

Superstition Review

Nicole Dunlap will be graduating from ASU in May with a degree in English Literature.

Superstition Review: What is your position with Superstition Review and what are your responsibilities?

Nicole Dunlap: I’m working on the development of SR–putting together documents for Kindle–I will be composing all of the past issues into organized word documents.

SR: How did you hear about Superstition Review and what made you decide to get involved?

ND: My adviser recommended I apply for the internship Fall 09.

SR: What are you hoping to take away from your Superstition Review experience?

ND: More experience with working with a team, learning how the line of production works for publishing a magazine.

SR: Describe one of your favorite literary or artistic works.

ND: I don’t like choosing favorites…but a couple contemporary pieced I like include Mark Danielewski’s book House of Leaves–it’s a combination of literature and visual arts. Also the only book I’ve ever reread (by choice) is Donna Tartt’s The Secret History.

SR: What are you currently reading?

ND: One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest by Ken Kesey.

SR: What other position(s) for Superstition Review would you like to try out?

ND: I’d like to be the non-fiction editor. I would love to be forced to read all submissions–good and bad.

SR: Do you prefer reading literary magazines online or in print?

ND: I like reading things in print, just because I like the physical act of turning pages, dog-earing pages, etc.

SR: Do you write or create art? What are you currently working on?

ND: I’m working on a dual collaboration with my friend Kara Roschi–I’m printing photographs directly onto wood slabs. I think it’s being displayed in the Practical Art gallery in April.

SR: Besides interning for Superstition Review, how do you spend your time?

ND: I work a lot. In my free time I like taking photographs, writing, and going out with friends.

SR: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

ND: I hope to be in graduate school in 10 years. Hopefully in the meantime I’ll spend some time in Germany.