In the Spring 2019 issue, several contributors confront symbols weighted by history—antebellum architecture, Confederate monuments, the American flag—and their processing is instructive. As Jennifer Ho writes: “I cannot claim to be an American and only claim the parts I like.”
Plus: a striking art portfolio by Trenton Doyle Hancock, introduced by novelist Maurice Carlos Ruffin. Our 2018-19 Jeff Baskin Fellow, Micah Fields, explores industrial Houston. Mesha Maren on LGBTQ identity in her native West Virginia. And the final installment of Chris Offutt’s column “Cooking with Chris.”
Editor’s Letter: Clash of Symbols, by Eliza Borné
Willie’s Other Voice, by Jonathan Bernstein
Sasha von Oldershausen blows into a camel’s nostril
Rachel Louise Martin on the protectors of Tennessee glades
Local Fare: Oaxaca Wreck, by John T. Edge
PERFORMING ARTS
a story by Susan Choi
WEST VIRGINIA IN TRANSITION
A ten-year age gap reveals radically different experiences for queer youth in Appalachia
by Mesha Maren
ENTER THE MOUNDVERSE
Art portfolio: Trenton Doyle Hancock’s ecstatic devotion to resistance
text by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
GUSHER
A personal portrait of oil-stained Houston
by Micah Fields
A SLENDER WAGE
a story by Kevin Wilson
THE HOUSE OF MYTH
On the architecture of white supremacy
by C. Morgan Babst
VESSEL OF ANTIQUITY
Influence, invention, and the legacy of Leon Redbone
by Megan Pugh
Cooking with Chris:
SALT AND PREPPER
by Chris Offutt
Cover: “Awakening” by Jhuma Das | @JDasArt, photographed by Milli Apelgren