Swagger & Ink
Stories that traverse the landscapes of womanhood, aging, and the American West—where grit meets grace.
Explore
- Academia
- Aging Angry
- Amanda Moments
- America
- Anger
- Chavela
- Cruelty
- Death
- Essay
- Family
- Inspiration
- Interview
- LGBTQ
- Marriage
- Narrative Inquiry
- Nature
- New Zealand
- News
- Poetry
- Publication
- Punctuation
- Recipe
- Review
- Short Story
- Signs
- Social Policy
- Teaching
- Teaching and Learning
- War
- Women
- Words
- Work
- Writing
Buy this book
Gregory Norminton calls climate change "a failure of the imagination," and these stories will stoke yours with visions of life after the tipping point.
The Ugliest Woman in the World?
The ugliest woman in the world, Julia Pastrana, was buried this month, her life revealing hideous aspects of the feminine experience.
Beautiful Essays by Cynthia Lim
A delightful piece about voice that will make your heart sing.
Ready for a little bee activism?
Einstein said if honeybees went extinct humans would soon follow.
leaf music
Little leaf shines in an ocean of sky …
Three Women
Don’t trust the media. They may get the facts right, but in their rush to sell jeeps and whiskey they miss the story
Travelogue
I always or usually cry upon leaving New Zealand.
Transmogrified
Cracking through Jen’s crème brûlée reminds her of children, small and quick …
Interstices
Never fear, the spider waits.
Overheard
I was awakened by a conversation …
Dare to say “I”
Carol Swenson (professor emeritus, Simmons College) has delivered a compelling argument …
Morning in a Wyoming Meadow
One morning you are walking down a dusty little path in the pine forest of Wyoming.
Sunshine Barusch 10/29/1997 - 6/26/2011
Born into a two-puppy litter in Salt Lake City, Sunshine Barusch left her loving family on a sunny Saturday in June …
Tax Cuts Fuel Deficit
Does anyone remember the surpluses left behind by the Clinton administration?
Choosing Heroic
I cling to the notion (perhaps the illusion?) of agency.
Cab Ride, Dunedin
Cab drivers can be so irritable when kept waiting.
Life in America: Bus Service
I read in the paper about a bunch of families in a school district that was strapped for cash.
Life in America: The GE Man
Well, there he was living with his mother! At 35!
A Wise Woman and Her Loving Husband
One day his wife’s dishwasher broke. Being married to a man of considerable reparative talent, she naturally expected him to fix it.
Teaching Confessions
I hate teaching, and this year I’m celebrating a quarter century of not doing it. It’s time to come clean.
“Breathe Deeply, Read Widely.”