Table of Contents

Gay and Lesbian Theme


Views and Mechanics
Publisher's Note
Editor's Note
Review of This Is Not For You
Review of Potato Queen
Crossword
(Solution Posted in March. Printable version in pdf format of journal.)
Creative Nonfiction
Tunis, Forever
By John Champagne
Bisexuality 101
By Evelyn McFarland
Poetry
Blackouts
By Steve Rydman
Self Loathing
By Steve Rydman
A Boy Reads YM
By Steve Rydman
I Finally Found Me
By Lucretia Randle
Acorn Boy Above the Conclave
By James Penha
Fiction
As If In Time Of War (1985)
By Christopher T. Leland
General Works
Creative Nonfiction
Stone Musings #5
By Mike Munsil
Ascent Into Being
By Holly Mitchell
Fiction
Come Winter
By Sandra M. McDow
The End of Stories
By Sonia Vora
Coal Blood
By Tom Bennitt
About the Contributors

© 2006, River Walk Journal and respective authors and artists. All rights reserved. Do not use or reproduce without permission.

River Walk Journal, Inc.
Board of Directors

Chairman - Elizabeth Ross
Vice Chairman - Joseph Koch
Secretary/Treasurer - Geri Stock-Ross
Editorial Director - Patti Kurtz, DA
Literacy Director - Bill Mausteller
Policy Director - vacant
Advisory Board
Chairman - Patti Kurtz, DA
Asst. Chairman - Dan Lachenman, PhD
Samuel Hazo
Christopher Leland
Edwin Yoder
Joseph Bathanti
Journal Staff
Publisher - Elizabeth Ross
Editor-In-Chief - Joseph Koch
Sen. Fiction Editor - Patti Kurtz
Sen. Poetry Editor - Neeldhara Misra
Sen. Creative Nonfiction Editor - Brenda Coxe
Contributing Editor - Robert Dittman
Publicity Director (PA) - Geri Stock-Ross

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River Walk Journal, Inc. is a non-profit corporation run entirely by volunteers. For information about volunteer opportunities and internships, visit http://www.riverwalkjournal.org/volunteer.html.

Contributors' Bios

Evelyn McFarland

Steve Rydman - Steven Rydman completed his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Antioch University Los Angeles in December 2004. His work has appeared in many journals, including Bloom, Animus, Paterson Literary Review, Rattle and is forthcoming in the Bellingham Review. He is the poetry editor for the journal Gertrude and lives with his partner in both Pleasant Ridge, MI and Key West, FL.

Lucretia Randle

James Penha - A native New Yorker, James Penha teaches at the Jakarta International School in Indonesia. Among the most recent of his many published works are an article in NCTE’s ClassroomNotes Plus, a story in Columbia, and poems in Heliotrope, Thema, and at PoetryMagazine.com. A volume of his “Greatest Hits” is available from Pudding House as part of its series celebrating the work of small-press poets.

John Champagne - The author of two novels (The Blue Lady's Hands and When the Parrot Boy Sings) and a scholarly monograph (The Ethics of Marginality, A New Approach to Gay Studies), John Champagne is currently an Associate Professor of English at Penn State Erie, the Behrend College. His creative and scholarly work has been featured in such journals as Kenyon Review, College English, Harrington Gay Men's Fiction Quarterly, and Socialist Review.

Christopher T. Leland - Christopher T. Leland is the author of five novels as well as volumes of literary criticism and translation. In 2002, he published The Creative Writer's Style Guide. He has taught creative writing courses since 1976 at the University of California, San Diego; Pomona College; Harvard University; and Bennington College. He is presently a professor of English at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.

Mike Munsil - JM Munsil was born in Chile, raised in Panama and now lives in Shenandoah, Texas. He is a geologist and environmental scientist, and has lived and worked in 15 countries in Latin America, and about 22 of these United States. His native-Texan wife and adopted sons try to keep him honest, but he writes anyway. Some of what he writes is true.

Holly Mitchell

Sandra M. McDow - Sandra McDow lives with her husband and two German Shepherds in a country home close by the Willamette River near Salem, Oregon. In her workaday life she is a Learning Disabilities Specialist in private practice. Her short story, "Second Chance" was recently published in the Riverwalk Journal.

Sonia Vora - Sonia Vora recently graduated from Temple University's MA program in Creative Writing and English Literature. She has published non-fiction profiles of prominent writers in local Philadelphia papers and India Abroad and fiction in In/Vision. Currently teaching Creative Writing at Temple University, Sonia is working feverishly to complete her first novel by the end of the year.

Tom Bennitt - Tom Bennitt is a legal compliance manager from Pittsburgh. He belongs to the Homestead Writers' Group and he's attended the West Virginia University Writers' Workshop. Tom graduated from Bowdoin College and is currently working on a novel. Besides reading and writing, he is an avid Pittsburgh Steelers fan.