Table of Contents


Views and Mechanics
Publisher's Note
Editor's Note
Review of Terrorist
Review of God's Gym
Review of Cherry Blossoms in Twilight
Creative Nonfiction
Ain't Is A Word
By Marcie Hollowell &
Kristen Munch
Love Under the Big Top
By Andy Martello
Revival
By Brenda G. Wooley
Poetry
Letting Go Wish
By Antoinette Brim
Pam Farwick
By G. David Schwartz
Confession While Dining
By Mary Lou Taylor
Homeschooling Adventures
By Beth Happel
Fiction
Ike Experiences Vanity
By Sidney Kidd
What Keeps Me Alive
By Paul Brittain
Minor Damage
By Jane Hammons
How To Cook for Your In-Laws
By Ricky Ginsburg
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 - PA State Rep. Jess Stairs
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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Editor's Note

Welcome to the September/October 2006 issue of River Walk Journal.

For fiction this time we have several new offerings. Jane Hammons’ “Minor Damage” is about how a daughter and mother make the painful and ultimately enlightening journey through the baggage of their pasts, to the new day of renewed understanding of each other.

On a different note, we have Paul Brittain’s “What Keeps Me Alive” and “Ike Experiences Vanity” by Sydney Kidd. These stories both explore the ways that circumstances can change people, and how people, adapt in their own quirky, unique ways to what life throws at them. Ricky Ginsberg’s “How to cook for your in-laws, Or:There’s no cayenne pepper in apple sauce” rounds out fiction this time around. This piece is an irreverent look at what the expectations of family can do to domestic tranquility when the entire clan drops in for dinner.

Our creative non-fiction selection for this issue is a bit different. We have more traditional memoir-style writing in Brenda G. Wooley’s “Revival”, which examines a southern Baptist congregation from the inside out. We also have Andy Martello’s “Love Under the Big Top”, which chronicles his short-lived but forever memorable romance with a fellow “carnie”. Rounding out creative non-fiction is “Ain’t is a word”. This piece is unique for us because it’s actually a reprint of a scholarly article that the staff thought was important enough to include in our magazine as soon as we saw it.

This issue’s poetry selections are reflective, like the moon’s reflection in a pond some autumn evening. We have Antoinette Brim’s “Letting Go Wish”, a reflection on the potential inherent in just a little bit of patience. We also have different shades of colorful whimsy in Mary Lou Taylor’s “Confessions While Dining”, G. David Schwartz’s “Pam Farwick”, and the sublime musings of Beth Happel’s “Home Schooling Adventures”.

Joseph Koch