Other Voices – Spring/Summer 2005

Art “lives on long after wars have ended and townspeople have mended their ravaged homes and gone on with their lives…” says the editor of Other Voices. Each of the 16 stories in the spring/summer issue contains the suggestion of crossing a boundary, whether psychological, physical, social or national. Art “lives on long after wars have ended and townspeople have mended their ravaged homes and gone on with their lives…” says the editor of Other Voices. Each of the 16 stories in the spring/summer issue contains the suggestion of crossing a boundary, whether psychological, physical, social or national. Dalia Azim’s “All of Me,” the title of which is borrowed from a Frank Sinatra song, concerns political conflict that reaches into the lives of two sisters, Mai and Ines, and the love they share for Mahmoud, a neighbor boy, who turns his loyalties from his country and, finally it seems, away from love. Like the title suggests, “All of Me” explores the loss of identity, both political and personal, and the power and powerlessness of language and meaning. “Breathing” by Jay Baruch humorously involves the question of language and meaning through the perspective of George: George who is dying from emphysema and diabetes; George who imagines his oxygen tank to be his late wife Helena. Baruch uses dialogue to give us a rounded perspective of George and his family, who are torn between the past and present, pain and acceptance. How far can we go with the struggle to change our lives, to change other people? Where do we stop? This story, as well as the rest, are asking. An interview between Pam Houston and Toni Morrison offers writers and readers alike encouragement and inspiration for hard times, and “Other Voices Bookshelf” introduces a list of recently published and to be published books.
[www.othervoicesmagazine.org]