The Weekly Atticus (10/07/2017)

A recap of the week at Atticus Review, along with some extras.

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Dear ,Anyone who knows me knows I'm slightly obsessed with David Lynch's work. I shouldn't say just his work, because I'm also interested in Lynch himself, as an artist who can produce the most unsettling images ever set to screen while maintaining a "golly-gee-whiz" demeanor. Perhaps the best description I've heard yet is when Mel Brooks described Lynch as "Jimmy Stewart from Mars."One of Lynch's oft-repeated mantras is "Keep your eye on the doughnut." This line is borrowed from "The Optimist's Creed," which first appeared in the New York Sun over 100 years ago, and was included on boxes of Mayflower Donuts from 1939 through the 70s. "The hole is so deep and so bad; the doughnut is a beautiful thing," Lynch says. The idea here is that there are so many bad things going on in the world it could easily overwhelm us, but it is the artist's job to concentrate on their creations, and to keep going.This kind of thinking could easily be misinterpreted as coming from a place of privilege where the immediacy and severity of the threats we now face can be swept aside, but I don't think that's the intent. The "doughnut" can be many things: a poem responding to oppressive policies, a portrait celebrating identities too often unseen, or a story whose very existence speaks to the triumph of art in dark times. I can't think of a single creative friend I've spoken to in the past few months who hasn't told me how incredibly difficult it's been to keep working. Every day seems colored by more bad news or enormous, heartbreaking tragedy. It's enough to stomp out the creative light in all of us.And I think it's okay to take a break. Self-care is essential. But I also think we have to resist the urge to give up on our creative passions, just as we must resist injustice by marching in the streets and calling our senators. Artistic persistence is also a political act.I've been trying to keep the doughnut in my sights, but yes—I sometimes start to tumble down the hole. I climb out of the hole by reaching out to others to know that I am not alone, and by reading and supporting artists and organizations who keep the creative fires burning. I hope that you know you are not alone either.Thanks for reading. We're glad you're here.

Dorothy BendelManaging Editor

ATTICUS NEWS

ANNOUNCING OUR FIRST ANNUAL FLASH FICTION CONTESTJudge: Carmen Maria MachadoSUBMIT HERE!First Prize: $250Second Prize: $75Third Prize: $25Deadline: October 22nd, 2017Winner Announced: November 27th, 2017

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR:A NOTE ON STAFF CHANGES AND A THANK YOUA note from EIC David Olimpio on some staff changes and other happenings at Atticus Review.READ MORE

THIS WEEK AT ATTICUS

FERAL TOWN by Adam Gustavson

Hiram

BOOK REVIEW: An Act of Willful ChoiceA review of LIGHTWOOD by Steph PostReview by Eva Raczka"Not only a badass modern love story, Lightwood is engaging and unpredictable with some brutal action scenes and great dialogue throughout. Lightwood has the best of the southern crime and southern gothic, and rises above the genre."READ MORE

FICTION: ACCIDENTALLY LIKE A LUDDITEby Kathryn Kulpa"Nicky didn’t want to wait for the next call. He didn’t want to wait at all. He didn’t want to remember being with her or remember her leaving but he didn’t know how to forget. He didn’t want to want."READ MORE

POETRY: RACHAEL; VOIGHT-KAMPFF TESTby Jan Bottiglieri  "You see an owl. Darkling, its wing rush brushes the chamber’s curved cheek, sketching a path you step into. Your pocketed hand.You meet a man at work. He unpacks his device, canted, black as your jacket, a dark nostalgia. On the tablea bonsai strains in its vessel. May you ask him a personal question?"A perfect one for this week's release of BLADE RUNNER 2049!READ MORE

CNF: HONKY TONK GIRLby Sonya LeaThe latest in our series "Superunknown: Stories About Songs""As I became a woman, I would learn that Loretta Lynn also cooked for farm hands and picked strawberries and had a mess of kids, like many women from country places, including many of the women I knew. Over the years, I’d find sovereignty in Lynn’s lyrics, music courageous for a new era of birth control and divorce and acknowledging double standards. Those days at Del’s, I sang her lines loud and proud, as if jook and outlaw and lost love simmered in my little girl bones."READ MORE

CNF: HONKY TONK GIRLby Sonya LeaThe latest in our series "Superunknown: Stories About Songs""As I became a woman, I would learn that Loretta Lynn also cooked for farm hands and picked strawberries and had a mess of kids, like many women from country places, including many of the women I knew. Over the years, I’d find sovereignty in Lynn’s lyrics, music courageous for a new era of birth control and divorce and acknowledging double standards. Those days at Del’s, I sang her lines loud and proud, as if jook and outlaw and lost love simmered in my little girl bones."READ MORE