LRR 2006

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Letter from the Editor

This year I decided to do something new with the Long River Review.

First, I thought it might be nice to deliver the journal in a nice tin box, like the Terminator 2 Extreme Edition DVD. This was shot down due to funding problems. Then I thought we might deliver the journal via robotic man-servants. This was shot down because such robots do not exist. Then I proposed to sing the journal to individual readers, charging $3 per visitation. This was shot down on several levels. So, I decided that the journal was good as it was. This was not shot down.

But I still had questions. What is the Long River Review? What is a journal? Is there some Platonic ideal of “journal”? I don’t know. I’d ask Plato but séances are decidedly un-editorial.

The LRR is a pile of wood. This wood is very thin and covered in small black symbols. I had initially wanted to put out a blank, write-your-own journal. This was also shot down, so the small symbols remained. The small symbols are made of very thin layers of ink, which is made from squid fluids (at least in my head). These fluids are arranged in such a way as to give you messages.

The chemical structure of the whole thing looks something like this:

LRR_Molecule

Now, none of what I just said is important. What is important, though, is what those little black symbols make you see, hear, think, smell, taste, and feel. They will take you through the world, feed you a pot of soup, and turn you into a dog.

It turns out the word “journal” is much like the word “church.” It is not only an object, but a collection of people, ideas, heart, and hard work.

I hope you’ll excuse the lack of a collector’s tin.

—Christopher Venter

Prize Winners

The Wallace Stevens Poetry Prize

For the best group of poems by a graduate or undergraduate
“Letter for Your Leaving” by Jaclyn Sheltry, First Prize
“The Apparatus” by Meghan Dahn, Second Prize
“To Live and Stay” by Megan McHugh, “Actuary of the Phantasmagorical” by Jason Mozzicatto, Third Place Tie

The Edward R. and Frances Schreiber Collins Literary Prize

Given by David and Emily Collins for the best poem and best prose work by an undergraduate
“Five Times” by Christopher Venter, Poetry
“Preacher Jones and Swade, the Little Gambling Man” by Austin Samsel, Prose

The Jennie Hackman Memorial Award for Short Fiction

Awarded in Memory of Jacob and Jennie Hackman for the best work of short fiction by an undergradate
“Preacher Jones and Swade, the Little Gambling Man” by Austin Samsel, First Prize
“Grief” by Jennifer Cuccaro, Second Prize
“Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent” by Alexander Slater, Third Prize

The Aetna Undergraduate Creative Nonfiction Award

Given by the Aetna Chair in Writing to support excellence in undergraduate creative nonfiction
“LBD” by Lisa Urless, First Prize
“Black Bean Soup” by Jessica Rosa, Second Prize

The Long River Graduate Writing Award

For the best piece of writing in any genre by a graduate
“A Stalker’s Utterance: My Scrapbook of John Turturro” by Aaron Sanders

The Long River Art Award

Elanie Blais, Art
Daniel Collins, Photography

The Gloriana Gill Art Awards

Dylan Riordan, Photography
Allison Valentine, Painting

Staff

Editor in Chief
Christopher Venter
Faculty Advisor
Ken Cormier
Managing Editor
Kate Bojanek
Public Relations Managers
Jessica Rosa
Emily Sullivan
Poetry Editor
Jacob Peter Overdurff
Poetry Panel
Flannery Carey
Nathan Harold
Matthew J. Sebben
Erica M. Spencer
Rebecca Syombathy
Christopher Venter

Fiction Editor
Noelle Rose
Fiction Panel
Amanda Cardinal
Katie Costanzo
E. Martin Heffter
Michael Mannheim
Lara Scalzi
Chardee Sneed
Nicole Terrien
Creative Nonfiction Editor
Alexandra Schultz
Creative Nonfiction Panel
Kate Bojanek
Caitlin Boyle
Mike Ramsey
Jessica Rosa
Emily Sullivan
Cassandra Upton