Letter from the Editor

“I am determined to spread the word — as well as the poetry, fiction, artwork and all forms of creativity — across campus and beyond Storrs.”

These were some of the first words I spoke as Editor-in-Chief, my heroic creed fit for a superhero with the power to reverse imaginative and artistic injustice. Now I realize my indestructible suit still awaits me. Nonetheless, the fate of young writers and their words, as well as the hues of artistic dreamers, remain in capable hands. With or without my cape and tights, my mission remains the same: to revive the creative genius burrowed below the cattle-laden pastures and isolated dormitories of UConn.

Howard Junker, editor of the literary journal ZYZZYVA, states on the journal’s website that “Nobody grows up wanting to be an editor. A writer, yes, even in this unliterate age, but the servant of a writer, never.” Junker humorously admits the rarity of his passion for the servant role, claiming he wanted to be an editor by ten. His experience makes me reflect on mine. When I was ten, my mother found me lost in a bin of Lego pieces with blisters on my fingers, obsessively pushing pieces together. Being an editor remained low on my scale of goals while I finished my miniature replicas of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the White House.

Yet now that my passion for plastic architecture has waned, I find myself as Editor-in-Chief for the Long River Review, embracing Howard Junker’s definition of the editor’s role. These pages you are about to turn will prove the hard work, determination, and overall service we the editors have had the pleasure of sharing with the community here at the University of Connecticut. I realize that my heroic creed to rescue creative potential is a worthy one, but I cannot fulfill this goal alone. In fact, it is the readers, writers, artists, and other editors who continue to save me from a world of grayscale images and weak similes.

I surely shout Encore! And Enjoy!

—Jaclyn Allard

Prize Winners

The Wallace Stevens Poetry Prize

For the best group of poems by a graduate or undergraduate
“Spring, Far From Home” by Susan Letcher, First Prize
“Coco Chanel in Paris: 1940” by Jessica Rosa, Second Prize
“Picking Apples” by J. Trent Nutting, “Along the Cinque Terre” by Matthew Harding, 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
“A Candle for Gram” by Adam Merten, Poetry
“The Movie-Goers — Vietnamese Rain” by Stephen Bendel, 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
“Spent” by Sarah Zolan, First Prize
“The Whispering of Mice” by Timothy Bleasdale, Second Prize
“The Guilty Party (excerpt)” by Dave Hanley, Third Prize

The Aetna Undergraduate Creative Nonfiction Award

Given by the Aetna Chair in Writing to support excellence in undergraduate creative nonfiction
“Murder” by Michael Benedetto, “Losing Grip” by Alena Dillon, First Place Tie

The Long River Graduate Writing Award

For the best piece of writing in any genre by a graduate
“Gnosis” by Sean Forbes

The Long River Art Award

Teagan Smith, Art

The Gloriana Gill Art Awards

Daniel Ballestros, Drawing
Michael Stenta, Photography

Staff

• Editor in Chief
  Jaclyn Allard
• Faculty Advisor
  V. Penelope Pelizzon
• Managing Editor
  Nathan Harold
• Public Relations Manager
  Rashid Grier
• Poetry Editor
  Olivia Von Kohorn
• Poetry Panel
  Jaclyn Allard
  James Davis
  Cleo Rahmy
  Noam Ron
  Erica Salcuni

• Fiction Editor
  Alexander Slater
• Fiction Panel
  Michael Benedetto
  April Mahoney
  Matthew Sebben
  Gideon Young
• Creative Nonfiction Editor
  Michael Pontacoloni
• Creative Nonfiction Panel
  Brendan Galvin
  Rashid Grier
  Nathan Harold
  Justin May

• Copy Editor
  Erica Salcuni
• Art Director
  Edvin Yegir
• Art & Design Editor
  Krystine Conde
• Designers
  Dan Chen
  Jacqueline Nelson
  Chansavanh Phanthalangsy