Recently, I spoke with Emily Makarainen, a senior design student at the University of Connecticut. While Emily is busily preparing for her senior project final, she was gracious enough to offer me a little more insight on her project, titled “Unfolding Dimension”—a project that includes “a small book, a large poster, and a handcrafted white… More Artist Spotlight: Emily Makarainen
I recently read a blog post about slam poetry by James Merenda. I love everything about slam poetry and spoken word and this article gave me some information that I didn’t know. For example, I did’t know that slam poetry was invented by a Chicago construction worker named Marc Smith. One thing that I liked that… More Slam Poet: Rudy Francisco
If you haven’t heard about it, it’s time to change that. The “We Need Diverse Books” Campaign is an amazing campaign that started advocating for diverse books in 2014 on Twitter by Ellen Oh and Malinda Lo. They spoke of taking action that there weren’t many diverse books on the market for children’s literature. Once… More We Need Diverse Books
Over Spring Break I had to do a lot of things I didn’t particularly care for such as: laundry, putting gas in the car, and outlining one of my (many) half-finished novels. I’ve never particularly liked the idea of outlining a novel. I always thought it was more natural to let the words flow from… More Overcoming the Obstacle of Outlining
Krisela Karaja, the Editor-in-Chief of the 2014 Long River Review, is currently a Fulbright Student Research Fellow in Albania, where she is studying the concepts of memory and nationalism as seen in contemporary poetry during the 25-year post-communist, democratic transition. Though Krisela is focusing on five established Albanian poets for her formal research, she is simultaneously trying… More An Interview with Krisela Karaja (2015)
Sarah Merkel is a senior art student at Uconn. She is currently working on her senior project before graduation. While the project itself may be finished, or close to finished, Sarah says this is a project she wants to keep up for the rest of her life. Sarah has chosen to keep an illustrated journal… More Artist Spotlight: Sarah Merkel
The announcement of a movie adaptation of a favorite book is always an exciting one. It is the wonderful convergence of my love of reading and my firm standing as a movie geek. However, movie adaptations always come with risk: many times filmmakers get it right, but for every hit there is a miserable failure.… More When Movie Adaptations Fail
While the fine arts and the humanities are widely considered closely related, with poetry, painting, and musical performance falling under the same umbrella of creative expression, their interrelatedness less frequently emerges as the product of a creative project beyond filmmaking. However, the reality is changing, and the implications are enormous. Much like the 1920s silent… More In Which All is the Star: Mutual Accentuation in Interdisciplinary Art
This week I’d like to put artist, Erika Back in the Long River Review spotlight. Erika is a senior Design major here at UConn, currently working on her senior project. I had the privilege of seeing her work a few weeks ago when the editors of the Long River Review met with art students from… More Artist in the Spotlight: Erika Back
Yes, I know February is past us, but it still isn’t too late for a romance themed post, as it’s an everlasting subject in literature. After all, it’s perfect writing fodder – every experience is unique, yet universal, but largely inconclusive. We will never get to the bottom of this mystery, which is why it… More The Romance of Literature