News & Notes

Records, Tips, and Getting Dressed

Upcoming Readers Write Deadlines

There’s still time to submit to Readers Write on “Records.” Be sure to get your entry to us by January 1, 2025—we’ve suggested a few potential prompts if you still need to get your creative juices flowing. And it’s never too early to start your first draft for an upcoming topic. . . .

Staff Stories: Memorable Gifts

The December Readers Write on “Luxuries” prompted a few of us on the Sun staff to share stories about our own surprising and memorable gifts. Unwrap those now.

The Great Beyond

Selections from the Archive

The Sun has a long history of publishing work about the mystery of what might await us after our lives on earth have ended. December’s selections from our archive—some spooky, some serious, and some on the lighter side—delve into visions of the afterlife. Whatever your personal beliefs, we hope you’ll find a piece or two to enjoy.

Giving till It Hurts

Elizabeth Miki Brina on Money and Parents

In her essay “The Work We Do,” which appears in our December issue, Elizabeth Miki Brina describes how her mother, an immigrant from Okinawa who came to the US at the age of twenty-six, happily paid for many of her daughter’s expenses even after Elizabeth was well into adulthood. It’s a subject sure to irk anyone who had to pay their own way from a young age. I talked to Elizabeth about money and parents and the fraught nature of writing about both.

Family Inheritances

Poetry in Our December Issue

What we inherit from our families can take many forms—intangible, difficult, or surprising—as you’ll find in our December poems. Frederick Joseph remembers an enduring lesson learned from his grandmother, his “maker of miracles,” in “Making Luxury Out of Flat Soda.” The narrator in Mickie Kennedy’s “Guarding the Coop” battles a tendency for violence passed down from his mother. And in Joseph Bathanti’s “Right Guard,” the author conjures his father’s spirit from a can of deodorant his dad left behind.

Complexion, Records, and Tips

Upcoming Readers Write Deadlines

There’s still time to submit to Readers Write on “Complexion”! Be sure to get your entry to us by December 1, 2024—we’ve suggested a few potential prompts if you still need to get your creative juices flowing. And it’s never too early to start your first draft for an upcoming topic. . . .

New-Release Roundup

November 2024

The books put out by Sun authors over the last several months include a few out-of-the ordinary offerings, such as a collection of short stories about Alaska and a literary field guide that combines poetry with scientific notes. If you’d like a preview, you can read some poems and stories that first appeared in The Sun at the links provided.

Sun Dial: Pieces About Phones

Selections from the Archive

Phone evangelist, Becky Mandelbaum, describes the hours at a time—hours!—spent with her ear to the receiver, and all the pleasure she’s derived from it, in her essay in our November issue, “The Telephone Mode.” Phones have come up in The Sun about as frequently as you’d expect. Here are some selections from our archives where a phone plays a pivotal role.

In Sync

Ismael Fernandez on the Joy and Passion of Dance and Photography

Through his images, Brooklyn-based photographer Ismael Fernandez strives to reveal the everyday beauty that may often go unnoticed. His photo essay in The Sun’s November issue—“Blues in Black and White”—does just that. The images illuminate the soulful ambience and spirited connection at events combining dancing and live blues music in New York City. I was curious to learn more about Ismael’s passion for both photography and dance.

Conversations with Family and Strangers

Poetry in Our November Issue

In C.L. O’Dell’s poem “Driving Upstate with My Father,” we’re taken inside the cab of a pickup, where the narrator wishes for his dad to tell him “the good stuff” from his past. Erik Tschekunow also envisions a conversation in “This Call Is from an Inmate at a Federal Prison”: with hesitancy and hope, the narrator imagines the voice he’ll hear on the other end of the line when he calls a woman who’s volunteered to talk to incarcerated men.