About this issue
In its second issue, San Antonio Review presents a dynamic collection of fiction, poetry, essays, and visual art that speaks to the complexities of contemporary life. Volume 2 (Winter 2019) showcases emerging and established voices exploring questions of identity, politics, and human connection, while the art selections add striking visual counterpoints to the written word. Bold, eclectic, and unafraid of risk, this issue reflects SAR’s commitment to publishing work that challenges, provokes, and inspires.
editor’s note
In 2017 in San Antonio, there was a period of time when I just felt bored. Everything was boring to me. I couldn’t find anything that would spark — and keep — my interest.
I tried painting, which I enjoy. I also tried crocheting and woodworking, to greater and lesser successes, respectively. I tried a number of things. In fact, I’m almost always trying my hand at something new. Maybe it isn’t climbing a mountain or completing a triathlon, but I do still challenge myself: learning Linux to revive old computers, installing lights…Read More
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art
fiction
Gown Men and the Siren
Belief creates tradition, and when left to man, becomes superstition. Jefferson Parish, 1940 The hole in the ceiling of the camelback house shone a ray of light through the empty backroom. The house filled with laughter and fresh fried catfish on Butler Street when Beatrice…
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The Photo in Your Coat Pocket
It was the first really nice day of spring. You know the kind of day, the one where you want to unzip your jacket for the first time and feel the cold air upon your chest. The sort when you think maybe you won’t need…
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Men Without Hearts, Inc.
They say when you fall in love, you give her a piece of your heart. So when things go bad, and she’s gone, you lose a piece of yourself — forever. I agree with all that except I never gave Luz a piece of my…
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nonfiction
Virginity
“Are you a virgin?” The two boys leer at me. Their silly grins hide something that, to me, is inscrutable. I don’t know if I’m a virgin or not. I’m not sure what I should say. I feel there’s some trick here. If I say…
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A School Board Meeting Challenges Faith
Recently I covered what has been by far the most difficult events of my young journalism career: a school board meeting. I’m an education reporter, and school board meetings feature regularly my calendar. Usually the primary challenge is staying awake.On that Monday night, the primary…
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poetry
reviews
Book Review: WARBLES
Having put aside my recent readings inquiring into the goals of white supremacists, the connections between free-market right-wingers and Bitcoin enthusiasts and the morality of markets to reread and comment upon Alex Z. Salinas’ debut book of poetry, WARBLES, I’m struck by the way his…
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Book Review: “Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity”
In September 2019, I took a group of students to the annual Prairie Festival at The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas, as part of my effort to introduce them to some genuinely radical thinking regarding environmental sustainability, local food systems, and the cultural shifts necessary…
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Book Review: “White Kids: Growing Up With Privilege in a Racially Divided America”
Margaret Hagerman spent years in the wilds of privileged white America, talking with kids, going to their soccer games, etc. in order to produce White Kids: Growing Up With Privilege in a Racially Divided America. Working in the Midwestern burg of “Peterfield” (one suspects Minneapolis…
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Book Review: “An Accident of Blood”
Margaret Hagerman spent years in the wilds of privileged white America, talking with kids, going to their soccer games, etc. in order to produce White Kids: Growing Up With Privilege in a Racially Divided America. Working in the Midwestern burg of “Peterfield” (one suspects Minneapolis…
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