Short Stories & Essays in Breath & Shadow Disability Literary Journal

The Fall 2014 edition of Breath & Shadow, Ability Maine's journal of disability literature is out! It features short fiction by Stacye Cline-Robinson and Lela Marie De La Garza.

There's also a delicious three-part essay on experiences relating to being a low-vision musician and singer by Emily K. Michael. Here's an excerpt from the third section of "Sight and Singing":

One year ago, I reclaimed my place on the risers next to 60 singing women. I had been absent from this chorus for six years, singing where I could - in college chorales, with friends, at karaoke nights on campus, and, once, with a talented jazz combo in St. Augustine. 

Now that I'm back with my chorus, I have the chance to improve many aspects of my singing technique, and my favorite methods incorporate tactile elements. During rehearsal, one director asks us to turn to the left and place our hands on the belly of the singer in front of us. We should feel movement in the singer's abdomen if she is breathing correctly. One hand rests gently against the singer's ribcage while the other presses her belly - and, sure enough, her breathing pushes both hands forward. Our exercises include a plethora of breathing sounds, routines of sh sh, hee hee, ff ff, ts ts. Hands on each other’s bellies and ribs, we complete the routines with fierce concentration - until a singer murmurs, "Get ready, the baby's coming!"

Read the read of Emily K. Michael's essay, as well as the two short stories, at Breath & Shadow.