Issue 57 / Fall 2015
57 / Making a Living
It’s not always about the money
Creative Nonfiction #57 explores making a living—that means jobs, yes, but more than that: how do we work meaning out of our days, and what do we do to survive? For the young office temp, the state executioner, the musician, the activist, the refugee worker, the rape crisis counselor, and the estate planning attorney whose stories are featured in this issue, it’s not just about the money.
Plus, writing (and editing) for free; revisiting Studs Terkel’s Working; the history of erotic memoir; tiny truths; and more.
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What’s the Story #57
"Sometimes, the most unlikely and unexpected juxtapositions of frame and focus create the most effective stories"A Real-World Education
Revisiting Studs Terkel's WORKINGThe Price of Writing
Why would anyone work for free? It's complicatedNo Exit
The job was never supposed to be permanentAgents of Death
Robert Greene Elliott was the executioner for six states. He was also opposed to the death penaltyVivaldi
A musician must make do with the conditionsWe Were Greeted as Liberators
We’re sorry; we’re currently unable to make this work available online.The White Bird
A ceasefire ends, and a humanitarian aid worker finds herself in a war zoneCrisis
Answering another early-morning call to the sexual assault hotlineUnleaving
Death and (estate) taxesA Literate Passion
The long and surprising history of the erotic memoirHiking the Grand Tetons, Milking a Cow by Hand
We’re sorry; we’re currently unable to make this work available online.Ideas That Seem Impossible
"I have come to realize that obstruction is one of my main working materials. I'm drawn to ideas that seem impossible, or at least too difficult to bother trying to do"