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The Superior Foes of Spider-Man: An Expertly Crafted Comedy
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Boomerang. Beetle. Shocker. Overdrive. Speed Demon. Spider-Man’s greatest and most well known foes team up to form the Sinister Six! Except they couldn’t find a sixth person who wanted to work with them. And, chances are, you’ve probably never heard of any of these guys. The most famous of…
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None of This is True by Lisa Jewell
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When a person walks into a bookstore, what draws them to their next book? Beautiful cover art, a familiar author? For Lisa Jewell’s None of This is True, it could be its captivating title. The cover is nothing to sneeze at—the font has a dream-like quality and the cover has…
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Interview with Hena Khan
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Hena Khan has been publishing books for children, including many that center Pakistani American and Muslim characters, for over two decades. She writes award-winning books in a multitude of formats, including picture books, middle grade fiction, pick-your-path adventures, and graphic novels. Her stories often highlight her culture, community, friendship, and…
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The Crowns and Gowns: Book Review of The Selection by Kiera Glass
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Do you like The Hunger Games? What about the classic reality love drama, The Bachelor? If you said yes, buckle up for The Selection, a romance that rivals both! For thirty-five girls, the “Selection” is the chance of a lifetime: “the opportunity to escape the life laid out for them…
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Interview with Ethan Sacks – Pt. 2
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(This is a continuation of Jason Holtzman’s interview with Ethan Sacks) Discussing Archetypes Jason Holtzman (JH): Let’s take a dive into something more fun and speculative based on some of your previous work — the “grizzled old man” archetype. You’ve written fan favorite series such as Old Man Hawkeye and…
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The Broken Plate Collaborates
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“Collaboration – the action of working with someone to produce or create something” – Oxford Languages We at The Broken Plate are working in a way that is defined as collaboration. We collaborate to create a literary magazine, a collective a work that is unique, inclusive, and creative. To…
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Interview with Gretchen Stelter
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Julissa Garcia (JG): You have had such an impressive career in editing and publishing, from co-founding your own literary agency, Baker’s Mark, to working on over 800 books for traditional publishing houses (including New York Times, USA Today, and Entertainment Weekly bestsellers), to ghost writing, to freelance work, to working…
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Interview with Ethan Sacks – Pt. 1
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Introduction In late 2024, Ethan Sacks was gracious enough to let me host a small interview with him. He is a prolific writer in the comic book world, penning books for Marvel, Image, AWA Studios, and more. From writing fan favorite blockbusters like Star Wars: Bounty Hunters to more personal…
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An Interview With Alysia Sawchyn
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Alysia Li Ying Sawchyn is a Senior Features Editor at The Rumpus. Her debut collection, A Fish Growing Lungs, was a finalist for the Believer Awards in nonfiction. She has received fellowships from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and the Kenyon Writers’ Workshop, and she is an Assistant Professor at Warren Wilson College.…
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Interview with Silas Hansen
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Silas Hansen’s essays have appeared or are forthcoming in literary magazines such as The Normal School, Colorado Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Redivider, and Hobart, featured on Slate and Catapult. He is working on a collection of essays. He is also the nonfiction editor of Waxwing. He is currently directing the…
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Interview With Brittany Means
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Brittany Means was born dead in Indiana, but now lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She earned her MFA from the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa, and a Bachelor’s in English from Ball State University prior to that. Her debut memoir, Hell If We Don’t Change Our Ways,…
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Interview with Mark Neely
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Jackson Smith (JS): How did the idea for The Broken Plate come about? Why do you think it’s important for Ball State to offer undergraduates a practicum focused on editing and publishing? How does that impact the students, and the Ball State community as a whole? Mark Neely (MN): Ball…
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Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
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A Soaring Fantasy Worth the Hype Few books in the fantasy genre capture the sheer adrenaline rush of Fourth Wing. Rebecca Yarros crafts a thrilling blend of military academy training, high-stakes dragon battles, and a forbidden romance that had me hooked from the first page. Though I rarely give a…
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Interview with J.R. Jamison
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Interview with J.R. Jamison the award-winning and bestselling author of the memoir Hillbilly Queer, and host of the NPR podcast and radio show The Facing Project (recorded and produced at Indiana Public Radio). He is also a founder of the national Facing Project network, a nonprofit in 20 states and over 100 communities…
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Interview with Brandon Buechley
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Brandon Buechley graduated from Ball State University with a major in English/CW in 2015. He spent the fall semester of his senior year living in New York and interning at Guerilla Lit Reading Series and at DAW Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House. After graduation, he worked at Cardinal…
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Interview with Elysia Smith
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Elysia Smith is the owner of Irvington’s Vinyl and Book’s and is the author of Unruly. Elysia is featured in multiple interviews Wax Poetics, Kristine Esser Slentz in OYEDRUM, and much more. Elysia is also a poet and has many of her works posted to her website, and blog. (Natalee Bohanon):…
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Interview with Alexandria Brown
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Alexandria (Alex) Brown is the co-founder and CEO of Rising Action Publishing Co. Alex has over ten years of experience in marketing and creative writing. Alex has a Bachelor’s in Communications with a major in Public Relations, a Master of Fine Arts—Creative Writing from the University of Gloucestershire, and is…
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My Experience in Writers’ Communities
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I am a senior at Ball State University and last year I started to attend our student club ‘The Writer’s Community’ along with other writer communities on and off campus. Although I have been writing since middle school, my writing had never been graded, nor had it ever been beneficial…
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The Fear of Knowledge: An Attack on the Act of Book Banning
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When you ban books for a second, you ban the pursuit of knowledge for a century. Books are the cornerstone of human connection. When people connect with each other’s stories, they learn to empathize, and when they empathize, it is easier for them to accept new knowledge. This is why,…
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The Trope-ification of Books is Literary Brain Rot
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Book tropes describe a variety of recurring plot devices, character archetypes, and themes that are written consistently enough to become recognizable by readers and warrant their own names. While they are not necessarily a new phenomenon, their influence has certainly grown with the rise of social media. They’ve become a…
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3 Ways to Build Yourself a Writer’s Community (As an Adult!)
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As a child, I never had to worry about purposefully surrounding myself with people my own age. The school system did that for me. Granted, I did have to go out of my way to make friends with those peers. But having common interests, common activities, and common class schedules…
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Feedback is a Give and Take
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One of the biggest benefits to being in a writing community is the amount of feedback you can receive on your projects. Revision on your own is all well and good, but you know your story like the back of your hand. It is easy to glaze over the parts…
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Writer’s Community
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I don’t know about you, but before I studied writing I had a specific, singular vision of what being a writer was. In my mind’s eye I’d conjure up the image of someone locked in an office, curtains half drawn, lazy dust-motes drifting in shafts of sunlight, clacking away furiously…
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Unwritten Dreams, Unshaken Resolve
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Any writer out there can probably identify with this: writing without a finish line in sight is difficult—the kind of difficult that has me wanting to curl up into a little ball, quit school, and just bury myself in retail work for the rest of my life. At least then,…
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An Ode to Kevin Owens, or The Reason Why I Just Keep Writing
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When I decide to write, I have one key phrase that I keep in the back of my head: “Just Keep Writing.” It’s a phrase that I mostly felt inspired by through wrestling, specifically a wrestler named Kevin Owens who is a prizefighter who loves to bet on himself while…
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Combating Writer’s Block for New Writers Or, Why Writing Too Much Is Never Enough
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Everyone who’s ever picked up a pencil, pecked at a keyboard, or attempted to string together a coherent thought knows the unyielding agony associated with writer’s block—traumatic memories of blank pages staring back at you, a white void demanding to be fed new words so as it can grow to…
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Confronting Difficult Material
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Sometimes the most important pieces are the most difficult to write. I learned this in one of my writing classes when I set out to write a personal essay about my father, who was never very present in my life due to his long-term drug abuse. Before I began writing…
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Welcome to the Broken Plate!
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Hello everyone! This academic year marks the official return of The Broken Plate! Our editorial team of Ball State students is hard at work producing the 2025 issue. After nineteen years of publication, The Broken Plate took a hiatus last year to regroup and plan for our next decade. Now…
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Imposter Syndrome
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Most artists, no matter their medium, fall into imposter syndrome at some point or another. Writers are certainly no exception. For years, I have stumbled over the words, “I am a writer.” The following question to this statement tends to be, “What have you written?” And I stumble over that…
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Brainy Creative Research
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I began writing when I was fourteen years old and, since then, I have been told many times that outlines are the way to go for writing everything but poetry. However, in the twenty-five years since then I have learned that I am the weird one that doesn’t function well…
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Just Keep Writing
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People have often asked me how I can write so much. They think there’s some secret – that I’ve found a cure for writer’s block or sold my soul to avoid burnout – but I don’t have a magic potion or anything. The truth is I simply don’t know how…
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How Fanfiction Made Me Fall in Love with Writing
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I kind of think it’s funny when people ask me how I got into writing because, truthfully, I was inspired by Monster High. Moreover, my first ever written novel was a 20 chapter self-insert fanfiction where the characters at Monster High came to get me so I could join them…
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Spiraling: A Songwriter’s Guide to Semantics
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I used to tell people that I read thesauruses as a kid for fun. Truthfully, I can’t really remember if I did that or not. I mean, it certainly sounds like something I would do; I remember stumbling across an online index for literary devices when I was in middle…
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My Reasons for Writing: Connection, Security, and Escapism
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TW: mentions of death and illness My grandma Sue told me stories of fairies, witches, sword-wielding maidens, mischievous pixies, and wise-cracking toads. Her husband Dennis built fairy houses for her. They were sprinkled throughout their flourishing garden, tangled in twisting tree branches, hoisted atop hand-painted toadstools. Their house was a…
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Reverberations
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On March 15th of 2005, Pixar’s The Incredibles released on DVD. I watched it ad nauseum—sometimes several times a day—and yet, it never failed to entertain. I’d propel my little three-year-old frame across the dingy floor of my parent’s first house with clumsy somersaults, clomp around on all fours and…
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Overcoming Writer’s Block
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When it comes to writing, getting stuck is inevitable. Whether it is creative or formal. Fortunately, there are some tricks you can use and combine to get yourself out of that hole. These are just four of many. Just Keep Writing If you have yet to start writing, then just…
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My Creative Writing Inspirations
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A book that I believe created my passion for creative writing and for my distant future as a creative writing major here at Ball State was one of the first books I ever read as a kid. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. As a kid, my dad chose to bring…
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Holding Up the Universe
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I remember the first time I ever read Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven. I had grown to admire Niven after she released All the Bright Places, and so when I found out that she was releasing a new novel, I was ecstatic. I wasn’t quite sure what I…
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There, There
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When we began our work on the 2022 issue of The Broken Plate, we set out with the goal of examining and understanding the fragility and complexity of the human condition. We were allowed the opportunity to glimpse into the stories of others, to walk around in their minds and…
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Somebody’s Daughter by Ashley Ford – an Interview
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It was a combination of things that led Ashley C Ford to choose Ball State for college. “I chose Ball State partly because I thought it was beautiful, partly because it felt far enough away from my family that I could sort of be whoever I wanted but not so…
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Nothing But Blackened Teeth and Inner Demons
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At The Broken Plate, the strife that accompanies being human is something we value greatly. Often, themes of fragility and the presence of various inner demons appear in ghost stories. There is strife from things like Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House to shows like The Haunting of Bly…
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Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
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In this week’s blog, I want to discuss one of my favorite novels from my childhood that still continues to be one of my all-time favorites as well! Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz is a novel that discusses two boys growing up in El…
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Heavy: an American Memoir
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The Broken Plate is a literary magazine that seeks to uplift and talk about voices that often go unrepresented.. We want to draw attention to these voices and the people behind them as well as the lives that have shaped them. In Heavy: an American Memoir, Kiese Laymon talks about…
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Song of Solomon
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The Broken Plate is a literary magazine that looks into the fragility of human lives and how, over time, people grow and pick these pieces up to become stronger than before. This idea of slowly growing and developing over time is a common theme in many novels, and Song of Solomon by Toni…
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AOL: ASTEROIDS ONLINE and The Complexities of Star-Crossed Space Rocks
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It’s safe to say the human condition is a rich source of multi-faceted, in-depth exploration. We’re constantly struggling to make sense of ourselves, those around us and the things that tie us together. Writing is a powerful way to explore these concepts and experiences which shape us and our understanding of the world. The Broken Plate is dedicated to providing a platform for those…
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The Priory of the Orange Tree and Inclusive Fantasy
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When I placed Samantha Shannon’s The Priory of the Orange Tree on my Christmas list, I was unaware that its page count surpassed 800, oblivious of its maps and timeline, ignorant of the glossary and character index. I also did not anticipate the companionship and thrilling escapism the novel would…
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The Mists of Avalon and Untold Stories
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The Broken Plate is a literary magazine that seeks to provide a platform for individual stories. Each individual has a story, and we live in a society that privileges certain stories over others. This is true, especially in the literary world. However, The Broken Plate seeks to combat this by…
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This Is Where It Ends and Human Fragility
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Here at The Broken Plate, one of our core ideas is that of the fragility of the human condition, but in the ability to put those pieces back together into beauty and art. In my personal reading, a book that many friends were highly recommending to me was Marieke Nijkamp’s…
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Welcome to The Broken Plate Recommends
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Each week, members of The Broken Plate‘s staff will write blog posts recommending books, stories, poems and art that they find arresting and interesting. This can be anything that they find pertains to the mission that we stand for, as long as we feel that it is work of merit that…
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Fundamentalism by Aaron Dwyer
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Aaron Dwyer is a writer of both prose and screenplays, including the short film “Home Sweet Home,” which was featured in the 2020 Frog Baby Film Festival. They consider themselves an emerging poet because their last published poem was written for a Celebration of Young Poets volume in the second…
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Skylar Denman & “Forgotten Memories”
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Skylar Joseph is a photographer from Fort Wayne, Indiana that specializes in music and family photography. As a full-time guitar technician and studio photographer, their time is heavily occupied by day to day work. In their travels they have found therapy in snapping pictures on the road of various subjects. You…
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Rebekah Hoffer & “Something Sweeter”
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Rebekah Hoffer is a double major in creative writing and Spanish who has recently become far too engrossed in crocheting – something to add to the long list of evidence that she’s actually sixty years old, despite appearing twenty-one. Her work has been published in River Teeth Revisited, The Odyssey, and Ball Bearings…
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The Poetry of Bridget Donnellan
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Bridget Donnellan graduated Ball State University in December of 2020 with a double major in creative writing and French and a minor in linguistics. This is her first publication, and she plans on pursuing an MFA in creative writing in the future. In her free time, she likes to hang…
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David Goldstein & “How to Talk to Cops”
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David Goldstein spent eight years as a criminal defense attorney. He reversed more than 60 felony convictions in appellate courts including the Detroit Black Panther shooting of police officers. In the 60s, he did civil rights work in Mississippi with the Reverend Dick Fernandez and also wrote legal briefs for…
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Gladys Justin Carr & “La Immortelle”
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Gladys Justin Carr is an award-winning poet whose work has been published in over 100 literary magazines and journals. She is a recovering publishing executive who dropped out of Korporate Amerika to write full time. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa, she was the Nicolson Trustee Fellow at Smith College and…
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Emily Turner & “All That Glitters”
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Emily Turner is a senior at Ball State University, majoring in English studies and minoring in creative as well as professional writing. From a young age, Emily has used reading and writing to express herself. Through her writing, she hopes to deliver her personal truths to her readers. The following…
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Commentary on “A Microsome of Married Life: The Grocery List” by JB Bilbery from TBP 2019
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Shelby Good is an Assistant Poetry Editor of The Broken Plate. They are a senior English major with a concentration in Creative Writing. In this post, Shelby provides commentary on JB Bilbrey’s piece “A Microsome of Married Life: The Grocery List,” which was previously published in our 2019 issue of The…
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Commentary on “A Simple Exchange” by Judith Grissmer from TBP 2018, Part Two
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Emily Helmer is an Assistant Nonfiction Editor of The Broken Plate 2021. She is a senior English major with a Creative Writing concentration at Ball State University. In this post, Emily provides commentary on Judith Grissmer’s poem “A Simple Exchange,” which was previously published in our 2018 issue of The Broken…
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Commentary on “Bottle” by Allison Tunstall from TBP 2017
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Grace Goze is a Design Editor for The Broken Plate 2021. She is a senior Creative Writing major at Ball State University with minors in French and History. In this post, Grace provides commentary on Allison Tunstall’s prose piece “Bottle,” which was previously published in our 2017 issue of The…
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Commentary on “Marlboro” by Hannah Gage from TBP 2020
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Nicole Thomas is the Associate Nonfiction Editor of The Broken Plate 2021. She is a senior magazine media journalism major with minors in French and creative writing. In this post, Nicole provides commentary on Hannah Gage’s hybrid work “Marlboro,” which was previously published in our most recent 2020 issue of…
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Commentary on “A Simple Exchange” by Judith Grissmer from TBP 2018, Part One
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Tauri Hagemann is an Assistant Poetry Editor for The Broken Plate 2021. She is a junior English major with a concentration in creative writing at Ball State University. She also has a Spanish minor and is a member of the Honors College. In this post, Tauri provides commentary on Judith Grissmer’s…
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Commentary on “Doughnuts” by Kimmi Beard from TBP 2018
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Molly Goebel is an Assistant Nonfiction Editor of The Broken Plate 2021. She is a junior Sociology major with a double minor in Creative Writing as well as Professional Writing and Emerging Media. In this post, Molly provides commentary on Kimmi Beard’s nonfiction work “Doughnuts,” which was previously published in our 2018…
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Commentary on “can ladies kill?” by Kyli Brown from TBP 2020
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Emma Teague is the Associate Fiction Editor of The Broken Plate 2021. She is a senior English Creative Writing major with a minor in Classics at Ball State University. In this post, Emma provides commentary on Kyli Brown’s poem “can ladies kill?” which was previously published in our most recent 2020 issue…
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Commentary on “Another Boyman Shouts ‘Faggot’ at Me from His Car” by Levi Todd from TBP 2018
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Ashley Burns is the Assistant Managing Editor of The Broken Plate 2021. She is currently majoring in English Literature and minoring in Marketing and Professional Writing and Emerging Media. In this post, Ashley provides commentary on Levi Todd’s poem “Another Boyman Shouts ‘Faggot’ at Me from His Car,” which was…
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Commentary on “I Don’t Remember the Summer When Michael Jackson Died” from TBP 2020
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Kelsey Enlow is a Design Editor for The Broken Plate 2021 and a senior Creative Writing Major at Ball State University. In this post, Kelsey provides commentary on Mackenzie Diggs’ poem “I Don’t Remember the Summer When Michael Jackson Died,” which was previously published in our most recent 2020 issue…
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Commentary on “Dad’s Hip Fracture,” by Barbara Brooks from TBP 2020
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Vincent Ramos-Niaves is the current Managing Editor for The Broken Plate 2021. He is a senior English Literature major at Ball State University. In this post, Vinny provides insightful commentary on Barbara Brooks’ poem “Dad’s Hip Fracture,” which was previously published in our most recent 2020 issue of The Broken Plate.…
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An Interview with Eric Obenauf
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Eric Obenauf started Two Dollar Radio in 2005 with his wife, Eliza Wood-Obenauf. Their mission is to reaffirm the cultural and artistic spirit of the publishing industry by publishing bold books that are individually and collectively “too loud to ignore”. They initially ran the press out of their living room before opening…
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An Interview with Jake Skeets
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Jake Skeets is Black Streak Wood, born for Water’s Edge. He is Diné from Vanderwagen, New Mexico. He is the author of Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers, a National Poetry Series-winning collection of poems. He holds an MFA in poetry from the Institute of American Indian Arts.…
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An Interview with Hadley Moore
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Hadley Moore has had fiction published in McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Witness, Amazon’s Day One, The Alaska Quarterly Review, the revived december, The Indiana Review, Anomaly, Quarter After Eight, Confrontation, The Drum, Midwestern Gothic, and elsewhere. She is an alumna of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College and…
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An Interview with Noam Dorr
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Noam Dorr has been published in Gulf Coast, Seneca Review, Passages North, and other places. His essay, “Love Drones,” won the Gulf Coast Essay Prize and was a notable essay in the Best American Essays 2016. Born and raised in Kibbutz Givat Haim, Israel, he is a former Fulbright scholar, and…
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An Interview with Laura Ruby
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Laura Ruby writes fiction for adults, teens, and children. Her most recent book, Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All, was named as a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. She is a faculty member of Hamline University’s Masters in Writing for Children Program, and she…
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An Interview with Allison Joseph
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Managing Editor Kimmi Beard had a chance to interview poet and editor Allison Joseph, who will be visiting Ball State for the In Print Fesitval on March 20 and 21. Joseph will be answering questions as part of the publishing panel on Thursday, March 21 at 7:30PM in AJ 175,…
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An Interview with Chen Chen
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Assistant Managing Editor Audrey Bowers had a chance to interview poet Chen Chen, who will be visiting Ball State for the In Print Fesitval on March 20 and 21. Come hear Chen Chen read from his debut poetry collection, When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of…
