The Case of the Deadly Broad Street Pump
I wander thro’ each charter’d street, Near where the charter’d Thames does flow. And mark in every face I meet Marks of weakness, marks of woe. Excerpt from “London,” by William Blake This reflection on William Blake’s 1794 poem “London” raises the question: How often does the human instinct to discover become nullified by an apparent...
The Paul Revere of the South
As many of us peruse the work and words of Maya Angelou, we thought it fitting to reflect upon the mentality she spent much of her life fighting against. The article below, from 1961 Alabama, celebrates the Lost Cause of the South in a manner very common to publications before the 1980s, ignoring the issue of...
Topography of Tears
Crying is our most primal instinct. It’s the first thing we do when we are born: releasing an extraordinary amount of emotion in a very unique way. Tears are the unique accompaniment of this instinct, something purely human. They are spontaneous, they are difficult to control, and undeniable proof of the human emotion. Yet we know...
Contributor Paisley Rekdal to Judge Poetry for 2014 National Book Awards
Essayist and poet Paisley Rekdal, whose essay“The Lives of Strangers” appeared in Broad Street’s “Dangerous Territories” issue, has been chosen to serve as poetry judge for the 2014 National Book Awards. She joins the ranks of Eileen Myles, Katie Peterson, Rowan Ricardo Phillips, and Robert Polito to assess the nation’s top poets of 2014. Congratulations! Paisley, who teaches...
Sweets on Broad Street
Broad Street in 19th century Norwich, Connecticut, revealed the sweet successes and entrepreneurial grit of African-American and Native-American locals the Peckham family. Below is text from a story by Dale Plummer on African-American entrepreneurship for The Day newspaper in October 1999: An important black-owned family business in Norwich in the mid-1800s was a confectionery and toy store operated on...
