The Columbus Anthology

by Amanda Page (Editor)

Overview

Columbus, Ohio, is a place whose identity centers on its supposed lack of identity--an American "every place" that has launched countless chain dining concepts. Enter the contributors to this wide-ranging volume, who are all too happy to fight back against that reputation, even as they recognize it as an inevitable facet of the ever-growing city they call home. "Maybe we're not having trouble designing a definitive identity," writes Amanda Page in her introduction. "Maybe we are a city that is constantly considering what it will become."
Race, sports, the endless squeeze of gentrification, the city's booming literary and comics scenes, its reputation as a haven for queer life, the sometimes devastating differences in perspective among black and white, native and transplant residents--and more than one tribute to Buckeye Donuts--make this anthology a challenging and an energizing read. From Hanif Abdurraqib's sparkling and urgent portrait of Columbus's vital immigrant culture as experienced through Crew games to Nick Dekker's insights into breakfast as a vehicle for getting to know a city to the poetry of Maggie Smith and Ruth Awad, the pieces gathered here show us a Columbus far more textured than any test marketer could dream up.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814255742
Publisher:	Ohio State University Press
Publication date:	03/17/2020
Edition description:	1
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	17 Years

About the Author

Amanda Page is an essayist and educator in Columbus, Ohio.

Read an Excerpt

In roller derby, you’re constantly being told to get low to the ground, and to stay low. This form keeps your center of gravity in check, making you, as a player, harder to knock down. I became known for how low to the ground I could get when I skated. I would make an entire lap around the track, my butt inches from the ground, and then pull myself back up to full height. I did squats to keep in that shape, roughly counting myself down at the gym or even in my own living room. At practice, I would find I could spend two hours sweating and pushing, making my body move with force, and then realize after that I hadn’t thought about politics at all, not even once. The same could not be said for any other two-hour periods of non-practice days, when I scrolled numbly through Twitter and refreshed the Washington Post’s website anxiously.

At practice, I felt myself getting more sturdy and confident on wheels, but I still struggled to hit other players hard enough to make an impact. That changed when I learned my signature move.

One weekend that season, we had a clinic with a visiting skater named Sarah Hipel, from another league. It was an all-day training in mid-April; it was humid, and North Korea was broadcasting to the U.S. that it was ready for war if necessary. Airstrikes were happening in Syria, Sean Spicer had just tried to convince the American people that Hitler never used chemical weapons, and Steve Bannon was still somehow important and dangerous. We were tired and hot, but we were there for practice anyway.

Sarah showed us some moves for “juking,” when you fake out your opponent by making them incorrectly guess which direction you’ll be going next. Then she added onto the move, by showing how you could trick your enemy by changing direction, but also hurt them in the process, by getting low to ground and then popping back up to hit them as you change route at the last second. As soon as I saw Sarah crouch down the way I’d been doing, I knew I wanted to master this trick. It was a simple move, but one I’d never seen before. I tried it that day and hit my practice partner squarely with my shoulder as I streaked past, knocking them out of my way. Pushing up with my shoulders instead of over, using my hips, turned out to be key for me, and I thought about the signs I raised above them in protest during the weeks and months before.

I may have become a one-trick pony, but I could finally give a hit as well as I could take one.

Living and skating in three different cities and states is an experience I wouldn’t give back. It’s still fun to visit Chicago and Portland and see my old teammates play, and I’m glad for the perspective I was granted by each. But nothing can change the fact that Ohio has always felt the most like home. It’s here where my family can come see me play without hopping a plane, and I can teach my nieces how to skate at the same roller rink where I learned. It’s here where I know three dozen teammates I can call if I want to support the Parkland students’ efforts downtown in a local March for Our Lives. And it’s here where I know I can learn in an environment in which everyone knows we’re all just learning, and trying to do better.

Columbus is a place full of badass women, and they showed me that I am as well. And it’s a place that has always known how to land a hit.

Thanks to the city, I finally do, too.

Table of Contents

Columbus Maggie Smith ix

Introduction Amanda Page xi

Five Reasons Why Writers Should Move to Columbus Annie McGreevy 1

Buckeye to All That Mandy Shunnarah 6

I'm Here to Win Harmony Cox 12

Art in a City That Can Kill You Scott Woods 15

Every Day I Ride the Bus David Breithaupt 18

Swole for the Revolution Meryl Williams 22

The Blue Jackets Have Turned Columbus into a Major League City Jeff Svoboda 28

Sitting Out the Anthem: Reflections on the Columbus Blue Jackets, Racism, and Protest Dan Skinner 31

In a City Marked by Change, Columbus Crew SC Remains a Powerful, Unifying Force Hanif Abdurraqib 43

The City That Raised Me Has a New Face Tiffany Williams 47

What Would Jane Say? Sarah Marsom 52

Where the Sidewalk Ends Stacy Jane Grover 58

Life in Franklinton Greg Phillips 64

Breakfast with Columbus Nick Dekker 69

Consider the Johnny Marzetti Shelley Mann Hite 74

Flat City Nights Robert Loss 87

Can't Last Bela Koe-Krompecher 98

Van Sciver in Columbus Van Sciver 106

In the Silent City She's Yearned For Jen Town 109

Cactus Jen Town 110

Diorama Turned to Ashes Jen Town 112

Black Woman Repetition (After Terrance Hayes) Barbara Fant 113

Magic Before/Before Magic Barbara Fant 115

Long Line of Strong Women Barbara Fant 118

Transplant Fayce Hammond 120

Fear of Fuel Fayce Hammond 122

Main Street Rose M. Smith 124

Billboard, 2013 Rose M. Smith 125

Ackerman Place Psyche North Torok 126

Nighthawks (Buckeye Donuts) Joseph Hess 127

American Folklore Adam J. Gellings 129

The Whales Are Always Feeding Ethan Rivera 131

Justice Be Like Ethan Rivera 133

Shapes Heard Free Darren Demaree 134

Do the Right Thing Charlene Fix 136

Ornithology Geoff Anderson 138

Phasmophobia Geoff Anderson 139

Flyover Country Steve Abbott 141

Hold Me Like Ohio Amy Turn Sharp 143

Summertime Robert Colby 144

Walking in the Topiary Park After Snowfall in February Jeremy Glazier 146

On the First Snowfall Will Evans 147

Auribus Teneo Lupum Will Evans 148

The New Oath Hannah Stephenson 150

Table Manners Fariha Tayyab 151

Thanksgiving Fariha Tayyab 153

The Dead Walk Over Your Land Ruth Awad 154

Inventory of What Remains Ruth Awad 155

Taillights Ruth Awad 156

Some Friday Andrew Anderson 157

Acknowledgments 159

Contributors 163

Editorial Reviews

"Most all of us have love/hate relationships with our hometowns. But what's remarkable here are the myriad lenses through which the writers in this anthology view Columbus, its residents, its histories and everchanging present. This is a bountiful collection I will read again and again!" --Kathy Fagan, author of Sycamore

"What a vibrant, diverse collection of voices. The Columbus Anthology is a memorable chorus from a city too often overlooked." --Lee Martin, author of Pulitzer Prize-finalist The Bright Forever

From the Publisher