Stories on This Week's Writing Prompt
Featured Story
An Unexpected Education
I found myself sitting next to women my age, or not much older, who were military wives. They came from the Midwest, the [...]
Readers’ Choice
No More Vietnams
My 10th grade Geometry teacher was William Sturley. He had just graduated from college and received a one-year deferment to [...]
Gates of Eden: the genesis of an antiwar novel*
My antiwar writing began in a theater. I was working on a new play and the antiwar movement of the 1960s came [...]
Ta-ra-ra-boom-dee-ay
It seemed like so much fun to me. The real story was much more sobering but also inspiring ...
Hell No, We Won’t Go
Hell no, we won't go. And the truth is most people I knew didn't end up in Vietnam.
To Answer (or Not to Answer) the Call of Duty
Coming of age during the Vietnam War did not mean you would be automatically drafted. If you were a privileged white boy, as [...]
Whomba War
In 1968, as the leaders of the United States made their views popular around the world, young men everywhere tried to be as [...]
Bittersweet Memories
Over the years I would occasionally call him and attempt to talk. His short answers and inability to share his life left me [...]
Draft Dodger Rag
Memorial Day weekend in Sacramento is most notable for the Dixieland Jazz Jubilee, which has occurred every year since 1974. [...]
Doing Time on the Group W Bench
I was on the Group W Bench... This was the place where all those mother rapers, father stabbers and father rapers who were [...]
War and Remembrance
Even though I received a formal invitation to participate in the Viet Nam war, I declined.
Do you, Mister Jones…
Something is happening here but you don’t know what it is, Do you, Mister Jones — Bob Dylan, Ballad of a Thin Man, 1965 [...]
Conscientious Objector
The wait seemed interminable, but the later our birthday was called, the less chance we had of being drafted.
Betting on the end
... numbers corresponding to the days of the year were written on slips of paper and placed in plastic capsules, which were [...]
Stories from the Previous Prompt
Politics
Born Blue
My mother was a proud FDR Democrat and preached it at home. My father’s family grew up quiet Republicans, transplanted [...]
Vote. Because Mom Said So.
The right to vote is not about politicians or policy or propositions. It is about exercising a right, embracing a [...]
Other Recent Stories
Great Moments in Parenting
Parents, we’ve all had these moments, right? Right?? One day my daughter invited a friend from school over to play. [...]
Prompted By Parenthood
Klearance Sale
The flyer—featuring a jolly Santa and offering floor models, repossessions, and a choice of linings—was in spectacularly bad taste.
Prompted By Pranks and Practical Jokes
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