Prairie Light Review
In 2019–2020, I worked as a writer and editor for the Prairie Light Review, a semi-annual art and literature publication produced at the College of DuPage. During my time on the editorial team, I contributed to a wide range of responsibilities, including proofreading submissions, performing detailed copyediting, and assisting with layout and formatting in preparation for print. The experience gave me a behind-the-scenes understanding of how a literary magazine functions, from the earliest stages of selecting pieces to the final steps of preparing a polished issue. It also sharpened my ability to assess creative work with both critical distance and genuine appreciation, a balance that has influenced my writing ever since.
In addition to my editorial duties, I submitted two pieces of short fiction that were accepted for publication.
Flower Boy is a short story that explores a fantastical struggle with body dysphoria. Through surreal imagery and a dreamlike narrative, it approaches the subject from an oblique angle, using metaphor to illuminate emotional truths that can be difficult to convey directly. The story appeared in Prairie Light Review Volume 42, Issue 1, where it stood alongside an array of other works that examined identity, transformation, and the complexities of self-understanding.
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My second published piece, Squatter’s Guide To Empire, is a dystopian science fiction story centered on a homeless squatter attempting to survive in the shadows of a sprawling, authoritarian police state. Though set in a heightened speculative world, the story remains grounded in contemporary anxieties—economic precarity, state violence, and the erasure of the vulnerable. Its tone is simultaneously larger-than-life and uncomfortably close to present-day reality.
This piece was featured in Volume 42, Issue 2 of the Prairie Light Review. Both publications marked important milestones in my early writing career and remain works I am proud to share.
