Masthead 2025
Charles Troob, Publisher
Prose Editor: Andy Shapiro
Prose Readers:
Tom Ashley
Robert N. Chan
Sonya Friedman
Michael Kessler
Poetry Editor:
Bill Aarnes
Poetry Judges:
Mark Fischweicher
Irene Sax
Letter from the Publisher 2025
Welcome to the 2025 edition of Voices Online, the literary magazine of the Lifelong Peer Learning Program. Earlier editions—going back to 2013—can be found on this web site.
We are happy to present the work of eight poets and sixteen prose writers. Some of this writing has been generated in LP2 study groups and activities. Some is creative work that our members have done on our own.
Eight writers are appearing in Voices for the first time. We hope that in future issues even more of our talented members will be represented.
Much thanks to the editors and readers who have helped to make this possible—and, of course, to our contributors!
Charles Troob
Publisher
Prose
Robert N. Chan, A HELLUVA JOB
Robert N. Chan, Whether to Weather the Weather
Pat Fortunato, Il Dolce Far Niente
Sonya Friedman, Nikkatsu Film
Sonya Friedman, “The Phantom Tollbooth”
Jill Eldredge Gabriele, New Year’s Eve
Jill Eldredge Gabriele, The Harbor
Denise Heebink, Tiny Tears
Susie Herman, The Female Gaze
Carmen Mason, My Life at the Movies
B. Robert Meyer, One Year Later
Mary Padilla, Autumn
Mary Padilla, Sounds of the Wood
Mireya Perez-Bustillo, “Tendrá Sus Razones”
Jennifer Roberts, Call Waiting
Jennifer Roberts, Rain
Joan Rosenbaum, Heading Home
Jennifer Ross, God Bless America
Jennifer Ross, The Joy of Swimming
Carolyn Setlow, Male Mentors for a 1970s Feminist
Susan Smahl, “Kayfabe” or Everything Real is Fake
Charles Troob, My Face
Charles Troob, Rabat, Morocco
Poetry
Stewart Alter, Back to School
Stewart Alter, First Job
Mark Fischweicher, The Things That Return
Mark Fischweicher, Tirade to Dismiss My Fall
Mary-Joan Gerson, All the Time
Mary-Joan Gerson, Autumn Afternoon
Maureen Hatch, Childhood Summers
Carmen Mason, Per Ignam Ad Lucem
Judith Meyerowitz, The Box
Mary Padilla, What Does It Matter
Mary Padilla, What to Make of Time
Mireya Perez-Bustillo, How it Was
Mireya Perez-Bustillo, Mele