The Normal School: A Literary Magazine

Folks, you do NOT want to miss this! The Normal School welcomes for a special evening. The event will be at the Conley Art Auditorium at Fresno State this Friday! Check out the following for all the event info:

https://calendar.fresnostate.edu/index.php?eID=1411

"You stand there silently, breathing candy breath into your mask until your face gets damp. Your best friends are cheerleaders, witches, fairies. But you’re just a structure of a person, an outline of a body, quiet and haunted."

New, special, spooky nonfiction piece, "What Does Your Halloween Costume Say About Your Gender?: Quiz Results" by JACKIE DOMENUS up on thenormalschool.com RIGHT NOW! 👻 Click here to read more: https://bit.ly/tns-2022-halloween

Be safe out there, and stay normal. ✌🏼

ALT TEXT: Image of lit jack-o-lantern, seen through a foggy window. Jack-o-lantern is being held up with two hands, surrounded by cobwebs. Person holding the jack-o-lantern is dressed as a ghost. White text below, with black background. Text reads: "A normal Halloween Special. What Does Your Halloween Costume Say About Your Gender?: Quiz Results by Jackie Domenus"

Listen, up, Normals! Our October newsletter is out NOW! This month features some incredible work, including a Normal interview featuring Manuel Muñoz, stirring poems by Jo Blair Cipriano, a powerful essay about time by Sarah Fawn Montgomery and much, much more fascinating and weird works!

Click here for the newsletter: https://bit.ly/tns-nl-oct2022
And here to sign up: https://bit.ly/tns-nl-fb

ALT TEXT: Square image with a beige background. There are four thin, black lines framing the sides of the image. There is an orange envelope in the upper left corner, and beside it is black text with an orange highlight which reads "October Newsletter." Below the text, there is an author photo of Manuel Muñoz. To the left of the author photo is an image of a clock. Diagonally, to the right, there is an image of three paint strokes with the colors pink, purple, and blue (the bisexual flag). Behind those images, there is a soft pink paint stroke. At the bottom of the image are bold, black letters with an orange highlight, which read "FEATURING."

"Tamogotchis are everywhere in middle school, cradled in our hands during math when we learn about angles and remainders, the goal to take what is whole and break it apart. The egg buzzes several times a day as a reminder that survival is not guaranteed."

New Creative Nonfiction piece, "Chronostasis" by Sarah Fawn Montgomery is up on themormalschool.com right now! Click here to read more: https://bit.ly/3xZyl9n



ALT TEXT: Image of an analog clock with its hands at 10:30 , on a blank white wall, with the title of the piece beneath the photo, in black letters: Chronostasis by Sarah Fawn Montgomery. Below the title there is black text that says, Now on thenormalschool.com

Welcome back, Normals! We invite you to check out our "Welcome Back" September newsletter at this link: https://bit.ly/tns-nl-sept22

We cover some interesting things: the return of our founding editor, a review of what we are committed to at The Normal School, when we will send out our October newsletter (sign up!), and the announcement/reminder about our next open reading period.

So check out our letter! And don't forget to sign up for our upcoming October newsletter right here: https://bit.ly/tns-get-nl

Stay Normal. ✌🏼



ALT TEXT: Image with orange leaves in the background. The Sharkbear is in the bottom left corner. The text at the very top of the image is white with a black background and says: "Check out our welcome back letter and sign up for the October Newsletter!" Cursive text in the center of the image says, "Welcome Back!" There is a star next to the text. The bottom right corner has white text which reads: thenormalschool.com

Get ready, Normals! October 1st, we open our submissions for fiction, creative nonfiction, and multimedia! Our submission period ends December 1st.

Check out our link tree (https://linktr.ee/TheNormalSchool) for our submission guidelines, and all our info.

Stay normal! ✌🏽

Hey, Normals! We're excited to share that our submissions are now open for poetry! Please note that we will open for submissions in Fiction and Nonfiction on Oct. 1, 2022. We eagerly await your submissions! Here is the link to submit: bit.ly/3KGAjk2

"The voice to which I’m only half-listening sounds familiar, but something’s off, also. I look up blankly from the records I’m riffling through and realize that I’m hearing Elton John, one of his well-known hits from the early seventies, but I haven’t heard this version before."

For our last feature this spring, check out "A Groovy Way to Grab a Musical Bag that Turns on the Sounds of Today" by Joe Bonomo!
thenormalschool.com/blog/2021/05/31/joe-bonomo

See you in the Fall!

A Groovy Way to Grab a Musical Bag that Turns On the Sounds of Today by Joe Bonomo — The Normal School The voice to which I’m only half-listening sounds familiar, but something’s off, also. I look up blankly from the records I’m riffling through and realize that I’m hearing Elton John, one of his well-known hits from the early seventies, but I haven’t heard this version before.

"Jags can be time-consuming. And then there is the problem of satisfying its animalistic nature. Especially since tonight is Friday night, and you are going out."

New short story, "Take a Ride in My Jag" by Catherine Cort! To read more, click on the link below: thenormalschool.com/blog/2022/5/18/catherine-cort

Take a Ride in My Jag by Catherine Cort — The Normal School Jags can be time-consuming. And then there is the problem of satisfying its animalistic nature. Especially since tonight is Friday night, and you are going out.

Hey Normals! Our May newsletter is out today! Featured this month, A Normal Interview with SJ Sindu by Nicholas Howard. Also short story of the month, "Diana's Chin" by Taylor Arnette, and more.

Note that we'll be on pause for the summer, but don't worry we'll be back in full force this fall.

May Newsletter: bit.ly/TNS-22May
Sign up for the newsletter here: bit.ly/normal-signup

"my spine curved / into a question mark, my pen sketching symptoms / on an empty man's silhouette."

Two new poems by Sarah Hansen, "Places My Body Hurts" and "Winter Solstice, 2020" are out today!

Visit our website for more: thenormalschool.com/blog/2022/5/4/sarah-hansen

Two Poems by Sarah Hansen — The Normal School my spine curved/ into a question mark, my pen sketching symptoms/ on an empty man's silhouette.