Monthly Themes
This month: ‘What the Rain Taught Me’—storm stories, flood memories, and humidity epiphanies.
June’s theme gathers waterlogged moments—when the sky breaks open and people break habit. We’re sharing flash essays and photo logs about backyard storms that delayed weddings, puddle-jumping commutes on Kirkman Road, or the eerie stillness before tropical systems brush the Atlantic coast. These aren’t forecasts or safety tips—they’re sensory memories: the smell of wet pine, the sound of gutters groaning, the way light distorts through downpour on a car windshield.
Submissions this month lean into personal revelation through weather. A Maitland teacher writes about using flooded sidewalks as teaching moments; a DeBary musician describes recording a song during a power outage. Visual contributors are asked to include the exact time and location of each storm image. We’re especially interested in stories where rain acted as a threshold—ending one chapter, beginning another—because in Central Florida, storms don’t just wash things; they reset them.
To participate, use the main submission form and select the June 2024 theme tag. We’ll publish daily throughout the month, with a compiled e-book at month’s end. All contributors receive a link to the final download. Past themes—like ‘First Light’ in March—showed how early mornings reveal neighborhoods in new light, especially where shadows linger between palm trunks or through trailer park alleyways.
