"How Not to Say Good-Bye to Your Professor” — which turns out to be by Shelley Pacholok — haunted me the way an exemplary CNF piece should. Her essay weaves personal narrative with step-by-step instructions for navigating a catastrophe — a fitting structure for a sociologist who studied disasters but could not prepare for her own State of Emergency. Throughout the piece I was mesmerized by the author’s attention to craft: fine sentences, deft pacing, understated irony. With all that to the essay’s credit, I knew it was up to the ending. Could a story that held me spellbound maintain its grip right up to the last word? I read the final section aloud; the last line caught in my throat. I realized, all at once, how it would feel to lose so much. Reader, be prepared. “How Not to Say Good-Bye to Your Professor” is about a woman forced to part ways, suddenly and unexpectedly, with a life she worked hard for. But this piece isn’t an inventory of loss. It’s a report documenting how a survivor stepped into her power as a magician. A writer. An artist.
— Nicole Breit
Contest Judge
