With ourselves: The kind of light that shines on Texas (story) / Reginald McKnight; Driving again (poem) / Lawrence Joseph; I am what I am (essay) / Rosario Morales
In families: The lover of horses (story) / Tess Gallagher; Grap sherbet (poem) / Rita Dove; Changing the name to Ochester (poem) / Ed Ochester
With friends: Friend (story) / Grace Paley; My Lucy friend who smells like corn (story) / Sandra Cisneros; Claudia (story) / Ellen Darion
In and out of communities: Snuff dippers (story) / Shay Youngblood; Twice an outsider, on being Jewish and a woman (essay) / Vivian Gornick; The body politic (story) / Theodore Weesner
On and off the job: Life stories (essay) / Michael Dorris; After the game (story) / Andre Dubus; My father worked late (poem) / Jim Daniels
In and out of love: What means switch (story) / Gish Jen; Judgment (story) / Cliff Thompson; Except (poem) / Wendell Berry
With eternal questions and everyday absurdities: Yes, but (poem) / James Wright; Early song (poem) / Gogisgi/Carroll Arnett; Heart fire (poem) / Maggie Anderson
Appendix: Writing about how we live now.