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Topology Magazine - Artful dispatches from the places where we find ourselves Artful dispatches from the places where we find ourselves
  • Essay
    • The violence of frenzy
      The violence of frenzy
    • The sound of roots
      The sound of roots
    • Summer’s lease
      Summer’s lease
    • Editorial
    • Throwback
  • Poetry
  • Image
    • Deep Roots
      Deep Roots
    • Hope and Expectation
      Hope and Expectation
    • No Trespassing
      No Trespassing
  • Quote
  • Themes
    • Upcoming
    • Volume 1
      • 0.1 Intro
      • 1.1 Margins
      • 1.2 Living with the Seasons
      • 1.3 Thriftiness
      • 1.4 Noise and Silence
      • 1.5 Bodies
      • 1.6 Transportation
      • 1.7 Waterways
      • 1.8 My Economy
      • 1.9 Sharing Food
      • 1.10 Coming and Going
    • 2.1 Labor
    • 2.2 Bridges
    • 2.3 Shops & Stores
    • 2.4 The Darkest Night
    • 2.5 Sabbath
    • 2.6 Local Government
    • 2.7 Solastalgia
    • 2.8 Borders & Boundaries
    • 2.9 Play

Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma

Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma lives in Three Rivers, Michigan thanks to a Sunday drive her grandparents decided to take years before she was born. Pleasant Lake was the setting for many of her dreams as a child, and now the intersection of the Rocky, St. Joseph and Portage Rivers is the setting for her dreams as an adult. Daily life includes collaborative shenanigans at World Fare and the Huss Project, along with managing GilChrist Retreat Center in the rolling hills just west of Three Rivers. Kirstin is the editor-in-chief for Topology Magazine.

NewsOctober 16, 2017

A season of rest for Topology and the daily asterisk

By Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma

After a time of conversation and discernment, the editors of Topology have decided to put the online magazine and the daily asterisk to rest…

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The violence of frenzy
EditorialOctober 9, 2017

The violence of frenzy

By Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma

I remember the story through the umbilical link between our memories. “Grass doesn’t grow on a busy street,” my mom used to tell people…

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Waiting for the rising
ThrowbackJuly 14, 2017

Waiting for the rising

By Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma

Editor’s note: Due to server issues this week, our throwback piece from Topology’s predecessor, catapult magazine, is being published on Friday. In this essay from…

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Suspicious origins
EditorialJuly 3, 2017

Suspicious origins

By Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma

I’ve sampled enough random plants in the woods to learn an important lesson: if it doesn’t taste good, don’t eat it. Just a small…

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Hard at play
EditorialJune 5, 2017

Hard at play

By Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma

It’s a Sunday morning in late spring. Our cat lounges in the sun by the open window, where the joyous prelude of bird chatter…

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NewsMay 19, 2017

Call for submissions: Roots

By Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma

July will be our last issue before our annual August publishing break, and the theme is “Roots.” You have about three weeks to consider…

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Do not enter
ThrowbackMay 11, 2017

Do not enter

By Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma

Editor’s note: Each Thursday, we feature a throwback piece from Topology’s predecessor, catapult magazine. In this essay from 2010, I reflected on what it would…

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"A border always conveys meaning."
EtceteraMay 1, 2017

“A border always conveys meaning.”

By Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma

Borders mark the contours of nations, states, even cities, defining them by separating them from all others. A border can be natural—an ocean, a…

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The stories we don't tell
EditorialMay 1, 2017

The stories we don’t tell

By Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma

“Don’t buy a house in Second Ward.” Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised when a pastor who was new to our community told me…

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NewsApril 17, 2017

Call for submissions: Play

By Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma

You haven’t heard from us for a little while and here’s why: because of a technical glitch, our editors were not receiving submissions. When…

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About Topology

Topology Magazine

Topology Magazine is a place for active contemplation through prose, poetry, and art: the produce of thoughtful labor in the places where we find ourselves. Each person is inextricably tied to their physical location, and Topology cultivates that connection by publishing work which explicitly or implicitly recognizes the influence of place. Read more …

Contributors

  • Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma
  • Deborah Haak
  • Henry Bakker
  • Elisabeth Wenger
  • Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma
  • S. Alexandra Harper
  • mt
  • the daily asterisk
  • Marjorie Maddox
  • Alex Joyner
  • Katie Hoogendam
  • William Overbeeke
  • Amy Carpenter-Leugs
  • Alex Quick
  • Laura Menze
  • Naomi Wenger
  • Bethany Beachum
  • Karissa Knox Sorrell
  • Tom Springer
  • Carol Stephen
  • Kathryn T. Jones
  • Raechelle Kennedy
  • Aline Lindemann
  • Bill Boerman-Cornell
  • Scott Peterson
  • Brett Beasley
  • Name Withheld
  • Deborah Lewis
  • Uche Ogbuji
  • Luke Johnston
  • Denise Frame Harlan
  • John Pierce
  • Lisa Witz
  • Alek Frost
  • Monica Sharman
  • Ian Randall Wilson
  • Chris Bullard
  • Katie Karnehm-Esh
  • A. Non
  • Jeff Gundy
  • Randy Smit
  • John Davis Jr.
  • J.C. Elkin
  • Christine Darragh
  • Brother Abraham Newsom
  • Robert Andy Coombs
  • David Stewart
  • Neil E. Das
  • Ingrid Lochamire
  • Amy Nemecek
  • Joy Riggs
  • Peter Freedman-Doan
  • Nora Kirkham
  • Sylvia Keesmaat
  • Gail Heffner
  • Elisabeth McClanahan
  • Rick Kempa
  • Jennifer Crow
  • Alan Van Wyk
  • Matt Prater
  • Sara Sterley
  • Thomas Swann
  • Amy Oestreicher
  • Devon Balwit
  • Jacob Miller
  • D.S. Leiter
  • Amanda Hiland
  • Nicole Carlin
  • Lee Hull Moses
  • Marylu Dykstra
  • Donald Illich
  • Robert Peace Jordan
  • Deborah Bowen
  • Carolyn Adams
  • Valerie Bacharach
  • Nate Maxson
  • Paul Douglas McNeill II
  • Larry-Michael Hackenberg
  • Jill McDonough
  • Lynn White
  • Daniel Silliman
  • Heather Hutchison
  • Eileen R. Kinch
  • Sam Gesch
  • Jennifer Hernandez
  • Lindsy Wallace
  • Jacque Rowe Fields
  • Christie Walkuski
  • June Mears Driedger
  • Ched Myers
  • Laura Fabrycky
  • Lorraine Caputo
  • Amelia Rhodes
  • Daniel Roy Connelly
  • Brandon Marlon
  • Jennifer Martelli
  • Danielle Germaine
  • Katie Reich
  • Nina Bannett
  • Lauren Wayne
  • Mary Ann Honaker
  • Hannah Thyberg
  • Jeff Burt
  • Vincent A. Cellucci
  • Erica Schemper
  • Debra Dieppa
  • Claire Ibarra
  • Gwen DiPietro
  • Michael Penny
  • Catherine Woodiwiss
  • Shawndra Miller
  • Ben Brazil
  • Matthew Deames
  • Kenneth Arthur
  • Joy-Elizabeth Lawrence
  • Alexa Shearer
  • Mike Wilson
  • Cat Dixon
  • Jim Schmotzer
  • Ruth Asher
  • Kierstan Barbre
  • Lea Page
  • Geneva Langeland
  • Tamra Carraher
  • Nathan Van Hoff
  • Matthew Landrum
  • Samuel J. Fox
  • Wm. Anthony Connolly
  • Clinton Inman
  • Heidi Fettig Parton
  • Elisavietta Ritchie
  • Joyce H. Munro
  • Joel Schueler
  • Sophie Blanc
  • Celine B. Roque
  • Jeffrey Allen Mays
  • Denise Vredevoogd
  • Gary Guthrie
  • Jerry Berrigan
  • Nate Al Attas-Bradford
  • Aaron Nell
  • Erin O'Connor-Garcia
  • Christopher Smit
  • Kurt Armstrong
  • Nathaniel Harper-Brees
  • Amy Hetletvedt
  • Stefanie Möser Zitö
  • Ann Klotz
  • Griffin Paul Jackson
  • Kate Bowman-Johnston
  • John Yohe
  • Katie Rendon Kahn
  • Chris Fuller
  • Amanda Cleary Eastep
  • Gail Walters
  • Mike Finley
  • Katie Houston
  • Mark Andrew Heathcote
  • Emily Ulmer
  • Jeremy Huggins
  • Kendall Vanderslice
  • Karen Fitz La Barge
  • Josh MacIvor-Andersen
  • Stephanie Nikolopoulos
  • Barbara Ruth
  • Hardeep Sabharwal
  • Grant Elgersma
  • Rachel Marie Stone
  • Kristina England
  • Kathy Fenton-Miller
  • Kendra Stanton Lee
  • Jacqueline Ristola
  • Lynne S. Viti
  • Jennifer Monroe
  • Zach Bartz
  • Robert Stout
  • Travis Poling
  • Christopher Smith
  • Larry Kamphausen
  • Jeff Santosuosso
  • Rebecca Wolff
  • Julie Keefer
  • L. L. Barkat
  • Amie Adams
  • Andy Rogers
  • Michael Knowles
  • Rob Testing

Join Topology

We're looking for writers, artists, practitioners, and more to contribute to the magazine. Please get in touch or join our contributor e-mail list to receive our regular pitch calls.

Featured

  • The violence of frenzy
    The violence of frenzy
  • The sound of roots
    The sound of roots
  • Summer's lease
    Summer’s lease
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