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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
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    • 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
Thomas Swann

Thomas Swann

Thomas Swann recently moved from the flat cornfields of Indiana to the mountains of North Carolina. There he lives and works at The Southern Dharma Retreat Center. His tasks are varied as is the journey of life. He enjoys walking in the hills, reading and writing when time allows. With all the newness around he is just settling in to see what surfaces.

We are mirrors born in labor
EssaySeptember 12, 2016

We are mirrors born in labor

By Thomas Swann

I grew up knowing only one of my grandfathers. My father’s father worked in the laundry business—hot work with vapors rising even on a…

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