Medicaid, the health insurance program for poor people, is again under assault. Created in 1965 through Title XIX of the Social Security Act, it has been instrumental in providing low-income Americans with needed medical care for more than four decades, serving as a crucial component of the nations

Christians had been fleeing Iraq for years before the U.S. invasion in 2003. The ancient Assyrian Church of the East saw four-fifths of its members emigrate before 2000 and its ancient patriarchate transferred to Chicago. The government of Saddam Hussein persecuted the Assyrians because of their res

Inhuman conditions in Gaza; a change, and a chance, in Russia

A religious seeker who found her home in the Catholic Church, Flannery OConnor once noted that stories are considered not quite as satisfying as statements, and statements not quite as satisfying as statistics; but in the long run, a people is known, not by its statements or its statistics, but by t

Pictures at a Revolution One pauses before assigning too much significance to the voting patterns of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. After all, this is the estimable organization that deemed Doctor Dolittle worthy of a Best Picture nomination in 1967. Yet sometimes the academys choi

Time has accomplished what a U.S.-supported invasion, a crushing economic embargo, the collapse of the Soviet Union and any number of external and internal catastrophes could not: the removal of Fidel Castro from direct control over the people of Cuba. Suffering from failing health, Castro has final

The Vatican on sainthood, a fragile peace in Kosovo

Coal is now used to generate half the electricity consumed in the United States, and its use is likely to grow as efforts are made to reduce dependence on foreign oil. Coal-powered plants, however, create carbon dioxide, a main contributor to global warming. It is estimated that coal-fired plants cr

Really short stories, Australia's apology, Darfur's displaced

In a Current Comment item in the America issue of March 2, 2008, the editors commented on microfiction, the venerable subgenre of fiction that forsakes the traditional short story length, usually multiples of thousands, in favor of extremely brief tales that are sometimes even less than one hundred words. Also known as flash fiction, sudden fiction and short shorts, microfiction normally includes the typical elements of a short story but has to achieve much by allusion, implication and evocation of outside elements. In the Current Comment item, the editors referenced what is perhaps American literary historys most famous example of microfiction, Ernest Hemingways six-word short story: For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn. Few facts are present in that sentence, but the readers imagination fleshes out the tale in rapid fashion, conjuring up a protagonist, a conflict, and a resolution without much effort.

In an era when many people do their reading in front of a computer rather than in front of a crackling fire (pace Amazon.coms new Kindle electronic reader), microfiction will only grow in popularity, since its format is ideally suited to the single page and the quick read. Some online stories and helpful tips about reading and writing microfiction are linked below, as well as two journals devoted to microfiction and its literary cousins.

The Essentials of Microfiction by Camille Renshaw;