Julie Iverson
Black Leather Ballerina
Dear Readers,
Here’s to the beginning of a new week! This week, we have another wonderful flash fiction story by Julie Iverson titled Black Leather Ballerina. We enjoyed the themes of identity and dance. Let us know what you think and if you have any comments or thoughts.
Thirteen years old was ancient for a new ballerina but I signed
up anyway. The weekly lessons were a dollar, my father paid.
Dancing was a privilege, and I did not look the type with my thick
stature and short hair. Quickly advancing from the flats to the toe
shoes proved my dedication to the art, baby fat intact.
Black leather toe shoes were special order as I had graduated
myself out of the pink satin model. The satins practically
disintegrated due to my girth, there must be an exertion and stress
minus thin fabric calculation to understand the shredding as they
did. Lamb’s wool protected my little pink toes inside at the tips.
When I danced with perfect stance and perfect hands, my mind
escaped velocity. The teacher witnessed this as well and stuck with
me through my awkwardness. Growing a couple inches taller and
honing some muscles previously unknown helped my posture and
confidence.
My beautiful black leathers were not an insult and not an
inconvenience, as was I, according to my mother, accident prone.
My shoes made me not an affront, they made a beauty of me as I
danced. Upon overhearing, accidentally, when my father said that I
was pretty rang a bell that sounded true and I held my head high,
like a ballerina. As a medical technician working in ophthalmic, ancillary success happened for Julie Iverson as a writer of continuing education. An accolade of first place came from a novel experiment for the contact lens industry and award-winning APA white paper.
PUBLISHED WRITING
2025 Blood & Honey Lit: Launching of the Golden Chair
2025 Strange Quark Press: My Neurogram Took a Trip
2023 inducted: Marquis Who’s Who
2021 first place HAROLD STEIN MD award (IJCAHPO)
2014-2022
Ophthalmic Technician Magazine
Pentavision
OTI Optical Training Institute
Quantumoptical.com
1963 Nebraska Farmer News Paper: essay published
Retiring from the medical field has opened a door for short story telling and essays.
Next week we have our first photography post paired with poetry! Stay tuned for our upcoming posts.
A reminder that general submissions are currently closed so that the editor can catch up to all previous submissions. If you have already sent your work to us prior to June 2, 2025 we will get back to you as soon as possible.
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What a tender and poignant beautiful swan story. I loved it.