Kowa and Reta
By Alexander S. Adam
Micro-perforated paper. Faber-Castell PITT artist pen.
9in x 12in
Alexander S. Adam is a doodler, web developer, and graphic designer based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Exodus
By Dan Murage
On December 1st, we wake up in the early hours of the morning and trek to the polling stations. While we wait for the polling personnel to arrive, we regale each other with stories of a new country, a new democracy again. Some hail this moment as “The New Gambia” and have with them banners to publicize their creed. We stand in line for thirty minutes, after which everyone starts getting impatient: women begin singing victory songs, men beat their drums and children cheer, sneaking in […]
Gma
By Sophie Dess
My grandmother’s eyes at times are obscured by two thick sheets of glass placed in cat-eye frames – she wears bifocals, which means she can’t gauge the scale of a decline. I think it’s formally deemed ‘a problem with depth perception.’ Thus, stairs pose a particular problem; her shaking hand is always in search of a surface on which to balance her small – but nevertheless imperious – figure.
I travel with her down to the subway platform and watch her ring-adorned fingers shake until they clasp something stable. My eyes always settle on the […]
The End – Montauk
By Jessica Stilling
At the beach, near the ocean, she can only bring herself to eat shellfish.
And the techno music, the Hamptonites, they are not her scene.
“Women are always talking about it, going into the sea. You know, like The Awakening.” She teaches English at a college on Long Island.
“Oh yeah”, he says. “The Awakening. Yeah. Right, women going into the sea. Hordes of them.” He shakes his head and smiles. She’s not sure […]
The Camaraderie of the House Fire
By Megan Maloof
Your oven has been on all day,
Scarlet embers from your cigarette fall into the recycling bin
The curling iron is curling the plastic of your countertops-
Whatever it is,
Your house is on fire.
Family photos and garbage burn the same way.
Faces peak from between curtains to look down on you-
Vultures for gossip.
The more active neighbors
Are standing in the middle of the road,
Bathrobes unfurl in the wind,
Like depressed Supermen.
They’re taking videos,
“For insurance,” they nod.
“You can thank me later.”
As they look and stare at your mistakes,
They ask you how it could’ve happened,
Not out […]
Connecting Acts of Oppression: Applying Practice Theory to White Supremacy
By Ian Kennedy
Contemporary popular debates about race and racism are caught in a difference of assumptions. On the one hand, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ article “The First White President” in the October 2017 issue of The Atlantic exemplifies the systemic view: white supremacy and racism are perpetrated by all members who share a particular identification, leveling racist violence on all members who share a different identification. To varying degrees, all white people contribute to white supremacy, and all non-white people are victims of this violence. For Coates, a pervasive identity of whiteness unites Trump […]
Hydrophobia
By Seamus Mullin
She could not shower for three days because the water made her nervous. It was a fever of the brain. It was a complete loss of control. If not for the letters, she would have forgotten her own name.
She waited along the route of the heroes’ parade to see her soldier returned. He was filthy too, with desert sand embedded like insurgents in his pores. They were invisible, but she could see them.
She took him in her arms and licked down the side of […]
Best Damn Driver
by Ben Shani
Across the monitor in delayed succession the new deliveries specifics sputter out: Address, order, estimated time of arrival, and or if there are any special sides. I’m first in line to take the next batch, three or four I lug in a worn-out bag and race around town, mapping out the quickest routes to get where the customers wait. I never want to be more than two minutes with one customer. How you doing tonight? You see the game? You need any cheese and peppers, any plates and napkins? That is my small talk. That is […]
Long Term Vision II
By Luma Jasim
Ink, charcoal, and acrylic on canvas.
72x48x1.5 inches
Luma Jasim is a multimedia Iraqi-born artist. Jasim emigrated from her home country to the United States in 2008. During the last nine years, Luma accomplished a full scholarship from Parsons School of Design, The New School. She is one of the four winners of The 2017 AAF American Austrian Foundation/ Seebacher Prize for Fine. In 2015 Luma was one of a panel discussion at The National Arts Club, organized by ATOA (Artists Talk on Art) discussing “The Artists Role in Society.” Recently she has been selected to join […]
Olive Ave., 12:46am
By Ian Thompson
The drunken man on Olive
wears a shirt that reads I need a chica
from Costa Rica! below the outline
of a nation poverty-stricken
but known by outsiders for its tranquil
beaches—just as my city is more associated
with a haunted cruise liner
than the ghosts of those killed
on its streets, or people like
this drunken man on Olive.
He’s singing Smokey Robinson’s
“The Love I Saw in You Was