Editor’s Note
How do we encourage critical thought around stories that may have once seemed heroic, but are actually harmful? How do we build new stories, new ways of living, together?
Actionable Storytelling
What exactly are the breaking points that force us to seek a fresh point of reference, to steer ourselves in the collective direction of healing?
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Read“for brown girls who once considered themselves” and other poems
in 2029, i wake up next to a stranger. / the word husband for us is like paprika — / it adds color. -
ReadNegotiation
I carry a large box to the post office on Sixth Street making my way up the few stairs. -
Read“Other Names You Have Used Since Birth” • A 14-Year-Old Boy Visiting California
a mouth began / in the south east corner / of the continent where / a tribe of teeth / once shared rice -
ReadInheritance
The Great Patriotic War came to visit me again today. I was throwing out wild raspberries. -
ReadThe Cure-All • Plan B May Not Work
Girl is attacked / in a park near home, and / before running, is called / crazy bitch. -
Read“May the Stars Guide You Safely Home” and other poems
After I call the cops to ask for a protective order / I read about the girlfriend of a serial killer. -
ReadBecoming a Bridge Person in Precarious Times
I’ve been thinking a lot about bridges over the past year. -
ReadHolding Patterns
Today I’m too angry to know what to do with myself, so I take a very hot shower and listen to loud music -
ReadThe Eye in his Head
In a tiny village in Southern Poland named “Mała,” a Catholic priest sexually abused dozens of underage girls -
ReadEpiphanies
Before my jaw surgery, I got used to doctors holding my face in their hands. -
ReadMiseducated: Encounters with Blackness and Whiteness
When the Ferguson shooting and protests erupt in 2014, I am stuck in my own cocoon, mourning recent betrayals in my marriage. -
ReadForeign Domestic
We live where the fog used to gather every morning, curtaining the streets and freeways in a misty haze. -
ReadThe Scent of Oud
I detected — above the waft of Auntie Anne’s pretzels and the affront of vanilla and eucalyptus from Bath and Body Works — the warm, musky scent of oud.
Explore
Read more incredible work from our community of writers, artists, and activists.
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Issue 10ReadWillful Innocence
How can we learn from moments of failing so that our anger, grief, and shame can propel us toward conversations and healing? -
Issue 12ReadBefore After
To deconstruct something is not to destroy it, but to understand how it was built, part by part; what can our new narratives teach us about the reality that’s been there all along?