All bad things must come to an end.
Memoir
The Gustav Evactuation, Part 3: The Wait, by Ryan Sparks
We know what we smell like, okay? Hours and hours under the sun or smothered by night heat have us sweating coffee, sweating Red Bull. The clench of old cigarette smoke. Fast food and soda breath. We are covered in pet hair or the sticky evidence of children’s fingerprints. We ceased to smell like travelers [...]
The Gustav Evacuation, Part 2: The Drive, by Ryan Sparks
Cue the music. We’re going for a ride.
It’s hot as Labor Day weekend should be, summer’s last holiday, last chance to boil. We have our windows down and the music is passing between cars and mixing in the space between, pidgin notes and lyrics. The few radio stations not on a constant [...]
The Gustav Evacuation, Part 1: Preparations, by Ryan Sparks
As Hurricane Gustav bore down on the Gulf states in August of 2008, memories of the Katrina disaster triggered the largest evacuation in US history. Three million fled the oncoming hurricane. Most of the refugees were from the Louisiana south coast. Author, New Orleans resident, and Katrina veteran Ryan Sparks was among [...]
“In Huaraz” by Susie Meserve, Part 3 of 3
Read part one here. Read part two here.
“In Huaraz ” by Susie Meserve, Part 2 of 3
Read part one here.
“In Huaraz” by Susie Meserve — Part 1 of 3
I. Ben and I had been in Lima a week when we decided to take an eight-hour bus ride to the mountain town of Huaraz. There, we would acclimatize for a few days while we planned a three-day trek in the Cordillera Blanca mountain range. Huaraz was known as the gateway to the Andes, and [...]
Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street? by Ayun Halliday
an excerpt from ‘Job Hopper: The Checkered Career of a Down-Market Dilettante’
by Ayun Halliday
The assistant manager left us alone to get dressed in a store room. “Don’t dawdle though. Doors open at nine and some of those people have been waiting since seven.”
Nate and I knelt to unzip the footlocker-sized bags that we’d found in [...]
When Pacino’s Hot, I’m Hot by Robert Levin
by Robert Levin
Blanche Dubois always depended on the kindness of strangers. Me, I’ve always depended on strangers thinking I’m someone else.
I’m referring, in my case anyway, to getting sex.
In the Realm of Mercy by Karima Alavi
by Karima Alavi
It’s my last Friday ‘Muslim day of communal prayer’ in Iran. After a twenty-six year absence from the country, my first return is coming to a close. I gaze out the window that overlooks the city of Shiraz and I’m filled with memories of my time here as an exchange student. Raw emotions [...]