Writing is an act of resistance
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Waste, Land
By Elizabeth Carmichael Now is the time we find out what we’re made of. We have felt oil in the air for months but imagined once the weather turned we could wash it out— and so we learn what stains. Now locked out of the lab we must experiment on our own conclusions: follow orders,…
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40 Strangers 50 Questions
From Brave New Films On Wednesday, May 24 at 6:30 PM, 40 strangers entered a small photography studio near downtown Los Angeles. On the floor, they found strips of white tape laid out in large boxes. In a few moments, a member of the Brave New Films production team would stand in front of a…
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The Tao that Trump Won’t Hear
By H.L.M. Lee When I take my younger daughter to school, I see the rush of her first grade friends running to hug each other and share head lice (much to the chagrin of every parent). My daughter’s BFF has a father from England and a mother from Maine. Another girl’s father is Muslim…
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Levels of Knowing and Existence
By Martin H. Levinson Truth is a liar Trump says, a smokescreen invented by gay, black environmentalists who sneak spics across the border when the border patrol has its back turned because they are busy at work keeping Muslims out of the country and pledging allegiance to the flag of the Divided States of America,…
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Love Letter to Chicago
By Dein Sofley Cook County Citizens, I’m writing this letter to you on behalf of my friend Dein. She loves you and wants you to love her. I’ve never been to Chicago, but I’ve heard that it’s windy: a working class city with a heart of gold. Home to Gwendolyn Brooks, Studs Terkel, Muddy…
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November Ninth
By Mariana Llanos November ninth, two thousand sixteen— deception slowly, painfully sinking in. I open my white French blinds; I look around the cul-de-sac, the well-kept middle class homes bounding mine. I imagine neighbors still sleeping in, not caring, not concerned what would be next for some of us. I wonder if all those times we spoke—…
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What She’s Waiting For
By Christopher Woods Christopher Woods is a writer, teacher and photographer who lives in Texas. He has published a novel, The Dream Patch; a prose collection, Under a Riverbed Sky; and a book of stage monologues for actors, Heart Speak. His work has appeared in The Southern Review, New England Review, New Orleans Review, Columbia and…
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Violent Citizenship
By Sakeena Amwaaj Existence stamped onto flattened prison. Fluid bloodlines dried into lines invisible on land. Lines prick us without our knowing, weaving fortunes weaving curses upon generations. Sakeena Amwaaj is a pen name, used because of the political climate in both the United State and the poet’s home country. Photo credit: perceptions (on…
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In the Trump Era, Factory Workers Send Secret Messages
By Amy L. Freeman resist Last Thursday, I found that single word scrawled in black Sharpie on the cardboard inside a package of photos I’d ordered. Odd, I thought, turning over the first of my photos. The pictures were of me with my children, holding signs at the recent Women’s March, smiling and determined…