Nonfiction

PARENTING REDUXBy Pam Munter How old was I when I realized I was the family’s black sheep? As long as I can remember, I knew I could not trust my parents with my real self....

BLUEBEARD'S TREASUREby Joseph Albanese    There was treasure in those woods. He knew it. Even at five-years old, he knew it. There were ghosts in those woods as well. He knew this too.The Boy knew this...

Daddy was a civil engineer trying out to be a Fuller Brush Man. He'd bought a sales kit of samples—Fuller hairbrushes are guaranteed forever!—from the guy who would see if Daddy could sell door-to-door...

ASSOCIATIVE LEAPINGBy Lydia A. Cyrus  1.My mom told me that a red chicken was dying. How? I asked but no one knew how. My brother, the reaper, slid into a pair of black, heavy rubber boots and went...

OTHERNESSUnpacking and questioning the ethics of passing versus publicizingby Isabel Armiento As a science-fiction fanatic, I am fascinated by the way appearance can be so instantly othering. The “other” is often synonymous with the “grotesque” –...

BAD FORTUNE AROUND MEETING THE PRESIDENTby Kurt G. Schmidt   Since my father had threatened Mom with a .22 rifle, life had been reasonably calm for over three years. However, the cat population at our house...

THAT SATURDAYby Dan Cardoza   I have a clear memory of moments, a moment, of a Saturday without direction, you afraid to lose your way, me, fearing I wouldn’t get lost.A late August pick-nick in the...

WE ARE THE BUFFALOBy Kaylynn Raschke “Are you sure this is it?”  The cab driver points to a thin white sign, St. Cloud. Hardly visible, as it melds into the predawn sky of this frozen...

FIFTY YEARS WITH CATSby Terry Sanville No, not the musical ­– but actual four-legged felines, critters that own property around the world and allow some humans to act as their staff. Men are supposed to...

THE ARGUMENTby Nate Tulay  Fact, if you TELL humans to breed based on intellect they will tell you that you are racist and mad and that intellect isn’t all to life.But if you were to...