In this issue

Suddenly the Bell

Creative Non-Fiction by Arlene Yaworsky

Suddenly the Bell

And the danger of rattlesnakes

As redwings take flight

There is no sign, just a turn-off. The weedy car track bumps down, down; a line of fat eucalyptus trunks with peeling plates of bark pulls my nose along. Their sweet fragrance pushes away the sweaty highway that now hangs outside and somewhere above, and raucous thoughts of my new romance back home dissipate. Like totems, the row gives a gentle greeting. Welcome to this planet of strange plants and rituals. Welcome to beginner’s mind. Welcome to Green Gulch Zen Center. (more…)

White, Red, and Blue

Drama by Dana Frombach

CAST

WHITE A 17-year-old female character dressed in mainly stark bright white.

RED The same/similar female character at 17 ½ and wearing mainly dark maroon or blood red.

BLUE The same/similar female character at 18 and wearing mainly bright medium blue.

(more…)

Darren and the Monashees

Creative Non-Fiction by Chad Gottfried

Appearances can be deceiving. From a distance, the dormant, benign giant lies peacefully with no malicious thought or intent, yet I know better. Even its name, “Monashee,” meaning Peaceful Mountain, cannot fool me. It has already been a week into my cross-Canada trip, and despite a crippling pain in my knee and an overly optimistic gearing on my new bicycle, I have managed to battle and conquer its younger cousins along the Fraser and Okanagan region. I know, though, that the real battle is about to begin. (more…)

Far Away Eyes and the Knowing

Creative Non-Fiction by Francis

Twenty-three years of swimming against the apathy of societal norms had pressed me to a precipice. It was another sunny day in California. There was the smell of fresh cut grass and the sound of children laughing as they splashed in the pool. I could feel the heat of the sun on the back of my neck like the excitement that was burning in my soul. I had been married for three months to the girl with the far away eyes: far away from ordinary, far away from tame. (more…)

The Reductive Life of Mr. Krenshaw

Short Fiction by Jenny Sommers

I was working on the report that had been dogging me for the past four months. It was a simple job, really. There was no need for it to be so taxing, yet I couldn’t seem to focus. I was a consultant for a company that advised various fast food chains. I would calculate the savings incurred by slicing tomatoes to x thickness instead of y thickness. I also reported the results of studies conducted by my company’s chemists. The chemists would figure out how many additives, emulsifiers or fillers could be added to a product before it lost palatability. The results were turned into equations which could be used to create cost efficient recipes. I’ve always been good with numbers, so the job of efficiency expert was both easy and satisfying for me. I liked the process of reducing everything to its most necessary parts, but an unfocussed inertia had come over me in the past few months. (more…)