It’s as easy as it sounds in my grandparents’ letters to live a normal life under an authoritarian regime. You love or fall out of love, you go on summer adventures, defend a dissertation. The trains keep running, cows keep giving milk.

It was strange to hear these Chinese friends tell their kids not to play unsupervised in the yard because there were Black people outside, Black people who were often gardeners or drivers working for them. Watching Chinese immigrants shouting curt orders to Black workers in their newly learned English was often like observing a failed game of telephone, as the workers’ faces bore quiet offense.

Submissions for issue 36 open in three days, and we are delighted to announce that the poetry for this issue will be edited by esteemed poet Camille Rankine. So send us your best!

We are having a fall reading on Thursday, October 16th, 8pm at Liz's Book Bar (315 Smith Street, Brooklyn)!

“Writing fiction is like controlled daydreaming, whereas writing nonfiction is more like putting together a complicated three-dimensional puzzle.”