Watching Cricket with My Father

By R.B. Simpson Unsurprisingly, and like all my fellow boarders, the highlight of our school year was the Christmas holidays, straight after we had written our last end-of-year exam. Six weeks of unrestricted mayhem lay before us! We would rip our ties off and would be playing a last game of touch rugby on the …

Me and the Chandler Mall

By Debra White In mid-October 2001, a sprawling shopping complex including a two-level mall known as Chandler Fashion Square, opened in the East Valley area of Phoenix to rave reviews. Critics said malls were fading away and questioned whether the new mall would succeed. I shrugged off the doom and gloom. Someone always nitpicked, didn’t …

The Room

By Joan Hyams Schmitz It’s been a calendar full of days since the boy entered the room, dumping his backpack on the floor as he flopped onto his bed for a power nap. This brief, impromptu trip home served one purpose—a quick trip to the dentist to repair a chipped tooth. Once the incisor was …

Nightmares and the Monsters that Breed Them

By Susan L. League Dreams have always been a part of my life, especially recurrent, other-worldly nightmares. My imagination was and still is that of a child. Born and raised in the deep south by an unusual mother, who was schizophrenic, undiagnosed, and untreated, so everything was real to her. There were aliens, who planted …

An Hour in the Life of a Five-Year-Old Pool Player

By Francine Rodriguez The parking lot in front of King Drew Place of Family on Central Avenue, was nearly full that morning in 1994.  I didn’t recognize any of the cars filling the lot, stacked one behind the other. Gangster cars, black Suburbans, Escalades, and lowriders, like the ones in my neighborhood, like the 61 …

Life Lessons I Learned From My Cat

By Leslee Kahler I have had cats in my life since I was born, I can’t say I owned any of them as any cat owner knows the cat owns you , you don’t own the cat. Over the years I have learned much from my cats, but the greatest lessons I learned were patience, …

When Fearlessness Fades

By Cynthia Yancey Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! my oldest son texted me. Can I take you flying this afternoon? Yes! I immediately texted back, happy to be remembered. Happy to think of getting back up over these lovely, old mountains in one of those tiny, little planes like I used to fly myself. The day …

1973 Laundromat

By Carl Scharwath There are so many happy times and memories in a young person’s life. A first love, first kiss, first car, high school, and college graduations and the most transformative-your very own home. Your first place represents freedom, now you can do whatever you love  with no parental restrictions and even perhaps get …

Crazophobia

By LKB Boe I coined a word today—crazophobia. Crazophobia is the fear of contracting a mental illness by being in close proximity to or touching a mentally ill person, or by hearing scary stories about the mentally ill. The common cure is to ridicule, ostracize, or otherwise demean the mentally ill person in order to …

Synaptic Interferences

By Fabrizia Faustinella You are very organized. This world is full of distractions and inevitably declines into disorder. Entropy always increases with time, resulting in randomness. Therefore, it is critical to stay organized.  You are a list maker. Lists help you to compartmentalize. Everything is placed in the right column and the right box: things …