By: Mark Kodama Johnny knew he had been here before – many times before. He could hear the Taliban fighters outside his mud hut, speaking Farsi. The leader – with a dark beard and eyes full of intense hate –…

By: Sandra L Todd I really wanted this job! I kept calling back and checking on my resume. They told me they needed to check out my references. I waited a couple of days and called back. I emailed and…

By: Kathleen Renk Working for God is never easy. I made my vows years ago, after being abandoned here at St. Brigid’s. The Laundry washed away my sin but I had nowhere to go so I started working for God….

By Bernie Silver Henry Parsons had never read Norman Vincent Peale or any of his countless successors, yet he believed in the power of positive thinking, having concluded on his own that attitude spelled the difference between winners and losers….

By: Alan Berger She grew up aware of the process of slaughter. She heard it. She saw saw it, she smelled it, she ate it. That is how it turns up down on the farm. This little big 10-year-old girl…

By: Mark Kodama Our new neighbors Bill and Charlotte had a son Nathan’s age and we were eager to find a playmate for our three-year-old son. My wife and I had met them at an open house. He was a…

By: Todd Mercer The Assistant Town Drunk doesn’t want the pressure that goes part and parcel with managerial titles. So he lives in Town Drunk’s shadow. Call it messing up at messing up. He has laid down and will again…

By: Kaitlyn Reese saw the word “unique” when I was ten. It was hidden in an ancient book in my grandmother’s office, covered by a pile of tousled blue shirts, the same we’d all wear on Monday. I confided in…

By: A. Richard Sogliuzzo Vincent glanced at the graffiti on the wall of the Flatbush Avenue/Brooklyn College subway station, and then laughed. Amidst the usual array of “fuck you, eat shit, etc.” on the walls was a declaration that resonated…

By: Kusum Choppra Through my bedroom window, I look down on a giant bedroom. It sleeps 23 odd scattered around, singles, doubles, triples and quartets. Dark nights offer no glimpse that I rush to catch at daylight. My eyes first…