by Phill Pappas | illustration by Chad Higgenbotham
During the summer of 2004, I had an eighty-nine day contract with Ford Motor Corp. My commute from Ann Arbor to The Rouge in Dearborn, Michigan began at 5:30 am. The effects of whatever I had been drinking and smoking the night before lingered as lightly as the Russian occupation of Berlin. I would speed down I-94 to the Schaffer road exit in my red, two-door Ford Escort off of two hours of sleep. My only thoughts during the drive were to stay awake and, at all costs, get to my station on the line by 6:00 am.
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06 Feb

Eighty-Nine Days at The Rouge
February 6, 2014
05 Feb

Remembering Tejano East Austin:
Can the Tejano Trails project save the community’s place in history?
February 5, 2014
by Feliks Garcia
You may have heard that Austin is booming. The city ranks just fifth in the United States for number of tech start-ups, and second in the nation for jobs in those start-ups. The crime rate’s low, houses are cheap—just fifteen percent below the national average— property values are on the rise (so buy now!), and just about 160 people are moving here daily. And therein lies the problem: As capital pours into the city through the new residents and new companies and new developers, many of Austin’s neighborhoods—especially historically African-American and Latino neighborhoods— face the risk of cultural and historical erasure. And right now, everyone has their sights set on East Austin.
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04 Feb
03 Feb

VHS v. Beta
February 3, 2014
30 years ago, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Sony’s Betamax, deciding that it was legal to record television programs from the comfort of one’s living room couch.
But let’s fast-forward to a mere 25 years ago: An episode of Gilligan’s Island—the episode where the Professor builds a radio, or maybe the one where the island natives are lurking behind palm trees—is playing in the basement. The episodes are interrupted by the ongoing updates of fund drive success for the local Cleveland PBS station and commercials for stuffed animals, whose noses would fill with whirling plastic beads when depressed, or those plush dogs that littered puppies on demand. All you had to do was pull the pups from the mother’s gut and stuff them back in (just like real life) when you wanted to settle down to recreate scenes from The Miracle of Life—another film my family owned on Beta.
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02 Feb

Cilantro
February 2, 2014
by Conor O’Rourke | photo by Sean David Bradley
I had planted the cilantro on a whim a few weeks before and been surprised at how quickly it had grown. Barely three weeks had passed since I had pressed the seeds into the damp earth of the pot on my windowsill; for me, a new haircut, for this plant, a whole lifetime. Harvesting it was harder than I thought it would be. You have to be careful when you touch the silky green leaves, so tiny and impossibly soft, for fear of marring their perfectly mint-colored surfaces with dark, blackish bruises. I have never been so gentle with a plant before.
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01 Feb

From the Editor: Nostalgia
February 1, 2014
If you’re looking for an escape, you’ve come to the right place. Let yourself be whisked away to the whimsical 1990s, where times were simpler. The United States wasn’t involved in (many) (overt) wars, and most of us weren’t old enough to pay rent yet. I have faith that most of us pay rent now. Life felt hard, but was manageable for the lucky among our readers.
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20 Oct

Issue 04 Contributors
October 20, 2013
Read more about this issue’s contributors!
19 Oct

Self Portrait as My Dachshund Max
October 19, 2013
Sometimes I try to make eye contact with my dog
and fail.
17 Oct

Euthanasia
October 17, 2013
words by Feliks Garcia | illustration by Stav Sela
Everybody handles loss differently. Some take up hobbies, some drink, some cry, and some bottle the pain to the point that it becomes prolonged denial.
16 Oct

City of Coins
October 16, 2013
This year, Edwin, while bending down to feed his turtles, would collapse into his bathtub, Grandpa discovering him early the next morning, water still running, turtles clustered on the opposite side of the porcelain tub.
15 Oct

Friends
October 15, 2013
Manny had stared with cold indifference as he slowly but deliberately forced the wide blade into Sir Reggie’s chest, stopping only when the jewel-encrusted hilt reached bone.
14 Oct
AZOTH
October 14, 2013
The alchemists, curious characters, who combined aspects of proto-scientist, psychologist, student of the mysteries, and downright charlatan. Their goal was to transform the body and mind into something incorruptible and magnificent.
13 Oct
Alaska Wild
October 13, 2013
Behold! The majesty of Alaskan wildlife!
12 Oct

The Peyote Gospel
October 12, 2013
Elephants get shitfaced, goats get tweaked out on caffeine, dolphins can use LSD to overcome PTSD, and cats go HAM over catnip.
10 Oct

Savages in Concert
October 10, 2013
We are all Savages.
08 Oct

Werewolf Joe
October 8, 2013
In the communal bathroom
on the fourth floor you can sometimes
hear Werewolf Joe whistling off-key
melodies by Warren Zevon…
07 Oct
When Handimals Attack
October 7, 2013
The hands in these photographs are unexpected, cunning, and full of mischief and bloodlust.
06 Oct

An Afternoon at Gus Fruh Pool
October 6, 2013
Michael Tamlin skipped a rock across muddy water and thought, What a beautiful day to be me! A warm breeze ruffled his close cropped curls, streaked with gel and shimmering with the joy of lazy Saturday well spent.