Letter from the Editors:
We’re getting this issue to you just in time for the Fourth of July, meaning, much like Jonathan Franzen, you too can read Moonglasses poolside while sipping a martini. If you don’t have access to a swimming pool, you might read it while waiting for your next-door neighbor’s fireworks display to begin. If you’re not in America and therefore are not celebrating Independence Day, well, we envy you, mostly because we think this guitar-wielding old man, despite his confused grimace, is more intelligent than the President of the United States.
Speaking of guitar-wielding old men, we’ve got lots of strange stuff for you this time around! Sock puppets filled with ashes, Mortal Kombat fan fiction, and a hot list of baby names for future earth-dwellers to consider (assuming earth is still around in 3017), among other things. So, make your best Franzen-inspired martini and get to reading!
By the way, now we’re curious: what kind of drink would Franzen make? What do you think he’s sipping on this Fourth of July? Tweet us your best guesses!
Sincerely,
Aleyna, Kristen, Devan, and Ben
Poetry:
Ricky Garni – Since We All Die, Why Do We Have People Die (In the Movies)?
Joe Bisicchia – I’m Daniel Boone’s Pet Raccoon
Leonel Manzanares – Black Metal
Fiction:
Chris Drew – Not an Epic Trilogy
David Drury – Confession: I Yelled at a Room Full of Self-Identifying Poets
Creative Nonfiction:
Nathan Elliott – Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down
Between the Couch Cushions:
Terence Lane – 500 Baby Names for 3017
Things We Wrote When We Had Acne:
Valerie Wu – A Depiction of Woeful Understanding
Cover by Connor Rentz, after much disagreement over content and font size.