Preview Issue #16
How the American Public got Sold on Breakfast
Telling the story of the rise of the classic American breakfast. From spun facts and grossly calculated numbers to make the breakfast foods we know the common choice, and in some cases the only choice. Break free from the confines of stigma, dive into the understanding of nutrition, and learn how the American public got sold on breakfast.
There is really nothing quite like the American Breakfast. A time-honored traditions of this country. It draws on the imagery from the past and a mother setting the table in the morning for the hearty start of the day. Anybody living in America can recall the plethora of commercials from their youth expressing the most important meal of the day.
Every diner on every corner serving “America’s favorite breakfast” to every commuter, road tripper, and trucker anytime of day they could possibly want it.
But, you might be wondering, why is this? Who decided that these things should be what we think of when we think “breakfast”? Nutrition and eating habits have been sold to you by the work of the great American machine. Why we eat the meats we do and plenty of it, gorge on grains in every fathomable way, and ruin our fruit with an unimaginable amount of sugar?
Life: As It Came For Me
A collection of several poems reflecting on the growth of life and the woes of love. From the perspective of two, from first meeting to last words. Running through the passionate stages of romance and finding joy in the simplicity of the hum drum of life.
Asked to sit with you at the end of the day.
Just another bench in the lobby.
A coy exchange, well if it’s alright.
A few sweet words turned the promise of friends to lovers.
Eyes on each other this whole time.
An intimate eleven percent kiss.
In hidden spots amongst herbicides.
Love’s confined.
Amongst mystery in the plant nursery.
A nod, catch our breath, assurance it’s real.
I’ll return, and you’ll be mine.
Sweet words, you’ll be mine.
That flicker of loving to love.
You were bad for me.
If only for a day.
Perhaps if we loved in a different time.
Would this go on forever?
Too suede from the chalked out bodies on the floor.
The psycho chasing too slow to worry.
Lost to the intimate.
No foresight of commitment.
If I had a second chance, third chance, a fourth to mourn.
I don’t quite know what you mean to me.
To ring you up, secret love, notes that rhyme.
The moment I saw you were mine.
These Pages Were Supposed to Have Something On It.
Wonderful World of Appliances
A horror short story showing the thrills of a thief faced with the end of the world or the end of himself, all in a local appliance factory showroom. What starts as a burglary for appliances to fit in his bunker, turns into a reflection of the looming dangers of what will come when everything finally falls. Fearing the long road or the sudden crash, the fear continues to creep in the silent night, engulfing every thought.
I always thought to myself that it would be really challenging to break and enter. It was always a fascinating idea; as a kid, you imagine spending the night in a store and getting to enjoy all the machines and toys you could never afford to have. But, to break in willingly, that
was something more than a fantasy. It was enough of a push away that I never really seriously considered it. Desperate times, I suppose.
The window was much easier to break than I thought - the glass smashed under the weight of my rock, and there was total silence after the glass had settled. I was in.
This night, I found myself in the midst of an appliance factory’s showroom. As I stepped through the jagged window frame, I took in the seemingly endless rows of washing machines, fridges, ovens, and pretty much any kind of new machine you could imagine in any room in your home. All of these things I could never even afford to look at. I had to focus and look today, though.
I started perusing as one of the TV’s turned on to static. It took a few moments for my heart to settle, and just as I had calmed from the shock, the TV flipped to a channel - a news reel but only the portion that said, “we must all get ready now.” Eerily on topic… it played over and over in the silent showroom. The dim lighting of the night’s spotlight along with the television flashes kept every shadow moving.