Julie Wittes Schlack – Insourcing

Insourcing The warden’s most recent bid had come in lower than that of the Affiliated Garment Producers of Cambodia, so today the men of Apparel Unit 21 were producing robes for Buddhist monks. The irony of this situation wasn’t lost on Harrison as he stood in the sewing cell, watching hundreds of orange jump-suited men […]

Chris McCann – Business Trip

Business Trip I am the water in the storm drain. But not the water that pools in the darkness, nor the water that floods in from the street. No, I am the water as it plunges a second time after plummeting from the clouds. It is one of those heartsick situations where it seems possible […]

YZ Chin – Experienced C3PO Seeks Unique Challenges

Experienced C3PO Seeks Unique Challenges My business card read “C3PO.” The title stood, depending on who you asked, most often for Chief Peace/Poetry/People Officer. The office was in Silicon Alley, otherwise known as New Hack City. (As an ex-poet, I have my private concerns about these coinages, but that is beside the point.) At my […]

Nicholas A. White – The Powerlifter

The Powerlifter Obesity, poor diet, lack of cardiovascular exercise, high blood pressure. Billy had all of them. He dreamed of breaking powerlifting records, not longevity. On his first day at the office, he carried, in one trip, his entire collection of engineering books, reference materials, and personal items—four moving boxes stacked taller than his head. […]

Phillip Sterling – Clothes, and Other Forms of Occupation

Clothes, and Other Forms of Occupation When he realized the ink stain on his red tie was permanent, he packed into an empty Kleenex box four months’ worth of paperclips, two Post-It pads, the photo of his ex-wife with the dog she called Laundry (a dog that never really took to him in the eighteen […]