Contents
The Land of Opportunity Welcomes All
Jared Lemus
Ryan Diaz
Robert Penick
Sarah Unger
John Higgins
Editor's Note
Greetings. I hope this new edition of Scribble finds you well, keeping safe, and mostly sane. I say "mostly" sane, because , world-wide, all of us are trying to resist a marauding, invisible enemy, a pathogen that isn't yet fully understood, a disease that is no respecter of persons, one that has already taken so much. This surreal situation we find ourselves in is not easy to bear.
It isn't the first time the planet has experienced a pandemic of this magnitude. We know that it will eventually end. We know that life goes on.
But, this is all very stressful, to say the least.
One thing I realized during my lockdown is how important art is for my mental and emotional well-being. The Arts are essential among life's essentials.
Thank you to all who continue to create. I need you. We need you.
Enjoy these five, riveting short pieces, and, as always, thank you for reading.
(Wear a mask)
Jae Worthy Johnson
Editor-In-Chief
Contributors
Jared Lemus is a Latinx writer whose work has appeared in the Kenyon Review Online, PANK, Prime Number Magazine, and elsewhere. He is an MFA candidate at the University of Pittsburgh, where he has been awarded the William S. Dietrich Fellowship. He currently serves as a contributing editor for Barren Magazine.
Ryan Diaz is a poet and writer from Queens, New York. He currently lives with his wife Janiece in Long Island. Ryan is an avid coffee drinker and enjoys long theological tomes paired with a cigar.
Robert Penick's work has appeared in over 100 different literary journals, including The Hudson Review, North American Review, and The California Quarterly. He lives in Louisville, KY and edits Ristau: A Journal of Being. In 2018, he won the Slipstream Press chapbook competition. More of his writing can be found at www.theartofmercy.net
Sarah Unger is an astronomer by day and a writer by night, though the two are interchangeable. Her first short story For The Love of Green was published in the November 2019 issue of Scribble, and this piece was short-listed in Scribble's 2019 Short Fiction Contest.
John Higgins is a 23-year-old Irish writer. He has a B.A. in English & History. His work has been featured in Honest Ulsterman, New Pop Lit, and The Blue Nib, among others. He was recently shortlisted for the Scribble Short Story Contest. He lives in Galway. You can read his work on Twitter: @JohnhigginsW.