Five on the Fifth

In This Issue

Park Bench in Queens (Cover Photo): Mehrnoosh Torbatnejad

Spacewalk (Flash Fiction): Laura Lantz

Monday Morning (Flash Fiction): Amanda Ellard

Offering (Flash Fiction): Patrick Roland

On the Fence (General Fiction): Gregory Ballinger

21 (Flash Fiction): Lily Thomson

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Editor’s Note:

Once again, the world faces yet another frightening and dark moment in its history where many of us feel uncertain and fearful about what the future holds. Once again, my beloved country of Iran has come under brutal attack and while I’m going to refrain from offering any sort of political commentary, my stance is clear: I am vehemently against this illegal, unjust war waged on my beautiful country and people no matter the reasoning or justification behind it and I, as a proud Iranian-American woman, do not stand for or support it in any way.

Back in June, I decided to momentarily halt the publication of our issues for as long as the war continued out of respect for the devastation brought upon my country and the lives lost. This time, however, I will do no such thing. We will continue publishing as a form of resistance, resilience, and respite from all the chaos. I dedicate each issue to my resilient country and people and hope it offers a small bit of comfort and light to our community of readers and followers amidst so much darkness. To better, brighter days.

Long live Iran.

Mahdis Marzooghian

Five on the Fifth Editor-in-Chief