Friday Lunch Blog

Dig in every month as our Lunch Ticket staff brings you thought-provoking personal essays and nonfiction stories in our Friday Lunch Blog. From stories about grief and loss, to tales of growing up and overcoming challenges, to celebratory pieces about love and family, these stories are shared every second Friday of the month. With these blogs, we aim to give you a glimpse into Lunch Ticket and the values we stand by for this literary publication, to empower writers and readers with the knowledge and skills to lead meaningful lives and to advance social, economic, and environmental justice. We hope you enjoy!

Remember Raw Oysters?

Sarah Haas
Often I wondered how food could let him forget himself and when I asked him, he said it was probably…

Orange is the New… Metamorphosis

Alisha Escobedo
At twenty, I should have been educated on how to avoid this road, but instead I dove into the forbidden…

The Lottery

A.D. Lowman
Moving to a better school district would mean leaving behind a community where seeing Black leaders, business owners, and even…

Open Your Mouth (Silence Won’t Save You)

Alexis McCadney
Silence was a luxury I couldn’t afford as a little girl. It’s a luxury that no little Black girl can…

Five Myths: A Daughter’s Guide to Surviving (your mother’s) Stroke

Janet Rodriguez
The day your mother has a stroke, you have to admit you know almost nothing.It starts when you receive a…

Looking Toward My Reflection

Lisa Croce
My words held up a mirror and exhibited the same qualities she’d always instilled in me, one last time. Two…

When You Have NPC Parents and No Cheat Codes

Stephanie Teasley
This whole situation was like trying to find all the hidden items of Zelda. Can’t you enjoy the game without…

Admissions: Part 1

Louise Rozett
I was 16. It was fall of my senior year, and I was applying to colleges. But I knew where…

Julian

Cristina Medina
Shame defined my womanhood, then motherhood when I gave birth to my first son two years later. The vessel in…
Polo by Henrietta Harris

The Mind, The Body, The Voice

Regan Humphrey
When asked, I almost always give up and offer the term “a nonsexual orgy.” People enter a dance studio in…

What We Think We Know

Sarah Haas
I wondered what it must be like to live every day looking death so directly in the face. I stepped…

More Than Four Squares

Tom Pyun
A recent DNA analysis told me I’m “less likely to freckle,” “more susceptible to male pattern baldness,” and have “a…

What We Hold Inside

Janet Rodriguez
Nesting Matryoshka dolls were originally created as an homage to family, each doll at home inside a loving matriarch. Now…

Diagnosis

Esteban Cajigas
Two years after being hospitalized, I’m still not 100% certain…

For the Love of It

Liz Tynes Netto
am·a·teur·ism /ˈamədəˌrizəm,ˈaməˌt(y)o͝oˌrizəm,ˈaməˌCHo͝oˌrizəm/ noun: amateurism …

Center of the Living Room

Cristina Van Orden
My father is a simple man in old age. He lives on the outskirts…

Mad Scientist

Kate Carmody
Books rest on shelves, floors, tables, and chairs in my home.…

Small Details

Andrea Auten
I notice small details. Hairline cracks in a wall, misspellings…

When Greek Gods Fall

Tom Pyun
His name was Nicolas. We called him “Greek God.” It was…

UFYH

by Lily Caraballo
Sometime in the past week or so, I hit a funk. I decided to catch…
Young black woman standing in front of pink background turns head to side yelling into a megaphone.

The Reluctant Activist

A.D. Lowman
I rifled through the plastic container, searching for the perfect…
Author with their sibling

Big Sib, Little Sib

Adrien Kade Sdao
I was 14 when my mom told me she was pregnant. Right away, I knew it would be a little…

Invincible (Two Missed Calls)

Esteban Cajigas
It’s the eve of my mother’s heart surgery. I’m not referring…

Bad Connection

E.P. Floyd
My husband and I married in Madison, Wisconsin four years ago…

Los Angeles in the Rain

Adrien Kade Sdao
My car’s having problems, again, so I’ve been taking the…

New Math

A.D. Lowman
Dear [REDACTED], At first, I stared at your e-mail and blinked…

The Language of Community

Janet Rodriguez
Once I gave up alcohol, sugar and flour, there were only…

A Queer Declaration

Alisha Escobedo
Over the weekend, I watched Gaycation for the first time. This…

Awakening the Unconscious Legacy [trigger warning]

Kate Carmody
I dreamt I was a sex slave. One of many, though I couldn’t…

Being A Stepmother

Liz Tynes Netto
Being a stepmother is different from being a mother. And maybe…

Finding the Woman with Jasmine: A Self-Portrait

Cristina Van Orden
My husband kissed me in the middle of the night eight months…
The startling difference between XXY and XY runners

How Roland Barthes Changed My Life

Gene Manne
My original piece for this was titled “What It Means to Be…

Now What?

Lily Caraballo
I graduated two weeks ago, but it feels like a year went…

The Passport Nightmare

Jasper Henderson
They say that as much as the human mind can remember experiences…

#VirginiaWoolf, #Instagram, and #Feminism

E.P. Floyd
#ARoomofOnesOwn What would Virginia Woolf do? Upon…

Everybody’s Child

Andrea Auten
Dear Dad, I’m writing to you for help. Weeks now, I’ve…

In and Out

Sarita Sidhu
I learned to breathe in Virginia Beach, at the age of thirty-six.…

Live, Work, Skate

Tom Pyun
You’re ten years old and your father says you’re handsome.…

Packing Lists and Passed-On Traits

E.P. Floyd
Thick wool hiking socks, check. Eight pairs of underwear,…

Bad Vegan

Sarita Sidhu
  Colorful, steaming bowls of dhal (lentils) and hot…

Becoming Buddha

Diane Gottlieb
I sit at the keyboard rapidly typing, as my student and I are…

The Takers

Andrea Auten
I’m terrified of masks. Don’t come calling on me if you’re…

The View From 10,000 Feet

Jasper Henderson
One day when I was thirteen, I took my allowance down to Windsong…

Delusions of Grandeur

Esteban Cajigas
What's Past is Prologue The man said sorry. That's all he could…

April Brucker: International Woman of Mystery

April Brucker
It’s 8:30 a.m., and unlike me, New York City is already fully…

Perpetual Summer

Adrien Kade Sdao
As a kid growing up on the asphalt of Los Angeles, I treasured…

Northside Newcomer

Kate Carmody
39.7768° N, 105.0382° W The clouded sky and thunder have been…

Hydration

Tom Pyun
Twenty years ago, in a storefront on Avenue D in New York’s…

Food Justice: A Menu

E.P. Floyd
Breakfast Club            I had a story…
Author's Photo Yvonne de la Cruz Sanchez

“We Are Connected, We Have the Same Blood”

Yvonne de la Cruz Sanchez
This morning was as close to a semi-typical morning as it…

Bending the Spectrum

Sarita Sidhu
A four-letter word that ends in “k.” That’s how my…

Separated Faces (A Year in Baltimore)

Esteban Cajigas
My mother opens her eyes to a vast cloud of nothingness. Freckles…

Identity

Kristina Ortiz
Two years ago, I was talking to my roommate, who is Mexican American,…

Put Yourself Up

Andrea Auten
I tell mothers: Be careful how you bodytalk in front of your…