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!
“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…
Separated Faces (A Year in Baltimore)
Esteban Cajigas
My mother opens her eyes to a vast cloud of nothingness. Freckles…
Oversharing 101: #getoversharing
Kate Carmody
Sometimes I have a problem with oversharing. The lady next…
Not So Random Thoughts About Light, Dark and Hope
Jesus Sierra
I took BART into San Francisco to do my writing work today.…
Octavia, How do We “Shape Chaos”?
Meredith Arena
In the house I share with five people, I spearhead the vegetable…
Word Vomit: My Sacrifice to the Gods
Nikki San Pedro
Where is the most public place you’ve puked? With this year’s…
On Writing, Fathers and Sons
Jesus Sierra
I began to write after Pipo, my father, passed away. I was a…
Conversations Needed Between Mother and Daughter
Shaneka Jones Cook
Growing up no one ever talked to me about the essential knowledge…
Groundhog Daying Our Lives with Each Memoir Draft
Nikki San Pedro
There is a certain luxury enjoyed by us memoirists. We get to…
Sitting Under the Redwoods
Jerry Parent
Did I create the monster lovingly known as my son? Or is this…
Those Who Have and Those Who Don’t
Diane Gottlieb
Money flows in the North Shore of Long Island. It flows through…
We F**king Exist: Seven Writers on Seven Words
Meredith Arena and the Friday Lunch Blog Team
(do not erase) based- …
Earth Is a Body Who Knows Us
Gillian Reingold
“…frescoes translating violence into patterns so powerful…
What I Learned When Maria Came to Visit
Jesus Francisco Sierra
“Dad, the hurricane sent Puerto Rico back to the stone…
From Writer to Writer/Activist
Kathleen Katims
Those two punctured windows of the Mandalay Bay Hotel from the…
Psychic Servitude
John C. Fitzsimmons
It was a routine morning in the spring of my senior year at Vestal…
What I Thought About When It All Went Dark
Jesus Francisco Sierra
At the intersection of Hayes and Van Ness, a thin elderly man…
Between the Lines: Unsolved Mysteries After Death
Kori Kessler
Growing up, I consumed mysteries—gorged even. I binge-watched…
Reaching Out for Incarcerated Voices
Emma Margraf
When you walk in the doors of a prison, you can’t help but…
Monster Under a Clear Blue Sky: Anger, Meditation, and Writing
Meredith Arena
One of my five roommates recently told me I am aggressive. We…
Excuse Me, Have You Seen God?
Andre Hardy
Recently I went to Spirit Rock Meditation Center searching for…