Digital issues Archives | midnight & indigo

Our First Digital Issue is here!

midnight & indigo — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 04:12:16 +0000

It’s here – midnight & indigo digital issue no.1! Featuring 10 short stories and essays by Black women writers from the U.S., Africa, and Europe, our first-ever all-digital issue introduces characters learning secrets, defining themselves, and making sense of love. From beach towns to round-the-way grocery stores, beauty shops to being Black-at-work, join us for a literary journey. Contributors include: Kim Brandon | Favour Iruoma Chukwuemeka | Athena Dixon | Johannah Maria Fienburgh | Nikita Haynie | Jessica Kelley | Oghenesuvwe Kokoricha | Jā. R. Macki | Serenity Marshall | Kendall Tiarra IN THIS ISSUE: Short stories “Sandcastles” by Johannah

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Sandcastles

Johannah Maria Fienburgh — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 04:10:05 +0000

Behind them, the sun is rising. They’ve been crammed in the car for hours. Jimmy and Josie shouting about castle building and crab finding and wave jumping and ice cream eating, their voices a cacophonous wave from the back seat as baby Cal stared, wide-eyed, between them. Ben, next to her in the driver’s seat, cringed at their every shriek, his fingers tightening around the steering wheel. The white bump of his knuckles only loosened when she’d stroked a calming hand over his shoulder, when he’d tipped his head and brushed his cheek to her fingers. In contrast to the

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Finding Her Again

Oghenesuvwe Kokoricha — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 04:09:23 +0000

I like to find myself in works of art. Sometimes I see my sister in them too—our relationship at different times captured in different moments. My life is in the paint and clay I see before me at the Dallas Museum of Art. My sister fails to see it though. She stalks and paces the exhibits as I meander through them. The paintings shout to me as they whisper to her. There is one that I think would stop her in her tracks as much as it did me. I bring her to one in particular. I want her to

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About Your X

Jā. R. Macki — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 04:08:40 +0000

Furloughs layoffs second layoffs meetings business arms financial investments millions low percentage growth surveys money theme inflation HR research investment raise performance evaluation quantity quality 90% of employees surveyed say X is a nice place to work. [X][X][X] X marks the spot where passive-aggressive pressures persist for performance when there’s no work to speak of. You’re in the emergency room waiting for this place to code. X marks the spot where they should run a sale on homes not a train on emotions. X marks the spot where suggestions for improvement pass through Black lips like apparitions through drywall. X

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Running Tabs

Athena Dixon — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 04:07:41 +0000

A country block from our Noble Street home, Ralph’s Deli had always been. The store was the epicenter of our side of the tracks. A low-income neighborhood not too far from the metropolitan houses that looked like a government subsidized, cookie-cutter suburb or the tracts of single family homes sometimes owned and sometimes rented. At Ralph’s, the fried chicken and jojos fogged the hot food case before being slipped into aluminum lined bags by the pound or the piece. There were long blue Kisko Freezies in the waist highs next to the checkout. Coolers of drinks and frozen foods. All

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Cats, Dogs, and Turtles

Serenity Marshall — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 04:06:59 +0000

Sean is not you. Sean doesn’t drag me from bed at three in the morning, mouth pasty, eyes red, to marvel from my window at the homeless couple traipsing through the snow. Sean isn’t awed, doesn’t say it’s beautiful, these two people battling the elements wrapped in a dingy blanket, holding hands. Sean doesn’t sit cross-legged in my bed eating beef with broccoli from the carton. He doesn’t read his horoscope aloud from the astrology app on his phone while trying to brush his teeth, his words garbled, foam covering his bottom lip. I am not upset. Sean is not

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What it takes to be (Wo)Man

Favour Iruoma Chukwuemeka — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 04:05:36 +0000

The past sticks with us forever, even when we change names or give up our brains to be wiped out. I have successfully tip-toed around the past, hushing those voices that remind me what I was. But salt on open wounds stirred fresh pains, like the voice in the other room when my mother starts to wail. The rooms in our bungalow have always been empty, yet crowded with the memories my childhood managed to capture. I was a toddler when Tobenna dragged his books and wooden table under the trees in our yard to study. I remember he was

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Songs My Mama Used To Sing

Kim Brandon — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 04:04:29 +0000

Now Mo never mentioned the former residences for 2728 Prospect Street, unless she was spitting mad, and even then it wasn’t enough information to tell the tale. It was more “that no count” or “that weasel” or “that burnt Chicken shit.” On a couple of occasions, I worked up the nerve and asked, “Who?” “Your Mama!”she’d snap. Or “Your people.” But it was the slow glare from her fiery red glaze that said tread carefully. I could feel the heat coming off her. Mo must have been four or five times as big as me. I was underdeveloped and thin

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Traveling in Twist Outs: The Hair Politics of Black Women Abroad

Kendall Tiarra — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 04:03:17 +0000

I scroll the #blacktravelfeed hashtag on Instagram enduring hour 5 of my hair braiding appointment. Three hours remaining, I contemplate changing my usual box braids style to Senegalese twists for my next beach holiday in Mexico, wondering if the looser-textured braids would withstand the heavy waters of the Caribbean. I also wonder how the beautiful, bikini-clad women on my feed maintain their silky Malaysian bundles while swimming, and why the weaves I wore in high school were so tragic. The Dominican hair braiders are speaking in a Spanish accent I quite haven’t grasped, despite being in Spain—yet the feelings of

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The Shop

Jessica Kelley — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 04:02:30 +0000

Following closely behind church and Grandmama’s House, the third most important cultural center/gathering place in the Black community is The Shop. This can be the barbershop or the beauty shop. I don’t know much about barbershops outside of a few visits with my brother when we were young. They aren’t for women, unless you have a young son who needs a cut and his dad or uncles are otherwise unavailable to take him. Sometimes you can get away with going if you’ve got a brush cut or a taper that needs fading and your stylist isn’t so good with the

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