The air’s growing hot again in Southern California, and the political climate is boiling to a degree it hasn’t reached in years. Unemployment is nearing 10%, layoffs and foreclosures are soaring, and there’s a new face in the White House—suddenly and surprisingly the new home of Hope. The nation has been screaming for change; we’re at the bottom of the barrel, with nowhere to go but up…generally speaking. What a great time for new ideas! What a great time for a new magazine on the arts… What are we: Nuts?!

Indeed, and proud of it! Let’s kick off this new year, this new term, this new hope with a subtle brushfire in the streets of So Cal. It’s a time for losing yourself in order to find yourself, letting go of the old—even if it’s frightening and painful—and taking a hold of something new, of something yours, of something with meaning.

The great Indian philosopher and spiritual teacher J. Krishnamurti once told a crowd of his disciples the very secret of his mastery: “I don’t mind what happens.” That’s it! That was the secret! Think about it… You lose something, change happens. First you think it’s bad, then you realize it opens the door for more space to do something else, to do what you really love, perhaps to do what you were put on this planet for. So, let’s go with the flow, create more! Do what you were meant to do, what inspires you! Come together, here, now!

Let’s make L.A. a vortex for the national spirit, for the American artist, for the anti-establishment and the patriot party alike. Collaborate, create, write, comment, change… And send it all to us! Be strong, be you, go Forth into the abyss with your fears and your dreams and let it all go. Fuck it! Everything is important and nothing matters. Life is strange, and so are we. All of us, together. Ugh… Okay, there’s my rant. Like it, hate it, whatever. As long as you’re reading, we’re happy.

Jeremy Shawn Pollack
Publisher & Editor of FORTH

Download PDF of Issue #2

Table of Contents

Literature
Poetry

Language Pacifics by Cassandra Love
Scalp Feminine by Wendy Sue Morris
Swagger is a Woman by Cassandra Love

Fiction

Crash Into Me by Melanie Love
The Rate of Exchange by Joe Dornich

Science Fiction

The Far Touch (Part II) by Charlie Thomas

SubjExive Journalism

Dining at the Abattoir by W.C. Jennings

Art
Featured

Gorgeous and Gritty by Guru Thapar — Urban Photography

Photography

Landmark #5 by Brian Nieman
Circuitree. A Robot’s Vein. by Adam Yasmin

Painting

Splay #7 by Wendy Sue Morris
Reclining Female Nude by Daniel Peci
Acrylic Paintings by Ben Walker