the first edition of scissors and spackle, a journal of the written world. Ben Leib, the author of the short story "The Gifts I Received," which is featured in the first issue of Equinox, has lived in Santa Cruz on and off for the past twelve years. You may have seen him in his plaid shirt, drinking endless coffee in the Delmarette or on the patio of Pergolesi, smoking as many Lucky Strikes as suit his needs, pounding the keys of his Toshiba like they insulted his grandmother. Ben Leib writes intensely subjective narratives with a keen eye for detail and an unorthodox tendency for introspection. His short stories have been published in a bevy of independent lit rags. For links to the other wonderful stories that he's written, check him out on facebook at http://facebook.com/the.swollen.pen.The Scissors and Spackle Editors: We are artists, creators, second-time students and writers. We are stuck in dead end day jobs. But we are first readers. Readers of newspapers, magazines, novels and flash. Poetry, memoir and pieces that defy confine. When there is nothing else around we are sometimes readers of cereal boxes, catsup ingredient lists and shampoo instructions. We are taking up space in Los Angeles, CA but are also from Bailey and Denver CO, Twenty Nine Palms and Atlanta, Northern Virginia and New Orleans. We have grown tired of the war against language. It has become too easy to skip written words. We hope to create a platform for drinking in strings of them. We want to stand in the battlefield with so many other qualified publications to fight the good fight and keep language alive through writing and more through reading what has been written.