You’re falling asleep. Your body relaxes, your mind expands, the lines between lucidity and fantasy begin to blur and, suddenly . . . you’re falling. Your muscles twitch, your body jerks, and you’re awake, lying in your bed, stable as a foundation. Not falling.

Falling dreams are the most common dreams. Scientists have suggested that this is due to our past, when our ancient ancestors lived on the ground, but slept in trees. Falling in those primordial days would likely be fatal, so we evolved an instinct to warn us, something to jerk us awake just before we slipped off the brink.

In this month’s issue of InTheFray, we feature The men on the streets, a piece by Amber Bard that looks at the lives of Nigerians and other Africans in Tokyo, Japan. Next, we have Autumn light, 2 poems from Andrej Hočevar. Finally, we share Skin deep , Amy O’Loughlin’s review of Mark Jacobson’s book The Lampshade.

Some days I can’t help but wonder if we, as a society, are on the brink. I imagine this cynicism or gloominess is something that’s universal to the human experience, or at least universal throughout human history. Every generation seems to think that they’re the last bastion of tradition, and these damned kids are going to take us over the edge. Of course, this has never been the case, and I suspect that it won’t be now. We’ve evolved. Just as we start to slip over the edge, we startle, lurch awake, and slide back onto the branch.  

Aaron Richner I am a writer/editor turned web developer. I've served as both Editor-in-chief and Technical Developer of In The Fray Magazine over the past 5 years. I am gainfully employed, writing, editing and developing on the web for a small private college in Duluth, MN. I enjoy both silence and heavy metal, John Milton and Stephen King, sunrise and sunset. Like all of us, I contain multitudes.