Are you ready to meditate on what makes a monster? On witch hunts and scapegoating? On how we think about our own identity, origin stories, and actions in the world? "Monsters," the 2019 fall issue of Root Quarterly will take a look under the bed. EXPLORE THE ISSUE NOW

ARTWORKEric Battle, Kate Glasheen, Isa Segalovich, Christopher Spencer, and Andrea Walls

OPENING SALVO
“Song of Ourselves” // When are we the monster? And when the pitchfork-wielding mob? What are the monsters hiding under own beds? // Editor’s Notes by Heather Shayne Blakeslee

STREETVIEW
Recommendation // “Ghost in the Machine” // The Mutter Museum’s “Spit Spreads Death” exhibit
Destination // “Stranger Things at the Ultimate Upside Down” // ‘Gremlins’ at the Laurel Hill Cemetery Film Series
Constellations // “Magic Potions Amid the Dragons” // Diana’s Lu’s love letter to Ray’s Cafe in Chinatown
Root Recipe // Fall Fennel Salad

ART & IDEAS
“Monsters: A Case Study” // Excerpt from “Orders and the Wonders of Nature” // Lorraine Daston & Katharine Park
“The Book of X” // Fiction Excerpt by Sarah Rose Etter
”King of the Monsters” // Ginger Rudolph profiles Graphic Artist Eric Battle
“Hell is Love” // Essay by Lauren Leonard // Reckoning with your record collection amid the cries of cancel culture
”Convicted and Burned” // Are we capable of stopping the cycle of online outrage? // Cultural criticism by Walter Foley and Heather Shayne Blakeslee
“Don’t Believe His Poetry” // Joshua Mehigan’s gets up close with death in Katharine Hollander’s poem ‘Der Tod’

SWITCHBACKS
“As Far As I Know” // A multi-racial adoptee faces up to the complications of a DNA test // Essay by Angel Hogan and artwork by Andrea Walls