Julian Grant
Bio
Julian Grant is a professional filmmaker, educator, and author of strange short stories plus full-length novels/ non-fiction texts and comics. A tenured Associate Professor at Columbia College Chicago, his work has been published worldwide.
Stories (5/0)
Sagittarian For Life
I'd grown up never really appreciating all of the great things possible for myself. Too early, I'd let my friends, family, and everyone I worked with push me down and not let my inner light shine. It was easier to just go along with everyone who thought they knew better than I did.
By Julian Grant3 years ago in Motivation
Little Black Book
Shakti stared at her book and wept tears of joy knowing that she would never forsake her - she couldn't. She'd never before allowed herself space to grieve for all she had lost, her thin, calloused fingers cramping as she torqued them against the threadbare stained cover. Inside, her memories, her beloved letters from Jahad on tissue-thin paper, the yellow flower pressed by Mama when she was five, tucked inside as bookmark, were all she had left from another land and time. She knew the well-worn journal would protect her treasures, they had seen her through the worst part of the last trip possible here. The bittersweet anguish could not hurt her precious diary, nor the spider-webbed pleas she had etched inside day and night. This little black book was holy writ - and hers alone to carry forward.
By Julian Grant3 years ago in Families
Gary, IN USA
I live in the shitty part of Chicagoland - where regular people lock their car doors when they drive through. You know the places - where people of color live on streets named after Ceasar Chavez or Martin Luther King. We don't even have those roads here but people still get scared. I'm not saying that racism doesn't exist here because we're all the same - it sure as fuck does - but here, in Gary, IN, USA, it's like Detroit. You don't want to be here if you got a choice.
By Julian Grant3 years ago in Photography
Short by 47 Cents
I shop at Aldi's, the discount market that shares its buying power with the fancy Trader Joes here in Chicago (they're owned by two brothers). Both serve different customers though - Aldi's being the cheaper, cleary, but it's not poor ugly, like most knock-off stores with dusty pallets of stale food dumped on a dirty floor with yellow fluorescent lighting buzzing overhead. It's spotlessly clean in there, with orderly rows of off-brand wine, exotic chocolate, organic jerky ($3.99 package/ 100 percent grass-fed beef), and gourmet nuts all right there as you come in - all in well-groomed but cut-rate rows. You don't feel beggared here, yet most of the people that come here are. Mom's counting pennies using their weekly flyer for Appetito's Soft Pretzels, vegan chicken nuggets for the kids, or frozen canapes from France (Two for Ten), or old folks like me stretching every dollar they got. Your government assistance SNAP card can be used on any of these Aldi things just fine but not for kid or adult diapers or lady toilet paper stuff, go figure.
By Julian Grant3 years ago in Feast
Fresh Start
I want to stop using this year. To kick it, for real. I know I say that every year, but this year, it’s for real-real. So many of my pals had gone before, you know. They just faded or ended up turning bright blue in someone’s bathroom or coming to an end on the street or a bar. I’ve been lucky for too long and know that I’ve run my luck. I can’t breathe right and I’m real hot.
By Julian Grant3 years ago in Psyche
