THE RANT: Smoke This
Rantmaster Brian Dykstra is smokin' hot about the tobacco companies' hypocrisy. Plus, a BONUS MINI-RANT aimed at the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. (Ouch!)

FICTION: Notes on Sinking
Clay Shirky creates another exquisite piece of Metafiction for Urban Desires.

PHOTOGRAPHER: Daniel Hayes Uppendahl
His piercing images, verse and philosophy will penetrate your mind, stay until their welcome is past and linger just a while more.

Masquerade
A parable in words and pictures, text by Sharron Matarazzo, photos by Peter Horvath.

CU-SeeMe
Steve Meloan takes us on a Cu-Seeme journey through the limited bandwidth of the infopath.

CYBERPORN!!! (So What?!)
Clay Shirky helps us put all of the fuss into perspective. Can't we all just get along?

The Hall of Contraception
William Petric takes us on a stroll through the Toronto Contraceptive Museum. Hold on tight, there's a little turbulance up ahead.

The Lovely Poems
Allan Douglass Coleman shares a little poetry he wrote for a woman he calls Lovely. He took the photos too!

State O' The Nation
Derek Ferguson raps on the state of Hip Hop and other Urban treasures.

Music Reviews
Resident tone jockey, David Levine did a little extra credit this month. He presents us with his take on 5 of the latest to hit the scene.

MOVIE REVIEWS: Desperado, To Die For & Dangerous Minds
Our reviewers team up to feed our need for external critical validation.

INTERVIEW: Michelle Pfeiffer
Kastle speaks with (swoon) Michelle Pfeiffer about doing time in Dangerous Minds.

INTERVIEW: N'Bushe Wright
Deborah Gregory gives us what we want. Some insight into an upstart.

Pumpkin
Peter Cassell takes us back in time, then leads out of Summer and into Fall.

Why I Hate Coffee Bars
Peter Selgin oozes opinion on the recent influx of tres hip coffee bars. He RRREALLY doesn't like them.

A Ventriloquist Convention
Denise Dowling takes in a convention where the dummies take center stage.

Siberian Notebook
Tod Mesirow jotted a few witty tales into his journal, packed them up in an electron envelope and sent them to us. We put them back on "RealPaper(TM)" for him!

Want to contribute?
Are you a writer, artist or photographer? Have a good idea for an article? Tell our managing editor Gabrielle Shannon - gaby@desires.com.