Fourth Wave is Serving Salad for Breakfast

Check out the new ingredients we’ve added to the mix

Photo by Edgar Castrejon on Unsplash

When I showed up at my son’s house to help with his new baby, his mother-in-law, who is visiting from Israel, was making breakfast. Would I like some? she asked. And I said I would, even though I’d already eaten and it was 10am.

Here’s what she served that day: a small bowl of beets, roasted and diced and spiced with cumin and olive oil; a small bowl of cauliflower florets, tossed in olive oil and roasted until they were browned at the tips; a plate of deviled eggs, which she called Russian eggs; a big bowl of salad, made with two colors of cabbage, parsley, green onions, boiled broccoli, chia seeds, and a dressing of lemon juice and olive oil; and some home made pizza dough toasted in triangles, creating flat bread which she spread with cream cheese.

This meal was unlike anything I’ve ever eaten for breakfast before, and in the visits that followed, I had salad and assorted vegetables for breakfast again and again.

And now? I prefer it! For the past few days, I’ve been making salad for breakfast for myself at home.

Here was a food choice I’d never made before, never heard of, never even imagined, yet is eaten by vast swaths of people in Israel, the Middle East, and across the Mediterranean. And it feels far better in my body — more like fuel and less like ballast — than my usual breakfast choices.

That cross-cultural gift — that exposure to new foods and flavors from a person who lives differently than I do — is the kind of literary feast that I want to serve on Fourth Wave. And in the months since our last newsletter, we’ve cooked up some delicious dishes here.

So now the invite: would you like to stay for breakfast?

Take a look at our menu. Try a writer you haven’t tasted before. Enjoy someone different, and let their food (for thought) inspire you. Because there are infinite dishes you can put on life’s table, but it’s impossible to imagine them all by yourself.

From oldest to newest, here are the authors and stories we’ve published since our last newsletter May 3:

From Lucas Bradley:
Intercourse, We Need to Talk
I Love Women, Which is Why I Hate Modern Dating

From Patsy Fergusson (that’s me):
Pregnancy is Dangerous, Debilitating, and Costly Unpaid Work
If I’m Filthy, Beat Up and Screaming on a Street Corner…
We All Know the Difference Between What’s Right and What’s Legal
I Want to Speak to Mrs. Alito
A Call to Pele, Goddess of Volcanoes, to Get the Murderous Men Out of Congress
Abortion Showcase
The Changing Face of Love
Why is My Son in Jail and Not the Hospital?
Book Review: ‘Jubilee’ by Margaret Walker
I Wanted My Son in the Hospital
It’s Time to Hex the Patriarchy
Sisterhood, Female Friends, and Male Supremacy
Viola Davis’ Biography is Riveting and Enlightening
Why Even Care About Trans People?
Right Wing Extremism is Shriveling in its Coffin
‘The Woman King’ Kicks Ass and Heart
Young Women Are Leading the Iranian Revolt

From Suma Narayan:
Three Women and Their Mother
‘The Miniaturist’ by Jessie Burton
In Dependence
‘Operator…’
No Abraxas!
The Stories We Tell

From Starr Wynters:
Are Parents Teaching Their Young Boys Manners Anymore?

From Toni Hargis:
Sexism Awareness — Back to Basics
Sexism Awareness — Back to Basics (Part 2)
How To Stand Up To Sexism

From Bella DePaulo:
The Fragile Spouse and the Resilient Single Person
When Isolated People Are Not Lonely and Connected People Are
8 Ways Single People Are LESS Selfish — But It Shouldn’t Matter
Single People, Stop Calling Yourselves Selfish!
Why Aren’t the Other Kids Playing with My Son? Guest Post by Amy Andrada
What Happened When a Single Mom Started Wearing a Wedding Ring? Guest Post by Amy Andrada
Why Have Americans Become More Hostile Toward Single Mothers?
The “You Complete Me” Mentality
Lots of People Want to Be Her: A Single Woman with No Children
The Most Famous Single Man You’ve Never Heard of
The Power of Communities of Single People
What Is the Opposite of Loneliness?
Questions Single Women Still Get Asked When They Buy or Build a House
Remember When Ellen Told Saoirse Ronan She Had to Start Dating?
Structural Singlism: The Unfair Treatment Experienced by Every Person Who Is Single
Are Single Women Portrayed as Aging Faster Than Married Women?
Singlism Follows Me Around, from the Supermarket to Back Home
From My Parents, Long Ago, One of the Greatest Gifts of All
Erasing the Humanity of Men Who Do Not Have Children
Letting Bad Behavior Go: The Example of Sexism
Do You Care a Little Too Much About Romantic Love? That’s Risky
If Single People Showed More Solidarity, Would They Be Stigmatized Less?
Do Single People Have Anything in Common?
How People React When I Say I Am 69 and Have Always Been Single
What Do Coupled People Share with Their Partners without Asking Permission?
The Most Important Factor in Aging Happily as a Single Person: Guest Post by Cathy Goodwin
Businesses and Thought Leaders Who Do Right by Single People
Our Kids, Other Kids, No Kids: Writing Our Own Stories about Meaningful Lives
How Single People Get Demeaned, Dismissed, and Put on the Defensive — Sometimes Unwittingly

From Laura Williams-Burke:
My Ex Took Me To Court After I Paid Off Student Debt
My Ex Foretold the Type of Man I Would End Up With, and He Was Right
My Friend Called Out My Bad Behavior. What Happened Next Was Surprising
How Much Attention Do We Owe to Strangers on the Internet?

From Rivka Wolf:
Being Motherless on Mother’s Day
The Object of His Affection
Emotional Abuse In Real Life
How to Spot the Abuser!
Amandla Stenberg v.s. White Lady Tears
Update: Angelina Jolie Survived Domestic Violence
House of the Dragons: On Incest
Not Your Manic Pixie Dream Girl
#FreetheNipple is About Power For Some, not Freedom For All
Did I Just Get Karen-d?
Lessons From A Black Anne Boleyn
Britney Spears Speaks on YouTube
Amber Heard: Guilty As Charged?
Why Do Other Women Hate Me?
Being The Fat Friend
Bridgerton S2 Romanticizes Misogyny
Respectability Politics And Me
Being a Heroine in a World of Artifice
Disabled Women Deserve Love, Too
The Handmaid’s Tale is My Life
I Physically Can’t Have Sex
The Last Time I Was Thin
The Incels Maybe Have A Point
Homelessness, Ten Years Later
Love, For Real This Time
Mermaids Are Fantasies of Power
My White Supremacy-Induced Inferiority Complex
The Girl Who Has No Voice
Being Biracial: Torn Between Worlds
Emotional Labor Nearly Destroyed Me
Being Beautiful Is About Being Loving
Guilty Until Proven Innocent
Does My Mom Love Me?
My Mother Wants Me To Be Anorexic
Am I Born To Die?
Why Do We Need To Save Men?
Being Poor Is Not Fun, Cool, or Hip
The Fall of Brad Pitt & Johnny Depp
Anthony Rapp Holds His Ground Against Serial Abuser Kevin Spacey
The Price of Being Pretty
Claiming the Right To Be Scary
Heal the Trauma of the Gender Cage
He’s Not a Narcissist, He’s a Sociopath
Poly is the New Patriarchy
Princess Kate’s Son Slaps Her in Public
I Am the Child of Racism and Rape
Taylor Swift’s New Song Draws Accusations of Fatphobia
‘Dogville’ and Ancestral Violence
Fatphobia in the Real World
It’s Not Feminist Just Because A Woman Does It
Peter Pan & Me
Why Men Think Cheating Is OK
Am I A Femcel?
Healthy Norwegian Trans Woman “Identifies” As Disabled
I Am Not A Disney Princess
The Value of Being Conflict Avoidant
Mis/reading Audre Lorde at U of O
I Don’t Want To Fall In Love
Jennifer Garner Should Have Married Michael Vartan
Tampax Thinks Sexual Harassment Is Funny
Kate Moss Was Scared to Pose Topless for Calvin Klein
Buckingham Palace Fires a Racist

From LucianN:
Homelessness Is Not Unavoidable
Why did the internet fail “me” ?

From Rowen Veratome:
Women’s Feet Would Have to Be Either Triangles or Toe-less Ovals for Women’s Shoes to Make Sense
Might I Suggest an Alternative to “Believe All Women?”
On Gender-inclusive Language and Abortion

From Jackie Dawes:
George Clooney and a Few More Pieces of Love Dust
Trust in Panic Attacks, Kim Basinger, and Little Blue Pills
No One Cares About Your Story
Hailey, My Hero — And a Little More Mess of Love Dust

From Kayla Vokolek:
Need a Book Recommendation for Pride Month?
Women Aren’t Any Shallower Than Men Are
Dating Sucks for Women Online and Offline
Is Non-Romantic Love Really That Devalued?

From John Kruse:
Life Lessons from a Great Swim Coach

From Fourth Wave Editors (an account we use to publish writers who don’t have Medium accounts):
Mom Once Had a Chanel Blouse by Stephen Emmanuel Ogboh
Living on Life Support by Emily Ebneter

From Sarah J. Baker:
A Misogyny Troll Fixated on Me — This Is My Story
Crystal Nowland; How Society Loves to Hate an Imperfect Mother

From Vena Moore:
White Women Are Responsible For the Dismantling of Roe v. Wade
Love Shouldn’t Come At The Cost of Friendship

From D.K. Kennedy:
End Slavery

From Solo Childfree Woman:
5 Platinum Perks to Being Childfree-by-Choice
Why Are Women Responsible for Ending Men’s Loneliness?

From Bucketful Read:
Reminders Of Him | Colleen Hoover | Book Review
Even If We Break | Marieke Nijkamp | Book Review
It’s Kind of a Funny Story|Ned Vizzini|Book Review

From doug peckler:
Diablo Canyon: Don’t Delay Decommissioning

From Denisa Vitova:
Can You Be a Domestic Feminist?
“Hey Beautiful”: I Answered a Creep in my DMs and This Is What Happened
What is the Antithesis to the Patriarchal Nostalgic Narrative?
I Took My Driving Test Four Times: Are Women Worse Drivers Than Men?

From Nafisak:
Iran Islamic Regime Has Been Womenophobic Long Before Mahsa Amini
Iranian Legal System Sees Women as Actual Properties
Modesty Culture is More Harmful than Porn

From The Michaels:
It’s Even Easier to Ignore Women at Work-From-Home

From Aza Y. Alam:
To Liz Truss and Co: The Trickle-Down Trickster Economists
Where have all the decent Englishmen gone?
Let us Say a Loud No to the Modernist and the Traditional Forms of Patriarchy
Why My Home Has Become My Hermitage
Every Patriarchal Society is Misogynistic

From Evelyn Jean Pine:
This Hungry Imagination
This Charismatic Thought

From Jasmine Dudley:
Being Poor Sucks

From Kelley Murphy, JD:
Tilting at Windmills
My Boyfriend Is Trying to Steal My Period

From Michele Cambardella:
“Sweet” is the People Pleaser

And last but not least, from The Tired Feminist:
Setting the Record Crooked
Pink Tax, Women’s Pockets, and ‘The Pocket Effect’
The Girlfriend Gaze
Internalised Misogyny and The Perfect Prison
We need to De-personalise Patriarchal Power

If you want to read more than one or two stories, you’re going to need a Medium account. Those cost $5 a month (or $50 a year) for unlimited access. And if you sign up with this referral link, Fourth Wave will get some of that money.

Until next time, enjoy life’s feast!

Patsy Fergusson
Editor
Fourth Wave