Bread. Lettuce. Cheddar. Tender. Under what we’re told is late-stage capitalism, money touches every aspect of our lives, and gaining and encouraging is no different. The food we use to fatten ourselves or our partners isn’t free, after all—and neither are the larger clothes we grow into, or the sturdier furniture that won’t break under our heft. The online spaces where we congregate often charge premium prices for much wanted features, and meeting fellow gainerfolk in person can get even pricier, especially if there are none in your local area. And then there are the ways we monetize our fascination with growth by turning it into Content.

Whether your wallet is as fat as your belly or your bank account could use an encourager of its own, we want to share your art and writing about the intersection of money and gaining. When you’re short on cash, what difficulties arise with your gaining/encouraging and how do you navigate them? When your payday arrives, how do you like to treat your belly (or your partner’s)? How should the gaining community at large be thinking about money? And what might gaining and encouraging look like in a future without money?

But of course, there’s a reason we’re titling issue 3 “Dough” and not just “Money,” and we welcome more literal interpretations of this theme. Write a story about a kindly baker doting on his favorite customer. Make a photo collage comparing your growing body rolls to rising dough. Perform an ode to carbs. If you think it might fit in the “Dough” issue, send it along!

Feel free to explore the concepts in the list below for further inspiration.

Interested in Submitting Work?