A Note from the Editors: Issue 42

Welcome to our ARRIVAL.

The launch of this issue marks our comeback after a 6+ month hiatus – time spent falling ill, recuperating, working day jobs, studying, moving, changing, surviving. We decided to make our theme “Arrival” to mark our own movement towards newness, even when we appeared still. Not only that, this issue also signifies the return of Zoe, co-editor-in-chief, who had to previously step away from the magazine for nearly a year.

“Arrival” is a term that can be interpreted so richly and widely, from airport terminals, to reaching a location, to seeking a new state: arrival is about change. For this issue, we had over 200 submissions (for the first time!) that tackled “arrival” in a myriad of ways. In the final product, you’ll see a short piece of video art inspired by a black hole and astronomy – a type of movement in an elsewhere we rarely think about. In one essay, a professional flutist reminisces on how they arrived at their career. A short story and a poem both gaze at an oncoming train – one with horror, one with wonderment. In a drawing piece, an artist conjures tiny cities in the folds of plants, a dialogue between the natural and urban. And so much more…

Like every issue, we’ve curated Arrival to form a visual, auditory, and textual tapestry on the concepts of movement and change. There is humor, there is contemplation, there is pain, there is self-discovery, there is nostalgia and memory and waiting. We hope that whatever you engage with here will help you arrive at a new, thought-provoking place.

With love,
Vamika and Zoe

Cover image by Savannah Calhoun, Hands from Cyber Fantasy