Times are strange! We opened submissions for Issue 2 at the end of 2019 with big plans and bigger expectations. And then life got in the way.
First, there were the moves. AB traversed the country and is now happy and settled in Denver, Colorado. Then there were the holidays and the job hunts. Then the new jobs and new classes. Then the new pets and new friends and trying to adjust to all the newness. And things just didn’t seem to slow down.
Until they completely halted. COVID.
We wish we could offer some sage advice or profound thoughts on the ways we’ll come out changed and better for the experience—but that feels a little forced, and a lot privileged. There isn’t much to say other than this fucking sucks, and it really, really fucking sucks for a lot of people.
So, while we can’t offer up the comforts of philosophy and platitudes, we do hope you’ll find some kind of solace in these beautiful stories. In “Fat Girlfriend” by Maria Adkins, a young woman grapples with generational trauma and identity. “Favorite” by Patrick Bernhard is a quiet vignette of longing. Finally, in “The Names You Give” by E. Alexandra, sisters Alyssa and Esther recall the circumstances that led to estrangement from their father. It’s an issue of connection as much as it is disconnection; an issue that feels intensely of this moment.
And it’s a shorter issue this time around. As we all know, life can get in the way of our plans.
We’ll keep chugging along over here, and we hope you will too.
Yours,
Sarah & Anna Blake