We started this project in the most “us” way possible: at a greasy Mexican restaurant in Greensboro, North Carolina, stuffing our faces with chips and salsa and bemoaning the end of our MFA program. Our impending graduation had left us feeling very “what next?” about it all—a real-life version of asking “so what?” at the end of the story.
In the previous two years, we’d become better readers and writers; we’d met our editorial soulmates (for us, that was each other); we’d become both more critical and yet more openminded. But what was all that learning for? What were we going to do with it?
A few margaritas later, quip was born.
In this first issue, you’ll find we’ve chosen stories in which we’ve seen ourselves: two millennial women battling against the “so what?” The man in “The Account Executive,” trapped in the drudgery of his job, craves purpose and connection with no clue where to begin. The twenty-something woman in “Love in a Changing Climate” is so stricken with fear she cannot help but self-sabotage. The student in “Baby Castle” balances on the murky precipice between reality and fantasy. And finally, the man of “Odd That Way” tries to catch his neighbor’s eye for a second, tries to receive that quiet affirmation from a stranger. Indeed, we are all these fumbling, messy, aching characters. And that, as lonely as it sometimes feels, is plenty of “so what?” for us.
Thanks to our writers for the gut-wrenches, and thanks to our readers, who are willing to be wrenched.
Yours,
Anna Blake & Sarah