Letter from the Editor

By Tori Cárdenas

Issue 41 • Spring 2020

Dear Reader,

Do you feel Very Far Away from the people in your life? I do. My students and classmates and professors, my friends and family, my favorite cute bartender and the other people working in the coffee shop or the library, the people on the bus and in the crosswalks—I miss everyone. I’m sure you miss your people, too.

To cope, I’ve been sleeping a lot, ‘trying’ to focus on work, and reading. I never have time to read normally but the more I do (and I’ve done a lot between writing a dissertation, taking and teaching classes, and selecting work for this issue, let alone reading for fun), the less I feel alone. My favorite moment as an editor is whenever we get a piece locked in or when the BMR class gets excited about a piece. When I wonder just how many other people will read it and feel the same way, or need it, or decide to start writing or reading or living more because of it, I feel more connected to them somehow. More human.

I got to feel that a lot this semester, as our editorial and reading teams sifted through over 2,000 submissions and assembled Issue 41 with humbling grace and diligence and caffeine management. And that doesn’t even begin to cover the creative labor our authors put in before they knew we would be the ones to publish it or that you would read it, when the piece was an exercise in grief or love or heartbreak or maybe just boredom (we’ve all been there).

And a piece is nothing without someone to read it—we made this for you, and we’re proud to share it with you now, social distance or no social distance.*

Salud,

Tori Cárdenas

Editor in Chief

*(No—SOCIAL DISTANCE!)

Julianna Bolanos, Tessa Anderson, and Franklin De La Cruz

Julianna Bolanos is a student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, on her way to obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Studio Art with a focus in glass blowing and sculpture. Originally from Austin, Texas, she hopes to travel to and experience art in every form from all cultures, building connections and creating collaborative masterpieces until the very moment she dies.

Tessa Anderson is a student from the University of Minnesota studying human physiology, neuroscience, and public health on an exchange program at the University of Hawaii. While in Hawai’i, she’s tapped into her creative flow, drawing inspiration from the healing powers, beauty, and sacredness of Mother Earth on the island of Oahu. She hopes to use her mind, body, and soul together to create a space of healing one day.

Franklin De La Cruz is a 21 year old student of the Dominican diaspora living in the US mainland (Occupied Calusa and Seminole land). While studying away at UH last fall he found inspiration in the beauty that surrounded him. More than ever while in Hawai’i, he realized the opportunity for light in a world smothered by darkness, and vowed to relay that in everything he creates, in hopes of creating a radically distant future.