2024 Letter from the Editors

Dear Reader,

First and foremost, we would like to thank you for reading. This was a labor of love, both for us on the editorial team and for our extremely talented writers and artists who submitted to the journal. That said, we would be remiss if we did not acknowledge the situations that have been going on globally, since the beginning of this academic school year. 

You may have noticed the poem on our back cover, from Palestinian poet Marwan Makhoul: “In order for me to write poetry that isn't political, /  I must listen to the birds / 

and in order to hear the birds / ​the warplanes must be silent”. While we on the staff are of the opinion that all art is political, it must be acknowledged that some work is more overtly political than others. In this journal, we have work that is overtly political - and we also have work that celebrates the joyful mundanities of life. We acknowledge that it is a privilege for us to be able to partake in these joyful celebrations. Many people around the world experience violence that makes it impossible for them to have this privilege, including those in Palestine. We on the staff hope for a day where they will once again be able to share in our joyful mundanity. 

We would like to thank Professor Zack Finch as an advisor to the journal. We’d like to thank the campus community for the incredible number of submissions that we received this year. Thank you to Kate Tozlowski for providing us access to her Adobe Suite subscription, which made the production of this journal much more feasible. Thank you to the English & Philosophy department for giving space to projects like Spires. And finally:

Thank you.

The Spires Editorial Team