Spring 2018

Letter from the Editors

Dear Reader,

VERY OFTEN, there is a resounding and cohesive theme to the works that are submitted to Clamantis: The MALS Journal. In the last issue, the published pieces were reflective, and seemed to be searching for a sense of place while exploring ideas of home and family. But, in this issue, there does not seem to be a consistent theme or topic, and we are inspired by that fact. We feel inspired because this is exactly what our journal seeks to represent: a literary and scholarly accumulation that is as diverse and varied as the concentrations in our MALS program and the people who pursue them. We found an astonishing range, depth, and breadth of thought in the submissions this term, and we were energized by the comprehensive nature of the issues, themes, and stories our authors are exploring. This is the MALS program and The MALS Journal at its finest: individuals exploring, challenging, probing, and questioning a vast array of problems and issues through the lenses of cultural studies, globalization studies, poetry, prose, photography, and artwork. We are immensely proud of this lack of theme and the abundance of thought in the Spring/Summer 2018 issue of Clamantis: The MALS Journal.

As always, this publication would be impossible to produce without the dedicated efforts of our assistant and associate editors. Their commitment to reading the submissions, to assisting with revisions, and to helping create a diverse publication are what make Clamantis: The MALS Journal so special. We also want to thank everyone who submitted work. We were incredibly impressed by the quality of the pieces we received, and had a very difficult time deciding which works should be included. We encourage every MALS student to keep writing, to keep revising, and to keep submitting. Your work is the core of our publication, and we are proud to give it a platform where it can be shared with the wider community.

In addition to our authors and editors, we would like to thank Wole Ojurongbe and Dr. Donald Pease for their steadfast support of Clamantis. Their leadership continues to be a motivating force for the editors, authors, and readers of Clamantis. We are so grateful to Kevin Warstadt for managing the beautiful layout of our journal and for creating and maintaining our online presence. We are also endlessly appreciative of Ken Davis for his dedication to crafting beautiful covers for our publication, and for his assistance in generating this issue’s cover page. And, of course, none of this could be possible without our spirited, devoted, and enthusiastic faculty advisor, Anna Minardi; thank you for everything you do for the editors, for the authors, and for the publication.

Without further ado, we present to you the Spring/Summer 2018 Issue of Clamantis: The MALS Journal. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed creating it, and above all, we hope you find some inspiration. Happy Reading.