Editor's Note
Welcome, friends, to the January-February issue of West Trestle Review. If you are reading this note, you made it through 2020, and that is no small feat. We made it through, too, and we are grateful.
While some Americans have suggested that nothing would really change on Jan. 1, that there was no real point to the celebration of a new year, and that, in fact, a new year is all human-made nonsense, I, for one, welcomed it with glee. At midnight, I stood with my family on a dark road in my rural neighborhood, sang a wobbly "Auld Lang Syne" and howled to the stars.
"One of the most important features of rituals is that they do not only mark time; they create time. By defining beginnings and ends to developmental or social phases, rituals structure our social worlds and how we understand time, relationships, and change," Rebecca J. Lester writes in, "The Importance of Ritual: Marking Life Events in a Socially Distant World."
The necessity of forgoing the usual rituals in an effort to save lives has left many of us unmoored, Lester writes, and I wonder if this may be one reason a fair few literary journals have appeared on the scene during the pandemic. It does add something ritualistic to my life to open the submission queue, read new work and debate its merits with the WTR team. In addition, pulling this issue together during a long winter break from my day job kept me focused in an otherwise haze of powdered sugar and Mario Kart marathons. For editors, the release of a brand new issue also marks the passage of time.
And here we are, pressing our stamp upon the calendar of life once again. This time, though, we are thrilled to have welcomed Joan Kwon Glass along for the journey as co-editor of poetry. Joan joined us mid-issue, and her enthusiasm is a joy to behold. I hope you'll join us in giving her a warm virtual welcome.
As for this issue, it is another beauty, if we do say so ourselves, including beautiful and thought-provoking work by Ayesha Asad, Kelly Cressio-Moeller, Gail Entrekin, Jennifer L. Freed, Shayna Gee, Ashley M. Jones, Jasmin Lankford, Roseline Mgbodichinma, Amy Miller, Mandira Pattnaik, Melanie Perish, Diana Whitney, and our Fairlies feature by Xu Xi. Jenna Lê was kind enough to contribute two pieces of art to this issue, and she graciously allowed us to reprint one of her fine poems. Read more about Lê here.
While I fear I may have already gone on too long, I want to add that we—the editors—did have a meaningful discussion about whether not to include content warnings with the texts we publish. As West Trestle Review is a journal that celebrates the work of women and nonbinary writers, it's true that themes of abuse and trauma in its many forms often arise in our pages. This is a continuing conversation, but at this time, we'd like to issue a general content warning for the entire publication instead of individual pieces. We hope that when you share poems and stories you read here—and, please do share!—that you will issue a content warning if it feels right.
Also, please reach out to our contributors on social media and let them know their works were seen, heard, felt, or understood. It does help to dissolve the bubble of loneliness.
That's all for now, dear people. Thank you, again, for being here.
Write on!
Patricia Caspers
Founding / Managing Editor
While some Americans have suggested that nothing would really change on Jan. 1, that there was no real point to the celebration of a new year, and that, in fact, a new year is all human-made nonsense, I, for one, welcomed it with glee. At midnight, I stood with my family on a dark road in my rural neighborhood, sang a wobbly "Auld Lang Syne" and howled to the stars.
"One of the most important features of rituals is that they do not only mark time; they create time. By defining beginnings and ends to developmental or social phases, rituals structure our social worlds and how we understand time, relationships, and change," Rebecca J. Lester writes in, "The Importance of Ritual: Marking Life Events in a Socially Distant World."
The necessity of forgoing the usual rituals in an effort to save lives has left many of us unmoored, Lester writes, and I wonder if this may be one reason a fair few literary journals have appeared on the scene during the pandemic. It does add something ritualistic to my life to open the submission queue, read new work and debate its merits with the WTR team. In addition, pulling this issue together during a long winter break from my day job kept me focused in an otherwise haze of powdered sugar and Mario Kart marathons. For editors, the release of a brand new issue also marks the passage of time.
And here we are, pressing our stamp upon the calendar of life once again. This time, though, we are thrilled to have welcomed Joan Kwon Glass along for the journey as co-editor of poetry. Joan joined us mid-issue, and her enthusiasm is a joy to behold. I hope you'll join us in giving her a warm virtual welcome.
As for this issue, it is another beauty, if we do say so ourselves, including beautiful and thought-provoking work by Ayesha Asad, Kelly Cressio-Moeller, Gail Entrekin, Jennifer L. Freed, Shayna Gee, Ashley M. Jones, Jasmin Lankford, Roseline Mgbodichinma, Amy Miller, Mandira Pattnaik, Melanie Perish, Diana Whitney, and our Fairlies feature by Xu Xi. Jenna Lê was kind enough to contribute two pieces of art to this issue, and she graciously allowed us to reprint one of her fine poems. Read more about Lê here.
While I fear I may have already gone on too long, I want to add that we—the editors—did have a meaningful discussion about whether not to include content warnings with the texts we publish. As West Trestle Review is a journal that celebrates the work of women and nonbinary writers, it's true that themes of abuse and trauma in its many forms often arise in our pages. This is a continuing conversation, but at this time, we'd like to issue a general content warning for the entire publication instead of individual pieces. We hope that when you share poems and stories you read here—and, please do share!—that you will issue a content warning if it feels right.
Also, please reach out to our contributors on social media and let them know their works were seen, heard, felt, or understood. It does help to dissolve the bubble of loneliness.
That's all for now, dear people. Thank you, again, for being here.
Write on!
Patricia Caspers
Founding / Managing Editor
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