ISSUE XXV
lETTER FROM THE EDITOR
I was raised on the power of stories, with the teachings of lived experience dominating my childhood. I carry with me the legacy of my family’s immigration; one that without stories, would simply be lost to time. With this, I have always treasured words and the ways they can be strung together to illustrate the human experience of simply being alive. I never dared to create my own until I stumbled across MUSE in my first year at Queen’s.
MUSE allowed me to write my own narrative. I explored my identity through the lens of relationships, love, and by reconnecting with the storyteller I thought I had lost to my youth. I found my voice through the careful curation of the stories that defined me. Among it all, I stumbled into the realization that telling my story would only lead me to an endless trail of connections that had been the spark to my own experience.
We carry with us the stories that surround us. I am the amalgamation of every person, experience, and story that has preceded me. I am the living, breathing result of thousands of intersecting paths converging for a brief moment only to alter my entire trajectory.
You hold in your hands the curated expression of nearly one hundred stories intertwining to create Issue XXV. These pages epitomize the human experience; tracing stories of joy, loss, control, fear, love, and connection. Every ounce of raw emotion that could be mustered has been laced throughout, weaving together individual experiences of this moment in time to create our collective story.
Through the twenty-four previous editions you can follow the trail of stories that have culminated in the creation of Issue XXV. Our team was granted the rare privilege of presenting the result of an ever-growing family of creatives reconceptualizing what surrendering to artistry truly means. Issue XXV is the story of what happens when creatives dare to unravel their stories, while never forgetting those that made them.
In the following pages live the stories that have made each and every one of us. Though wildly different in their own right, together they present a singular moment in time captured through the nearly one hundred perspectives that have contributed to Issue XXV. I hope you find a few moments to surrender to our story, and that you find a glimpse of yourself reflected among these pages.