Welcome to the 2021 issue of SLU’s Kiln Magazine! To play on the new decade 2020, we chose the theme Hindsight. We urged people to stop and reflect on 2020 to explore their world or memory in hindsight. Given that the beginning of 2020 was very rough for students and the summer was filled with uncertainty and unrest, we weren’t sure what type of submissions we would get from the students. Did they want to write about Covid-19 or racial injustice? Was reflection too much to ask at this moment? If anything, we wanted to offer an outlet for students to share their creativity and escape.
We were pleasantly surprised when we received submissions that are both humorous and melancholy, looking back at memories, society, police brutality, or even single moments that mean so much more now. Reading through student work was evocative, emotional, entertaining, a whole array of emotions that match the roller coaster that was this past year. What made it so much more impressive was that our only form of communication was email, word-of-mouth, Zoom and text. We have never seen the writers’ faces, but we have seen their thoughts and feelings as they shared part of themselves in their words.
Fortunately, we were able to have a socially distanced launch party this year to celebrate the completion of the magazine and thank our editing team. Because we had so many submissions (nearly 50), having a 21 person team to help us sift through student work was crucial in finalizing these magazines. We would like to thank Grant Bellchamber, Amanda VanNierop, Zoe Butler, Alexis Kayser, Alyssa Cook, Andrew Sweeso, Mila Raque, Katherine Coolman, Hayden Snyders, Isabella Caley, Emerson Brazile, Hannah Arnold, Maria Cieslarczyk, Blake Recupido, Katherine Gnanarajah, Jessica Henn, Paul Gillam, Katie Jenkins, Claire Hamilton, and Shannon Sabol for all your hard work through this very strenuous semester. We could not have done it without all of you!
We would also like to extend our gratitude to Dr. Lynch and the English Department who trusted us to take on this position when we did not know what would come of this year. Dr. Lynch has been our English mentor for the past four years, so it is very fitting that he is our internship advisor for our final year. We appreciate his guidance over these years as well as his bad jokes.
Perhaps our vision is not always 20/20, but revisiting the past can inform the now, so we urge readers to practice looking in hindsight. Thank you for taking time to visit the Spring 2021 issue of Kiln! Check out the 2021 issue of the Via magazine