Dear Reader,
In Act 2 of Hamlet, the titular character says, “The play’s the thing / wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.” Though Shakespeare was referring to a staged play—and he certainly didn’t intend for a group of students in 2020 to read so deeply into one line that it became the first thing in their magazine—I’ve thought a lot about this quote since it serendipitously came into my life at the same time we started working on this very magazine you’re holding.
We are always at play. Whether that means performing one’s identity, pressing play on a song, fantasizing about a crush, reminiscing about childhood, or thinking about a game’s role in one’s life, everything, it seems, is play. Play is the thing: one of the few things we share with everyone else on Earth, and it is through play that we hope to capture the consciousness of our world today.
This theme was originally on the list of potential themes for our Fall 2019 magazine. We loved the idea of performativity—especially in the context of specific spaces. Ultimately, we shifted our focus to spaces, and “play” was left behind as a lingering thought. I am so happy that we’re able to pick up, and run with, “play” for our second magazine of the year.
Our Spring magazine features 13 pieces—some poetry, prose, a playable RPG, and a comic—that are all concerned with some aspect of play. Inside, you’ll find a reflection on the nostalgia cycle, an essay on childhood play, a poem about following raccoons both online and IRL, and a meditation on Pokémon’s role on personal memory. We are so lucky to be able to include these pieces, as well as many others, in our Spring magazine.
I am, as always, forever indebted to my amazing team for offering their time, expertise, and care. Thank you to Keith for your patience, hard work, and hours spent next to me and my “bops of colour” playlist. Thank you to Hadiyyah for your insightful edits and enthusiasm. Thank you to Leo for your incisive editing, emotional support, and for calming me down when I was really concerned that no one wanted to write for us—you were my rock throughout this whole process. Thank you to Amy for the cover, even though you refused to do another “Strand pink” illustration. Thank you to all our illustrators for your beautiful visual translations of my garbled ideas—our magazine would not be the work of art it is without you all. Thank you to all our wonderful contributors for your thoughtful pieces—it’s hard to create, it’s even harder to share. And finally, thank you to my wonderfully supportive and passionate masthead. This little book would not exist without you.
I hope that these stories will be engaging and inspire you to go out and play, or perhaps, realize that you have always been playing.
With love,
Rebecca Gao
Editor-in-Chief
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