All images appear in this issue courtesy of the Appalachian street artist, FINAL GIRL.

Dear Readers,

Welcome to our Spring 2015 “WOMEN” issue. We’re incredibly proud to present to you the wonderful and diverse array of voices in this issue, all complemented by the beautiful street art of FINAL GIRL which she has graciously donated for this issue.

I’m thrilled with the way it all came together.  A big thank you to my devoted editors and readers and especially to our contributors who trusted us to bring their work out into the world. Also, thanks for the gorgeous artwork, FINAL GIRL. You made each piece pop just a little bit more.

I’m thinking a lot about recovery these days, as my son just lost a close friend in a car accident over the weekend. Mike Dmochowski was a shining star of a kid, on his way to good things, with his pick of colleges and swim teams. He was returning from a day-long recruitment trip, in fact. He could literally see his future opening up before him. And now he is gone. How do we make sense of that? How do the ones left behind recover? How do we ever?

Our July issue will be themed ON THE LINE and our October theme will be GOODWILL. As always, thanks for reading.

Yours in Recovery,

Mary Akers
Editor-in-chief