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Akesis

Description of Work

A Letter to Our Readers

We are proud to present you with this issue of Akesis during these unprecedented times. The theme for this issue is “Pivot”. Originally, this theme was proposed before COVID-19 even had a name, and the virus was something happening “out there” somewhere. After we had our lives turned upside down, then turned again, and again, and so on, the theme seemed even more fitting. For most of us, life since March has been focused on figuring out how to do what we want and need to do under circumstances that seem impossible to navigate. We feel “Pivot” does well in describing what our environment is doing and what we must do in return: change course, adjust, abandon, reconsider. Mourn. Recover. This is a time when we need narrative medicine. We hope that this issue of Akesis provides some processing space, for submitters and readers, to give our thoughts and feelings the time and acknowledgement they deserve.

There was a moment early in our publication process, when instability reigned supreme, where I reconsidered whether we should move forward with our Call for Submissions. As students were being sent home, jobs being lost, uncertainty and anxiety seemed to be the forces standing at the helm of our lives. The therapeutic nature of art is well-established in science, but even while I knew this, I was thinking of those people from whom we would be soliciting submissions: people who were having their lives flipped over multiple times a day, people learning to live in a foreign and uncomfortable way, people who were more stressed than they already were by the normal pressures of being in a high-performance academic system. And I would be asking my fellow editors to volunteer their precious time to work on the issue. I was worried that offering an issue and a deadline would be just one more thing, perhaps even a distressing thing since having the desire to produce art while being unable to is a unique kind of suffering. Thankfully, I have a great team of editors that got me out of my own head. They did not hesitate to support Akesis when I presented my conundrum over the issue, so it exists because of them.

We have an amazing interdisciplinary, dedicated team of volunteer student editors. This will be the last issue of Akesis I will help to produce since I will soon be graduating and wading out into this brave new world of health care in the setting of COVID-19, and I am perfectly satisfied to know the journal will be left in such capable hands to continue and grow.

It has been a distinct pleasure to produce an arts journal in the company of the creative, empathetic, and genuine community of UNE. A special thank you to Bethany Kenyon, our DUNE wizard, without whom none of this would be possible. And many thanks to our faculty advisors who help with any task presented to them, from scouting student editors to printing to proofreading. Akesis is purely a student-lead project. We are not a registered club with the school. We receive no funding. Every person is a volunteer.

Thank you for reading Akesis. Thank you for submitting to Akesis. Thank you for supporting Akesis.

Sincerely,

Bonni Boles

Senior Editor of Akesis

Signing Off

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