Aurora 2022-Final

A Note From the Editor:

Staff

A significant thread throughout the creation of this edition has been distance. The physical distance of our staff living around the country as online students, the distance of time between last semester’s submissions and this one, and even a distance in our editorial reach: this year, for the first time in over a century and a half, we have invited submissions from beyond the Woods commu nity to include creative writing from incarcerated women in Indiana prisons. In fact, even as I write this, I am abroad in Greece, eight hours ahead of Terre Haute’s Eastern Standard Time. There is nothing groundbreaking or exciting about distance—especially not these days— but there is still something beautiful in the interconnectedness we gain by transcending it, in what happens when we choose to come together despite miles and divisions. While there is no official theme to this year’s Aurora , so much of the art, poetry, and prose threads deeply together through the love and passion of their creators who were not only devoted to the act of creation, but also passionate enough to share their work with others—with us. In this way, Aurora works as a meeting point, a place of connection that binds us all together. This edition includes a vast range of subject matter and me dia, from whiskey-soaked cowboy fiction to rainbow octopus art to the delicate imagery of a dance in S. Boyle’s poem, “Respite.” And while there is nothing explicitly connecting these works, they are unified (distance shrunk!) between the covers of our journal. There is profound beauty in connection through distance. It brings new ideas, beliefs, and passions that would have never converged otherwise. That beauty is rampant in this edition. We welcome you to it. Ally Groves

Editors-in-Chief Ally Groves Braden Kelsey

Layout Editor Patricia Henney

Associate Editors Sara Allard Olivia Burns Aine Cunningham Carmela D’Agostino Tavia Hedrick Courtney Schmid Adam Stattner Emma Tomey Emerence Uwamahirwe Ashley Zembrycki Faculty Advisor Josh MacIvor-Andersen

Cover Art “In There Somewhere” Julian Green

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