s writers, we live dangerous lives. We lock ourselves away, for days at a time, to create worlds and enter souls. We are magicians. We are gods. The danger? Such a life makes us vulnerable to solipsism. Sharing our work with one another, though, can save us from this fate and provide a sense of accomplishment. For those reasons this magazine was created. MARY is a forum where artists can break out of their secret writing places and join a larger community.

It has been a pleasure to work on a magazine that has introduced me to such talented poets, fiction writers, non-fiction writers, and visual artists. As I read through the magazine for a final edit, I was surprised to find a common thread in the various works. Almost all of the pieces included in this issue play with the theme of memory in one form or another: collective memory, the trauma of memory, a single memory that can't be kept. I'm not sure why this theme dominates, since the editorial staff did not seek it out when reading submissions. There could be a variety of reasons. It seems to me, however, that this preoccupation with memory has a lot to do with truth and how one seeks it out in order to define it.

Happy Reading,
Jody Matsumori, Editor-in-Chief