EDITORS' NOTE

WELCOME TO ISSUE I. First, we’d like to thank all of our submitters, staff members, and readers—we wouldn’t be here without you. Curating this issue and carving out our own little corner in the writing community has given all of us at EX/POST so much joy, and we are immensely grateful for the support our fledgling magazine has received.

It is hard to believe we are halfway through 2020, but it is even harder to believe that we are only halfway through 2020. From COVID-19 and quarantines to Duterte’s Anti-Terrorism Law and the continued fight for racial justice, this year has been filled with isolation, frustration, and tragedy. Still, this is no time for silence, and I hope you consider the intersecting concerns of these pieces.

Love reverberates throughout this issue, whether because of our subconscious desire to defy the news or because people have simply always been drawn to it. John McCarthy speaks of love at the end of the world, while Zohra Qazi writes of dying for love and CAConrad of choosing “love no matter what.” K-Ming Chang explores love by different names in different worlds, though we suspect that that description may apply to all our pieces in a way.

Stylistically, our focus in ISSUE I may have been even more chaotically all-encompassing—though we began this magazine with a desire to house genre-bending work, we realized that our affinity for experimental work clashed with our desire for inclusivity, and we couldn’t bring ourselves to reject good work that was technically traditional (correction, we really don’t like rejecting people in general).

The end result? Twenty-three contributors—sixteen writers, seven artists—a Spotify playlist, and a crash course in web design. And above all, a pocket of art in the world we hope you all will enjoy.

Now, that’s enough from us—let’s get to the contributors themselves.

All our best,

Sarah Lao

Founder & Editor-in-Chief

Jessica Lao

Founder & Managing Editor