ELSEWHERE

After my grandmother passed earlier this year, I found myself searching—for a place, a feeling, an escape. Somewhere I could go, physically, mentally, or emotionally to step outside of reality. Home no longer felt like home. It felt foreign, unfamiliar. And just like that, my identity split in two: the person I was before her death, and the person I was becoming in its aftermath.

The realization hit hard: I would never be the same. I was now searching for something new. New places. New experiences. New connections. In that search, I found myself chasing a feeling I could only describe as elsewhere: my great escape.

In life, we lose people. We outgrow places. We reevaluate connections that no longer serve us. But there’s beauty in that loss. Because what is lost can be replaced, with something more aligned, more honest, more alive. We find joy in new relationships, fall in love with new places, and build connections that remind us we’re exactly where we need to be, right on time.

This issue is a love letter to those places you run to, physically, mentally, emotionally, when the world feels too heavy. The places that ground you. The places that free you. The ones that always welcome you back.

To the contributors: thank you for sharing your art with us. It’s my hope that your work stirs something in readers, something unexpected and lasting.To the readers: sit with this issue. Really sit with it. Let these stories open you in ways you didn’t see coming.

And to my grandmother: I love you. My elsewhere is the space in my mind where you still exist.This issue is dedicated to you <3 Thank you for reading.

With love,

Kei