Letter From Editor-in-Chief

Two years ago in late September, I sat outside on the swinging benches near
DeGarmo and Fell and watched the sunset. Many thoughts and feelings were swishing
through my head as I watched the leaves swaying in the trees and joining the swirls of the
wind. How could a season such as fall be so beautiful and yet, at its core, remain so
brutal?

Everything was dying. Everything was changing.

And here, now, I think about that moment and remember how many other areas of
change, besides the seasons, have been in constant movement over the years.

I am finishing this semester writing my English Senior Seminar paper, which speaks
into our very real human experience of forgetting. As humans, we forget, and we
remember. Like the season of fall, these two elements contrast with one another, yet build
how we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us. The stories we remember and the
stories we forget shape the succeeding moments of our lives.

We write to enchant ourselves of the past. We write to remember. And sometimes
we write to forget.

In this issue of Euphemism, we have selected pieces from which authors work to
enchant you, our readers, with their own memories. They paint a scene, a picture, an
emotion into which you are permitted entry. With this, they hope to inspire within you an
experience maybe long forgotten, arising a sweet taste as you remember the experiences
that author your humanity.

While the sweetness of remembrance is what we hope, we also recognize the
brutality of what could arise from a memory that sparks pain. As you read this issue, focus
on the duality and linger on the auras that swirl around your mind, such as the leaves in the
wind.

Everything continues to change; the leaves fall and join the earth to be recycled
again. One moment leads into the next, whether brutal or beautiful, to create the
fingerprint of a memory.

Kati Fuchs

Editor-in-Chief