Letter from the Editor

By Julie Tran

Before I'd ever written for SCAN, I'd seen copies of it flung around the school and left on top of trashcans — not inside, like the owners couldn't bear to throw them away, but trash nonetheless, as they were no longer wanted. And I thought then, "How sad."

I don't think so anymore.

I am finishing my last issue as Editor-in-Chief now, writing this letter last. This issue is the culmination of many hours' work, from writers and visual artists alike. In your hand, however, it is ink on paper. Do with it what you will. It was never meant to last until the end of time. I only dare to hope, before you discard it, that this magazine has delivered to you some of the nuance and beauty in that gray area between the things we treasure and the things we absolutely must get rid of, between the things for which we yearn and the things from which we recoil.

One favor, though: If you do end up throwing this copy away, please put it all the way into the trashcan, and make sure it is recycled. Neither of us will feel too miserable. It is the nature of most things we love to only be Semi-Precious.