NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

Raise your hand if you are sick to death of hearing about how this year looks a little bit different than last year. Now prepare to raise your other hand, because I have one more story for you. This was the first time in a couple of years that the George Mason Review met or recruited in person. While this year’s staff was incredible, it was also quite small. With the hybrid model we used for meetings and recruitment, I met fewer than half of them in person. It takes an exception kind of person to sign up for work online, then actually do it and turn it in on time to be assigned even more work. I need to give a special shout-out to the peer reviewer from Volition, Semira, who joined us as a pinch-hitter at the last minute, and then an even longer shout-out to Ashley, Aisha and Isabella, who actually signed up to join this crazy thing from the outset. Finally, to Lexi, my Associate Editor, who jumped in half-way through to make sure this whole thing actually got done, I legitimately have no idea what I would have done without you. I think we would probably be publishing this in August.

Our advisor Jason Hartsel brought me on in January, instead of September, after something of a crisis, meaning mainly that all of the experienced staff had graduated, and I am both deeply flattered and annoyed that he thought I could fix it. Our initial thoughts that my being a grad student meant that I could still get this journal published on time were quickly dashed, as all of the logistical pieces did not seem to care that I had a few more years of journalism and publishing experience than previous editors-in-chief. Thank you so much to all of the contributors who bore with me as I explained that it would just be a little bit longer until we actually got their work published anywhere from two to five times, depending on their tenacity. I’m sorry if you graduated before we went to print, and so couldn’t put this on your resumes, but at least now you have bragging rights at the wonderful jobs I know you all got anyways. Thank you for trusting us to ferry your work from the confines of the classes you wrote them for out into the big, scary world.

Finally, thank you to our readers for actually pick this up instead of just glancing at “that blue thing outside of the library.” I know it sounds like another cliché, but there were many fantastic works submitted this year, and we really did have to make some difficult decisions about what to include. I hope you enjoy, or at least find edifying, the selection we’ve put in front of you here.

Sincerely,

Meg Thornberry Editor-in-Chief