Dear Readers,

The production of Volume 55 of the Red Cedar Review took place during a year of many changes, for both our journal and our world. Some were planned, as we continued through a period of transition for our journal; others were not­. When we started reading submissions last fall, none of us could’ve imagined what it would be like to publish the issue this spring amidst a global pandemic. Despite a world filled with constant upheaval and a never-ending cycle of frightening news—not to mention the practical shift to distance learning, video conferencing, and working in pajamas—our team continued working to put together this final product. I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished this year.

In an effort that has been many years in the making, the entirety of the Red Cedar Review archive is now accessible online. Every issue dating back to 1963, representing decades of undergraduate literary publishing, is now available through the MSU Libraries website. Special thanks for their contributions to this process go to Claire Walsh, Emma Langschied, and Jarrett Greenstein, as well as Shawn Nicholson, Robin Dean, and the MSU Libraries Digital Repository team. You can visit the archive by going to https://d.lib.msu.edu/rcr.

At the same time as we’ve been reflecting on the history of the Red Cedar Review through the archival process, we’ve also been navigating a major transition for the journal’s future. I’m excited to announce that this is the first issue of the RCR to be published completely digitally. With our new website, we hope to continue publishing innovative undergraduate literature for a national audience while providing room for more experimentation in content and form.

I’d like to thank all of the many people who collaborated in the production of Volume 55: first of all, thank you to our talented contributors, dedicated readers, genre editors, and social media team, as well as Assistant Managing Editor Jacob Largen, whose help in leading the journal this year was invaluable. Special thanks go to the ENG 492 students, led by Kurt Milberger, for their hard work editing and putting together the final product. As always, we’re grateful for the wise leadership of Dr. Robin Silbergleid, our faculty advisor. Finally, I’d like to thank everyone at The Cube, especially Dr. Kate Birdsall and Sam Bloch, for bringing our vision for a new website to life.

I hope you’ll continue to watch the journal change and grow in the coming years; I’m certainly excited to see what’s to come. Most of all, I hope that the stories which we’ve collected here can do what literature does best: bring comfort, hope, and joy to the world in times of fear and uncertainty. These pieces certainly did so for us.

Sincerely,

Katherine Stark

Managing Editor