Dear readers,
In a time of worldwide social isolation, we can find togetherness through storytelling—through listening to the voices of those you know and those you don’t. The New Journal’s mission for fifty-three years has been to produce human-centered narrative journalism. These are strange, uncharted times, but they remind us more than ever that stories reinforce our sense of common humanity.
We bring to you the voices of students who are grappling with the idea of what academic excellence and grades mean during a global public health crisis, students who are lingering behind in an empty campus, and students who are trying to find out what “home” truly means to them. We follow the extraordinary efforts of a New Haven activist supporting survival sex workers during the pandemic, and we witness the trajectory of an unlikely close friendship between a disability rights activist and a visiting student. Our feature paints a vivid picture of a Muslim man’s decades-long resistance to deportation, and our issue ends on a poignant note about how Yalies can still remain together, even when apart, through Zoom.
Our editors, scattered from Connecticut to California to Hong Kong to Illinois, have reunited through the screen to create The New Journal’s first ever remotely produced issue. Let us know your thoughts on the magazine, or about any ideas you’d like to share with us—we’d love to start a conversation.
Yours,
Helena & Candice