Everything Seems Inevitable
DEAR READERS,
Everything may seem inevitable, but the editors here at RiverCraft want you to keep in mind that you never know what is coming next. This year’s issue of RiverCraft pays homage to the unexpected in life. The pieces in this magazine offer a juxtaposition of themes, as we try to tackle all the good with all the bad and everything in between. We hope to defy expectations and take you, reader, on a wild ride through light and darkness alike.
In this issue we start from the end of all things with Hannah Mackey’s “It’s the End Isn’t It” and we conclude by looking back on what never was in “Nostalgia for the Future” by Ellie Cameron. We explore our highest of highs with Madeleine Sherbondy's “Shrooms” before diving into our lowest of lows with “amaryllis” by Jake Price. And we come face to face with hard truths in “half awake” by Julie Heaney and “tasteful erasure” by Alexis McDonald. Meanwhile, Nala Washington reminds us that emotions are complicated in “Thoughts on Dating Someone with a Kia,” but according to Brooke Mitchell’s “Situationship” that can be beautiful too.
Nicole Vertigan reminds us to look beyond the obvious with her surreal collages that hit the heart of emotions many of us have felt. While Emily Speck takes us up to the clouds and back, each piece comparing light and dark as though they are lovers. Then Anthony Prosachik manages to capture those moments where something just doesn’t feel quite right and yet each piece urges us to not look away.
We ask you now, reader, to forget everything you think you know about RiverCraft, and instead buy into the unknown. We hope you are able to look both inward and out at the world around you through each piece. As we reflect on the fact that the only thing that is truly inevitable is that we don’t know what’s coming next.