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Somehow this has been the hardest pandemic issue to produce yet. Everyone is worn down. We’ve been putting on brave faces for so long, and now the masks have come off and the Dartmouth COVID Dashboard numbers soar again. Six hundred. Seven hundred. The small animals of springtime have shown their faces, and they too seem discouraged, frustrated, tired. In light of all this, we are extra grateful to everyone who contributed to this issue. Everyone who submitted their best work and it didn’t make the cut–we see you, we thank you. Please don’t get discouraged. Please keep writing and please keep trying.

In these pages we invite you to meet the Upper Valley, and beyond. Some of the work represented here was created in retirement by professors who taught us years ago. Some of the work comes from current students. Some from our friends and neighbors. Some from people we have never met who live half a world away. Bloodroot is committed to staying focused on writers of the Upper Valley while including voices from other places that sing in harmony with ours. One of the best parts of reading through the submissions is noticing themes that run through when there is no official theme. But at this moment, in the (dare we say) end of the pandemic, the work we’ve chosen is shot through with the light of creativity and the joy of making art, even after years of darkness.

Sincerely,

Rena J. Mosteirin & James E. Dobson

Click on a name to learn more about our contributors:

Meghan Kelleher

Carlene Gadapee

Lauren Hilger

Yuan Changming

Katherine Gibbel

Rebecca Siegel

Clyde Watson

Shari Altman

L.A. Renza

Brooke James

Ainsley Welsh

Grace Crummer

Annabelle Cone

Michael Beahan