Dear readers,

This past week, I’ve found solace in an old hobby: crafting. It seems that sometime during my three years in college, I have lost the creative spirit that I once held so close. I used to spend summers scouring Pinterest and perusing the aisles of Michael’s for the perfect activity. Armed with construction paper and some washi tape, handmade gifts were my love language. As the semester begins to pick up, and I try to distract myself from the impending end of my time at Brown, I’ve found myself in a whirlwind of shrinky dinks, paper chains, and coloring books. Crafting has soothed an ache that I did not know I had. 

Our writers this week search for comfort in little things too. In Feature, Sydney finds joy in documenting one thing she finds beautiful each day. Jasmine in Narrative journals as her creative outlet, using writing as a way to make sense of her life. Our second Narrative writer, Gabi, also finds beauty around her, reflecting on nature and how her feelings about winter have evolved. In A&C this week, Eleanor speaks to her connection to Headache’s music, and our second writer muses on how her attitude toward men has matured. Michelle, too, reflects on change; to celebrate our first-ever issue with two Feature pieces, she writes about the migration of birds, tying it to growing up and moving away from home. In Lifestyle, Indigo ruminates on crying, listing her observations from crying on campus. Finally, AJ makes a heart-shaped crossword as an early Valentine’s Day gift. 

Despite my joy in crafting, I am certainly not without slip-ups. I have found myself time after time erasing mistakes and redoing paper cutouts, or sometimes, leaving the evidence of a mistake just as it is. The non-perfection of it all is exactly why I hold it so dearly. This long weekend, dear readers, I implore you to find comfort in a craft, and who knows, maybe you’ll find inspiration in a copy of post-.

Making Valentines, 
Tabitha Lynn
Lifestyle Managing Ed