Dear Readers,

I’ve been thinking a lot about delight recently—the ways in which it manifests in the world, and the ways in which it appears before me. Delight is ephemeral; I use my butterfly net to swipe at the world and capture those glimmers of joy, letting them fly around and metamorphize in my mind. The other day, I made good on my resolution to wake up at 8 a.m. every day by waking up at 8 a.m. just once. What a great feeling, to shoot up against the extra weight of gravity that I usually fight in the mornings. But like many delights, it’s short lived; the next day I got caught hitting the snooze button two, three, four too many times, admonishing myself when I finally got ready to take on the world. I’ve been reading Ross Gay’s The Book of Delights, an experiment in finding a bit of joy everyday, and I noticed that many of his delights are marred by the impurities of the world around him, a reminder that most of what is good is often not forever.

This week in post-, we’ve got some stories at an inflection point too. In Feature, our writer details the story of her medical transition and journey to find joy. Meanwhile, in Narrative, one writer explores the way that the fairies from her childhood built her world, while the other writer learns about the eternal mystery of his parents through the music that they enjoy together. One of our Arts & Culture writers is celebrating the long-awaited rise of Charli XCX, and our other writer is picking apart the act of feeling itself, where emotions come from and how they evolve. Finally, in Lifestyle, our writer reflects on her past four years through books that she’s loved, ones that she wants to share with all of you. Of course, it wouldn’t be an issue of post- without a crossword, so make sure you get the chance to check that out before you run off as well!

Today’s delight, perhaps unsurprisingly, has been this wonderful first issue of post-. Looking around—as we welcomed our new editors, welcomed back our vintage editors, and celebrated the fact that we all made it to this exact place in space—I can’t help but feel a deep sense of satisfaction, a breath of relief, that the year is off without a hitch. It’s a bittersweet feeling, my last semester of post-, surrounded by fleeting delights. I do promise that we will make it as amazing as we possibly can this semester, so stay tuned, and share the delight of post- with your friends this week! 

Absolutely elated,
Joe Maffa
Editor-in-Chief