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Our theme for this issue is “Tell me how you really feel”, so I’m going to do just that:

I AM REALLY TIRED

COVID is dragging on; climate change is no longer a looming threat but is here now; the academic job market is in shambles; a collective grief is weighing down on all of our shoulders. There is no simple answer to address these problems. How do we fix what’s wrong with everything when everything is the problem? For that, we turn inward. We start small, listening to our bodies, to the voices we have always trusted, tuning out the noise we wish to just shut off. This act

Rolando Rubalcava requires an honesty that is necessary, acknowledging what we need and addressing a truth that needs to be shared aloud. Then, we write. Flannery O’Conner once wrote, “I write to discover what I know”. We tell our stories, sharing what is pressing on our hearts. The telling is what moves mountains, topples authoritarians, all beginning with the act of writing. That’s where QuePasa comes in.

Our issue this year is one of our most eclectic, covering Latinidad, life after a year of living in a pandemic, connecting and reconnecting with faces, and art as an articulation of how we feel. Our cover image is a collage of ideas drawn by Dania Dallal in her work, El Reportario Latino Abusado, which was awarded the Latino/a Studies Outstanding Undergraduate Research award. Several essays by undergrad and graduatestudents share, including Liliana Perez, Raul Perales, and QuePasa’s own Jessica Rivera offer insight into the ways we’ve handled the past year while reflecting on both the opening and closing of the academic year. We’re also included several photo essays, highlighting events and public spaces on campus by, for, and ran by Latinx voices. Lastly, but certainly not least, QuePasa is proudly including an article inspired by our interview with Veronica Meinhard, First Lady of Ohio State University. We could not be more excited to share this piece, giving our readers a first-hand look at what Latinx women in leadership positions looks like.

The new year is as promising as it is ominous. The unpredictability offers as much worry as it does potential. This is why our stories are needed more than ever. There is a lot of telling in this issue, from students, faculty, and alumni, and lots of wonderful moments of community and support captured in photos. We hope this issue recognizes the grief you are feeling, and will always listen to the stories that need to be heard.

With hope, love, and a penchant for good stories, Rolando Rubalcava, Editor of QuePasa Magazine, Fall ’21