Afterword | RACHEL NOLI

Afterword: Where Do We Go From Here?

You have come to the end of the 2022 Bread Loaf Journal of Student Writing. In it, you have read about refuge, and maybe for a moment, you have found that very thing between these pages. I would like to leave with you an experience I had in one of my courses this year.

In Cheryl Savageau’s Speculative Fiction class, we read an amazing novel about Lesbian vampires (as one does at Bread Loaf) called The Gilda Stories. At the end of the book, Gilda and her family live in a world facing extinction. Vampires are being hunted for their immortality, and the select rich and powerful are leaving for other planets. I’m sure you can see how this parallels our world today. The titular character and those around her must decide if they too will flee–but they choose to stay. They decide that this world, despite its flaws, is their home, and they will stay and fight to rebuild what is theirs.

I noticed, as many of you did I’m sure, that some of the submissions this year explored the loss or absence of refuge. We live in a world that feels like it is dying. At every turn, the news tells us that things have simply gotten worse. But it is my hope that as we leave the beautiful, various campuses of Bread Loaf, we remember that, like Gilda, we must fight for that refuge. We must create a world where refuge can be attained.

I would like to thank each and every one of you that submitted to the Journal this year. We know each word was a labor of love, and we enjoyed reading your experiences. Thank you for sharing the joy and the sorrow, and allowing us into your creative process.

I hope that any refuge you may have found this year at Bread Loaf will sustain you through the year.

Rachel Noli, Coeditor