Issuu

Letterfrom the Editors

The beating heart of MUSE is our community. This publication functions as a space where people can come to be creative, innovative, and authentically themselves without fear of judgement. To sustain this belief so central to who we are, our team sought to connect with other spaces that provide students with the same sense of belonging here at Queen’s University. Thus began the formation of MUSE’s first cultural issue.

From the beginning, our team believed that this issue should not only be a celebration of diversity, but needed to acknowledge the nuances that come with cultural representation. No group is able to be completely captured with a single portrayal: each is layered and complex, often containing differing worlds within a larger whole. The photos within these pages are a few examples of the many different ways these cultures can be represented.

In acknowledging that, we hope our readers will be encouraged to broaden their horizons the same way ours have been broadened. It can feel daunting to try and grasp just how big our planet is, and even more impossible to know and understand the eight billion people that we share it with. However, this form of education is one of the most beautiful offered to us. As humans, we are all connected somehow - through species, through thought, through birth, death, and decay. Ignoring this connection means ignoring the only part of our existence that we all unequivocally share. From our perspective, that would be a disservice.

As our year at MUSE comes to a close, we leave with many gifts having been given to us. Our cultural issue is an amalgamation of the experiences that shaped it; the people we met and the knowledge we now possess may not have been shared, had we not sought them out. We thank every single person that took part in this issue. While putting yourself out there in any capacity can be intimidating, there is an added vulnerability in giving over something as deeply embedded in your identity as your culture. That requires a particular kind of bravery. We feel very honoured that so many have trusted our publication with the parts of themselves that are not always offered easily. This responsibility is not something we take lightly; it is something we carry forward with the utmost care and respect. We are so grateful to you all, and thank you for sharing your beautiful stories with us.

Yours creatively,

Sydney Toby Z W G Kahlil Ekpo