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ECHO MAGAZINE
A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR I find it wonderfully odd that on this day, at this time, you found your way to this issue of Echo magazine. Don’t you? Whether you took your normal route or walked a new path today, we were brought together to explore these ever-changing times. For our third themed issue, our team—comprised of Columbia College Chicago students from the Journalism, Design, Photography and Photojournalism programs—thought that the concept of Flux anchored all of our stories and was the most fitting way to investigate the world we are living in. Our photographers tested time by shooting on film, capturing these rifts in the present through dated means. Our illustrator drew all 36 illustrations featured in the pages that follow by hand, then again digitally. We lost count of how many hours he spent working to visually represent these narratives. Our web designer and social media editors shared snapshots of our processes online, roping readers into the ebb and flow that is creating a 124-page print publication. We explored Flux within three sections: Seek, Sustain and Shift. What narratives speak of looking for more? Which ones are working to create some sort of constant? Which ones are exploring new paths or reveling in instability? While telling these stories by both written and visual means, this theme allowed our team to conclude that no matter how hard we try to pin down defined endings, the beauty is in the transition. We encourage you to take comfort in the uncomfortable—in the explained but still unanswered questions that drive the stories in Flux. –Bianca Smith