Windhover Letter From The Editor

This book release is surely unprecedented. If you asked me last semester what the April debut of Windhover LIV was going to look like, I would have never in a million years anticipated this. Rather than having upwards of 100 people coming together for a night of celebration about seeing the physical book for the first time, we are all separated, social-distancing ourselves from each other in the midst of a global pandemic, without a physical copy in hand. It has certainly been a let-down for us, but we are remaining positive—and you should too. 

Ironically enough, the theme of this book is living. Months prior to the first reported case of COVID-19 in the United States, we set out to create what we have deemed a “scrapbook of artistic expression” commemorating the experiences, emotions, lives, and stories of all contributors and readers through art and writing. Being the 54th volume (“LIV” in Roman numerals), it only seemed fitting to play off of that and structure our book into three main phases of existence: creation, being, and expiration. Little did we know that not too much later, each and every one of us would be forced to be constantly reminded of how fragile life can really be, and doing everything we can to keep it from escaping us.

At the end of the day, we are not going to let this keep us from commemorating the hard work our submitters put into their accepted pieces. We will not be waiting until the fall semester to debut our finished product, and we will be celebrating a Digital Release of Windhover LIV across our online platforms. The physical books have still been delivered and will be available to get come August to cherish and remember all we have gone through during this time, and we are hoping to get the in-person release party rescheduled. Until then, everyone will be able to view the book and all the works that were accepted online at windhover.ncsu.edu. 

More than ever, this edition will be an honoring of shared humanity, and that small pieces of life must be cherished, remembered, and cataloged—for it can be taken from us so quickly. 

We hope you enjoy the virtual debut of Windhover LIV.