After binging on “Stranger Things,” Netflix’s immersive and irresistible mash up of science fiction and 80s nostalgia, I began to wonder how writers and artists might engage a similar theme by tapping the otherworldly, the underbelly, the world of opposites. You’re saying, “We’re already there!” I hear you. Consider this an invitation to find your bearings, to witness a reply to chaos through the creative. The work in this issue captures the disorientation and destabilization we experience in our relationships with others and ourselves, through time and space, and in this acute (ass-backwards) moment. Yet, I hope in these pieces, like the young characters in the TV series chasing after missing friends, fleeing dangers, and unraveling mysteries, you find palpable connection to accompany you through these topsy turvy times, wherever there may be.
-Nita Noveno, Editor