ACC Progenitor 58

Progenitor v58

A Letter from the Editors:

When we first began selecting pieces for this volume, a coherent theme hid from us. It was difficult to find similarities in pieces about home invasions, mother’s shoes in the closet, and betting one’s life on a horse race. But as our content selection went on, so did our world. Political decisions that impacted both women and queer people started cropping up all over our country, and, consequently, started cropping up in the pieces we were reading. It became clear that the pieces contained in this book needed to uplift the voices impacted by these decisions, and to examine not only what it is to be a human, but what it is that makes up our individual identities.

Identity cannot exist in a vacuum, and is intrinsically linked to the time we live in. We cannot separate the experience of being a woman and being queer from the decision to revoke Roe v. Wade, or the 26 states that have passed anti-abortion laws, or the ever-expanding number of anti-queer laws being introduced (492 at last count).

But we are not defined by our struggles; they are only one facet of our identities. We are beings capable of love, of grief, and of telling dazzling stories. We each have our own “beautiful histories.” This is what the Progenitor 2023 staff has chosen to highlight with these stories: the refusal to be pigeonholed.

We hope you can take some time to slow down and savor this art. For staff, getting to experience not only the pieces we chose but the entirety of our submissions was a genuine gift. With more submissions received than ever before, it was crucial for us to come together as a team and leverage all of our individual experiences. We hope you enjoy the 58th volume of Progenitor.

We definitely enjoyed making it.

Thank you,

Donella, Kyle, and Nathan