by Ryan Wong
Here’s a question, dear reader: What comes to mind when you think of the word “graduation”? Do you picture black caps and gowns, packed auditoriums, long speeches, and bouquets? Do you, perhaps, feel a tinge of bitterness as you picture what could’ve been instead of what was?
There is a delicate irony that exists in the theme of our first issue this year; in how many of us, contributors and readers alike, have frankly never been busier with schoolwork. As students, the concept of “graduation” is simple. It is an ending—the light at the end of the tunnel, the final hurrah before the next stage of our lives. Take away the education setting, however, and it becomes far more abstract.
For those of us caught somewhere between the clear-cut areas of childhood and adult adulthood, graduation is not so much a big leap as it is a series of small, meandering steps. A period of maximum, minimum, and stationary points; of departures, transits, and returns. The fact is, all of us are, in a way, living in our own steady stream of ceremonies: minute acknowledgements of past thoughts, decisions and accomplishments, punctuated by our hopes, fears, and well wishes for the future.
In Welcome to Graduation, we shine a light upon these collective ceremonies. Whether it is in commemoration of moving abroad, coming of age, or simple nights spent observing random strangers, we celebrate the advent of transformation; of growth with each passing day as we gather our wings feather by feather, crossing familiar paths, weathering unsteady climates, and finding new depths within the moonlit waters of our hearts. Through visits to the past we guide ourselves through the present, applying the lessons we’ve learned through fictional stories, trying out different fonts until we find one that allows us to continue writing our own.
And as I began with a question, I will, dear reader, end with an answer. Graduation is all those things and more. It is not a matter of when, but of what, where, how, and why.
Onto the next, shall we?