Dear Readers,
When I was a little girl, I loved to go star-tipping. In the backyards of different childhood best friends, I would look up at the sky, find a star and stay focused as I spun around on my tiptoes. This led to a fall; but not the kind that stings like scraped knees on pavement or the one that ends in tears spilling down cheeks. It was the kind that I welcomed because everything fell into place as I fell to the ground. I sunk into the summer grass and let the sky swallow me whole as I laughed and caught my breath and looked around to see friends’ faces smiling back at me. I go star-tipping a lot now, just not in the same way. But I still find something to focus on, revolve around and fall into just like I did when I was younger. The beautiful thing about stars is that they serve as a connection point. There are constellations that show us how lovely it can be when different things come together. There is a north star that guides us in the right direction and keeps us on track even when the world seems so dark, still and scary. There will always be midnights spent staying up late and drowning in our thoughts, only to wake in the morning and feel clarity wash over us. Stars burn bright, they light the way and, more than anything, they serve as brilliant affinities. Because, we are nothing without each other. Though all people come from different backgrounds, bring in different perspectives, practice different religions, have different lovers, endure different struggles and have different stories, we are all people. We all bend and break; fall in love and fall out of it. We all need something to believe in. We all bind together in serendipitous moments. In this journal, I hope that you feel all of this. Behind every piece of work in this magazine is a great deal of intention and purpose to tell stories about the way that we all connect to the world, ourselves and each other. To Hope Moses and Patrick Johnson, thank you for believing in me and uplifting me each day. Your support, faith and guidance means everything to me. To my family and friends, thank you for all the time spent allowing me to star-tip my way into making my dreams come true and loving me with the force of the entire universe as I do. To everyone who helped craft this magazine, thank you for all of your hard work, vulnerability and commitment to upholding journalistic principles that matter so deeply. To all readers, thank you for reading “Written in the Stars” and I hope that you always know how bright you shine to the rest of the world.
With love and light,
Grace Elizabeth Cady
