spring/summer 2021
editor's note
Dear Reader,
Welcome to the inaugural issue of Gaia Lit, a student-run literary magazine dedicated to uplifting the voices of the youth and promoting the welfare of our planet. First and foremost, we introduce the theme for our issue: oceans. We encouraged potential contributors to research key terms for inspiration, from acidification to ocean warming to aquatic hypoxia. The contributors of our first issue sought to answer various questions, whether through art or prose or poetry: What makes water a body? What is the language of waves, of motion? What cycles can water escape, and what cycles trap it? How are our oceans treated, and how do they fight back?
In assembling an issue focused on ocean climate change, we received submissions that explored everything from the ordinary to the extraordinary, the sharp to the soft, the unspoken to the unheard. Despite these differences, we saw truth and beauty to every submission; beneath emotions of anger, pain, and grief, we found an undercurrent of hope.
Thank you to our staff and our supporters, our submitters and our contributors. We are extremely grateful for the love that we have received thus far, and we can’t wait to see you in the summer for our next issue. Until then, stay safe and healthy.
Thank you for visiting. As always, we hope you stay.
Best wishes,
Elane Kim
Editor-in-Chief of Gaia Lit
Welcome to the inaugural issue of Gaia Lit, a student-run literary magazine dedicated to uplifting the voices of the youth and promoting the welfare of our planet. First and foremost, we introduce the theme for our issue: oceans. We encouraged potential contributors to research key terms for inspiration, from acidification to ocean warming to aquatic hypoxia. The contributors of our first issue sought to answer various questions, whether through art or prose or poetry: What makes water a body? What is the language of waves, of motion? What cycles can water escape, and what cycles trap it? How are our oceans treated, and how do they fight back?
In assembling an issue focused on ocean climate change, we received submissions that explored everything from the ordinary to the extraordinary, the sharp to the soft, the unspoken to the unheard. Despite these differences, we saw truth and beauty to every submission; beneath emotions of anger, pain, and grief, we found an undercurrent of hope.
Thank you to our staff and our supporters, our submitters and our contributors. We are extremely grateful for the love that we have received thus far, and we can’t wait to see you in the summer for our next issue. Until then, stay safe and healthy.
Thank you for visiting. As always, we hope you stay.
Best wishes,
Elane Kim
Editor-in-Chief of Gaia Lit