The concept of Meraki was developed by two roommates at a writing camp in Gambier, Ohio; three years later, these two aspiring writers were roommates again - this time as freshmen in Loyola University’s own Biever Hall. This primary debut challenges readers to switch between three registers: poetry, short fiction, and visual art.
Abbey and Ahnia created Meraki with undercurrents of an ongoing global pandemic and an uprising in demand for human rights. Thus, as the editors began the process of thumbing through submissions, the team was noticeably drawn to character-driven pieces that courageously explore trenches of the human condition, ones we’ve been exposed to in quarantine. Pieces such as “you told me to write a happy poem,” “Touch,” and “For Penelope” demand intimacy and connection from the reader, two anomalies in a virtual and socially-distant time. Other pieces such as “Mama,” “Maybe all black people are angels,” and “Let It Be Me” voice the experience of people of color in America through personal and cultural narrative. Identity-driven pieces dive into the struggle of forming and maintaining a unique sense of self. “High Top Sneakers” and “The Man Who Could Grow New Faces” focus on characters who undergo a tumultuous relationship with their identity.
This magazine reflects the anxieties of living in a hazy “new normal,” one in which we struggle to maintain human connection, one in which we dedicate ourselves to protecting our neighbors, and one in which we struggle to understand our identity in an unprecedented global context. A year of uncertainty yielded a magazine of uncertainty, a magazine which dually functions as an acknowledgement of suffering and as a sanctuary. In these narratives, we commend you to find both your pain and your peace.
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