At this time in the year, one starts to think about escape — a dreamy kind of escape, from stuffy rooms into warming air and budding trees; and a more wishful kind to cope with the sense of unravelling that mounts as things continue to fall apart.

Our writers have escape on their minds this issue. They explore what it means to get away from an older version of oneself, and whether escape relies on the act of forgetting or of overcoming. They meditate on whether leaving things behind is forced or desired. Writers examine how far one can escape from generational roots, and depart from our current moment to introduce us to speculative worlds. Reportage this week follows a Princeton student, charged with assault during the encampment, in his effort to walk free.

Ruminating about escape can seem frivolous when we confront the realities of student life today: deportations, funding cuts, and attacks on free speech threaten our spaces of learning, and the livelihoods of our peers and ourselves. In this context, what use is flight when defiance requires us to stay firmly grounded? While remaining in the current moment is necessary, our writers see the need to think beyond immediate responses. Acting on the impulse to escape, they imagine alternatives to the reality we face today. When that reality no longer suits us, why not search for how to break free from it? When forces on a national scale try to narrow our future, why not dream of escape?

So long,

Frankie Solinsky Duryea and Alex Norbrook, EICs