Oregon East 2021-2022

Volume LII

Curated by Editor Lora Alix, Assistant Editor Mary Jo Campbell, and Art Editor Jessica Hitzman, the 2021-2022 issue exhibits a beautiful arrangement of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art from a collection of talented students. The issue also includes a special feature, “Letters in a Time of Quarantine,” of creative epistles from eight EOU students about this complicated moment, some addressed to family and others to recipients you might not expect, like the unborn, the sky, and even a hole in a bedroom wall. Together they are a fascinating portrait of our fragility and our resolve during the pandemic.

To read samples from the issue, click on the linked names.

Art: Sophia Aimone (cover art), Jessica Hitzman, Alexis Maki, Spencer Marotto, Daulton Mauzay, Jan Ng, Corina Stadler, Alyson Yates

Poetry: Ida Ghramm, Kristi Helgeson, Colette Marie, Caiti McGowan, Ashley Rhoton, Sarah Stout

Fiction: Phil Carson, Alexander Ortega, Beverly C. Reid (In Memoriam), McKenzie Sheehy, Elijah Zane

Nonfiction: Mary Jo Campbell, Kia McGinnis, Ashley Mooney

Letters in a Time of Quarantine (special feature): Emily Andrews, Garrett Christensen, Garrett Dixon, Landrey Gaertner, Edgar Navarrete, Rachelle Nycz, Kain Ward, Lauren Wolf

Staff: Lora Alix (editor), Mary Jo Campbell (assistant editor), Jessica Hitzman (art editor), Garrett Dixon, Kia McGinnis, Brook O’Keefe, Alexander Ortega, Christen Pagett, Kain Ward, Vanessa Watters, Nick Neely (faculty advisor), Michael Sell (art faculty advisor)

Editor’s Note:

This issue of Oregon East comes at a time when we are slowly coming out of a year-long quarantine and trying to find a sense of normality again. We have faced a global pandemic, wildfires, riots, and a contentious political season. Families and friends have found themselves divided by both distance and idealogy. Months of isolation have asked much of us, and we have looked for answers both in the outside world and within ourselves. The writers and artists selected for inclusion in this year’s edition share part of their journey for answers with you.

Also included in these pages are letters written in Professor Nick Neely’s fall Editing and Publishing class. These are from a prompt asking students to write to someone during this time of quarantine. These letters span a gamut of emotions and you will share in the writers’ fear, love, anger, nostalgia, hope, and dreams of a better future.

We have lost many people this last year, and we have included a small tribute to one of our own, Beverly Reid. She was a 2017 graduate of the MFA program and we are proud to include an excerpt of her writing.

I would like to extend my warmest thanks to the art department and Professor Michael Sell for all their work in putting out the call for artists and selecting the artwork you will see on these pages and cover. EOU has an amazing art department and their help is indispensable to the magazine. 

My hope is that as you read through these pages you will find something that offers comfort and reassurance that you are not alone.

— Lora Alix

Contributor Notes (bios)